Two Short Stories #16

Today I will be highlighting two short stories.

Both of them are picture books with beautiful life lessons behind the story.

Let's dive right in.

Title: The Story of Babushka

Author: Catherine Flores

Pages: 120

Goodreads

The first thing I noticed about this book is that it has gorgeous pictures. I could look at it for quite a while and it really fits the story. I read picture books where I sometimes just scroll through, but these pictures made me look longer.

I love books with a message behind it, especially for children as well. This book teaches youngsters about hard things in life and choices to make. It teaches children they can choose how to live their life. I teach 10/11/12 y/o and I'd love to use this book in class and talk about the story and lessons behind it.

I'm not sure if I feel like the book is too stuffed with life lessons. Every Babushka learns something of her own and maybe I'd rather see 5 different books, so you can really dive into that one lesson and create a bit more depth. This is just a thought I had, since this is a pretty long story to read in one sitting.

Title: It's Music Time

Author: T.C. Barlett

Pages: 50

Goodreads

When I started reading this book, I immediately noticed the way the author plays with colour. I'm a big fan of black and white versus colour and I was surprised to see this.

I would love to use this book in class, because it has so few words that you could depend on the imagination of the children in your classroom. They can make up what they want everybody to say and what a character in a book is thinking. On the other hand, I'm not the biggest fan of wordless books, since I want the author to tell me a story and I'm just a bit lazy and sometimes don't feel like making it up myself, lol.

The drawing style in this book brings me back to my youth. It feels like the 90's cartoons I used to watch in The Netherlands and I love it. Just brings back good memories.

The story is about having fun and not always doing what is expected, that's what I get from it. And I do feel that's an important lesson to teach children in my classroom. Nowadays I see so many people swallowed by their work, burning out. Having fun is important too! You don't always have to colour between the lines.

Both books were fun to read and definitely worth the time.

Did you read any good short stories lately?