My other love is working in a library, being around books and information, linking people to information, and helping people to find new authors to read. One of my favourite books that is both a good read and informs kids about books is Parsley Rabbit's Book about Books. Before the book even begins, Parsley Rabbit is making comments and drawing kids attention to the important parts of the book such as the end pages, title, author, illustrator, publisher and the imprint page. After discussing the books come in all shapes and sizes, and where to find page numbers the concept of flaps is introduced. The book then makes great use of lift-the-flaps.
One of the funniest pages is a lift the flap when Parsley has been talking about information books and under the flap has him reading about dinosaurs. The book he is reading is placed in such a position that his profile matches with a dinosaur face. My son called him a dino-rabbit. Another really good use of flaps is when Parsley talks about where people read books and under a flap his little brother is reading on the toilet (No ewws please – who can say that they have never read something while sitting on the loo!)
The painted illustrations by David Legge are gorgeous. I never realized how many expressions you could put on a rabbit.
It is a great book to read aloud to kids and generates lots of discussion about books and reading. My 5 year old son and I talked about: where you read books, favourite books, giving books as presents, sharing books, learning to read, page numbers and what publishers do.
It is a book that really appeals to the librarian in me, and it such a fun book!
Highly recommended for ages 4-8
