November is Picture Book Idea Month (better known around the blogosphere as PiBoIdMo), and this is the first year I'm participating. Like the other 300 or so writers and illustrators taking part, I've been busy trying to come up with 30 new picture book ideas before the month is over. Luckily, I've been finding tons of inspiration on Writing for Kids (the official PiBoIdMo blog) and on a new website celebrating November as the first annual Picture Book Month. But I'm always looking for more...
My six-year-old thinks the main character of the book, Ollie, is a zebra. My four-year-old thinks he's a dog. I'm not quite sure what I think he is, but perhaps this is one of the reasons I love the book so much. When I read it, I pretty much forget about...or don't even care...whether Ollie is a zebra, a dog, or some other creature. I only care that he loves to dance, and I feel happy for him that he dances so easily and with such abandon.
Ollie loves to dance loudly, and to dance quietly. He loves to dance like jelly. He loves to jump, roll, and flip. And he loves to hop! However, I think it is really Anna Walker's illustrations that let readers get to know Ollie and how creative he can be. When he jumps, rolls, and flips, the illustrations show him doing it all inside of a cardboard box. And when he hops, he doesn't hop the way you might expect he would. He does it upside down--in a one-arm handstand!
I love that Ollie thinks up new and exciting ways to do classic movements...kind of like the way picture book writers and illustrators must think up new ideas and angles for telling stories that have probably been told in other ways many times before.
Picture books and the ideas behind them can inspire. They can touch the hearts of readers and make them feel connected to the characters in a book and to themselves. That's how I feel about Ollie, and that's what makes me want to read more about him and the activities he loves. For now, though, I'm going to take the inspiration that Ollie has already given me and try to come up with some more picture book ideas of my own!
4 Comments on I Love to Dance!, last added: 11/15/2011
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I love the illustrations for this book! It just happens to be one of the books my publisher gave away as a PiBoIdMo prize last year!
Thanks for stopping by, Tara! I love the illustrations, too, and really want to see some of the other books in the series. Luckily, one of my daughters wants to read I Love to Sing and I Love Birthdays, so I may be getting at least those two soon :)
I haven't met Ollie before and now I so want to know more about him. Thanks for the introduction, Kerry.
Thanks, Joanna. I'm happy you want to learn more about him, too. I just find him so simple and lovable...at least in I Love to Dance!