Submitted by: Shelley Renee, Read-A-Thon Program Manager
This book starts on a Tuesday evening around 8 when it appears that a number of frogs have suddenly discovered they can fly. It is a surreal and almost wordless Caldecott Medal-winning illustrated story with fantastic realistic images of frogs flying on lily pads through the night air.
Why is one of my favorite children’s books a story with very few words? As David Wiesner said in his Caldecott acceptance speech, “A wordless book offers a different kind of an experience from one with text, for both the author and the reader. There is no author’s voice telling the story. Each viewer reads the book in his or her own way. The reader is an integral part of the storytelling process.”
My son and I turned the pages of Tuesday many times when he was a child. Every time we opened the book it could be a different story. He became the storyteller trying to decide how this odd situation came to be and what would happen next. His imagination soared as we discussed possibilities. This opportunity to become part of the story was one more way for him to learn a love of books.
