Page by page, readers peer into the house, seeing and hearing about the growing-up and mischief that happened inside its walls, as if they are looking into a dollhouse. It was her hope to “make the experience of reading this book feel as close as possible to the experience of being in the farmhouse,” the author shares in an interview. Blackall salvaged them, using bits and pieces to illustrate in collage form her new book, Farmhouse. So many artifacts of their lives-wallpaper, curtains, schoolbooks, handmade dresses-still rested in the farmhouse. A family of 14, with descendants still in the area, had lived there during the Great Depression. Doing so required leveling a dilapidated 19th-century farmhouse on the site, so to first honor the building, Blackall researched the home’s history. In 2018, author-illustrator Sophie Blackall and her husband, playwright Ed Schmidt, bought a 21-acre abandoned dairy farm in New York’s Catskills and turned the property into Milkwood, a pastoral retreat for children’s book writers and illustrators. Most important, though, their authors and illustrators seem to get how kids’ minds work: They are always hungry to learn more, especially when they are being entertained.
#Childrens books about fresh starts full#
The children’s books I’ve selected as this year’s best are full of fun facts about everything from architecture to animal behavior. My youngest is on the cusp of learning to read-a super exciting milestone, but I have some fear creeping in that soon they will no longer want me to read books aloud. When I tell them these facts, and so many more, I can see their wheels spinning. (Thanks to our dinosaur correspondent Riley Black for that one.) Or, for the history-minded reader, that Cleopatra’s reign is closer to today than it is to when the Great Pyramids were built. Like that less time separates us from Tyrannosaurus rex than separated T. In my 15 years at Smithsonian, I’ve learned my own share of incredible tidbits that piqued the curiosity of my kids, or really anyone with their sense of wonder about the world. They just love to be enveloped in new worlds, and I love nothing more than to see the looks on their faces when they are absorbing new information. My two young girls, ages 5 and 8, are sponges when it comes to mind-blowing facts.
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