photo by lel4nd www.flickr.com
*Picture book for preschoolers through second graders, contemporary fiction
*Little girl as main character
*Rating: Smile by Leigh Hodgkinson will make you smile. One of the cutest picture books I’ve seen recently–I think kids and adults will love it!
Short, short summary:
Sunny is usually happy! But today, she can’t find her smile. Where could it have gone? She can’t find it under her bed or in her room, so she cleans her room to look for it better. She wonders if somebody took it, but who would do that? Her goldfish? No way! The twins? Nope! Maybe she lost it in the big, wide world somewhere. So, she continues looking for it and gets caught up in having fun with her dog along the way. And then the twins point out–she found her smile!So, what do I do with this book?
1. Ask students to draw a picture of what makes them smile. Then ask them to bring in a photo of them smiling. Attach the photo to the illustration, and post these on a bulletin board that says: “What Makes Us Smile!”
2. You can have a great discussion with young children about this book. Why does Sunny lose her smile? How does she find it again? Have children ever lost their smile like Sunny does? You can even get into discussions such as: “What does it mean to be happy or sad?”
3. One of the cutest illustrations in Smile! by Leigh Hodgkinson is when Sunny makes a wanted poster for her smile. Ask students to make a wanted poster for something–it can be Sunny’s smile, a friend, a pet, or so on. This activity can also be a bulletin board or classroom display.
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