It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It’s also a great chance to see what others are reading right now…you just might discover your next “must-read” book!
Jen Vincent (I stole the above paragraph from her) at Teach Mentor Texts rounds up the kidlit version of IMWAYR each week.
I only join in occasionally, but I’ve decided that when I do, I’m going to use #IMWAYR to highlight picture books and easy readers by Minnesota authors and illustrators. We have such a wonderful kidlit community here!
This week, I read Whose Footprint Is THAT? (Charlesbridge). It’s by Darrin Lunde and Kelsey Oseid. In the jacket copy, I learned that Kelsey’s a Minneapolis illustrator. I feel like I should know her, but I don’t. (Maybe when in-person gatherings can happen again, I’ll meet her at a kidlit event!)
Y’all know I love riddle books, and this is a simple, spare one. Each spread shows a bit of an animal exiting the left side (or evidence of the animal) and then the footprint on the right side. Like so:
Then the next spread gives the answer and tells a bit more about that creature and its feet/footprints.
I wrote a picture book years ago called Whose Shoes Are These? It’s out of print now and only available used. But this fun book felt like a companion book to mine, and it brought back fun memories of the research I did for that one–like talking to a NASA astronaut!
AND I learned of a new-to-me Minnesota illustrator. Score!
What a fascinating book! As a former bookseller, I’ve always admired picture books from Charlesbridge. I also just followed you on Twitter — I love your #OutsideEveryDay hashtag.
The book does sound fun, Laura. I know my granddaughters are often looking for tracks when they go hiking, so they would enjoy it. They do have track ID books, too. Thanks. How fun to focus on your state’s authors/illustrators!
What a neat story! Just like with your own book, I can imagine kids will enjoy figuring out the riddles of the story. Thanks for the great post—it’s always great to see more awesome bloggers on #IMWAYR!
I like your choice of focusing on MN authors/illustrators!
I really enjoyed this book and now with snow coming in the midwest, it will give lots of kids a reason to find a footprint! (although I prefer wet, summer footprints… dreading the snow!)