Solid As A...

Decades after the first lesson, my eyes are still scanning the beaches.  It needs to be the right shape to smoothly fit in the curve formed by my thumb and index finger.  If it's not the correct weight, too heavy or too light, it won't sail over and bounce on the water.  With the precise angle and wrist action, a personal best is always possible.  It's not simply about skipping stones though but the memories attached to the days.

When gathering rocks for an outdoor fireplace, a garden wall or pathway through the yard, conversations are remembered.  After permission is granted, a farmer may be ready to chat.  There is history within rocks, a history of our earth, but there is history surrounding rocks and their use by humans and other animals.  You have to be ready to look, touch and listen.

Few collaborative efforts express genuine appreciation for natural elements more than the books, A Leaf Can Be... and Water Can Be... written by Laura Purdie Salas with illustrations by Violeta Dabija.  Their third title, A Rock Can Be... (Millbrook Press, March 1, 2015) is as illuminative and inspirational as its predecessors.

A rock is a rock.

It's sand, pebble, stone.

Each rock tells a story,

a tale all its own.

With an introduction as comforting as a beloved sanctuary, readers are enveloped in this new exploration of earth's foundation.

Eleven two-word pairs portray a particular perspective.  We are guests in a conversation created by two gifted artists, one in words and the other in illustrations.  We are awakened to wonders we might never see or those we fail to notice daily.

Rocks offer challenges to be met or vessels for water.  They preserve the prehistoric past or lead us to a destination.  As a fiery rumble or a silent glow, these stones speak.  Game pieces, building adornment, and warmth maker, their uses are numerous.

Rocks provide shelter, form sandy hills, light the night sky and supply the finishing touch on a living planet.  They make mealtime easier, give sanctuary to sailors and bridge boundaries.  Seen on hands, in village squares, on bookshelves and in farming communities, their purpose is apparent.

Now go and discover
what else it can be!


When these marvelous two-word couplets are formed by the masterful Laura Purdie Salas the passion she feels for her subject is there for us to read.  Not only does she reveal how rocks shape our lives but her descriptions ask us to examine how we select words to express ourselves.  I can imagine her thinking about all the spots and spaces occupied by rocks, then choosing the exact combinations to make it a sensory experience for us.  Here are two of her couplets.

Tall mountain
Park fountain

Volcano flow-er
Night glow-er


Using a blend of traditional and digital media, the luminosity seen in the earlier titles returns in these illustrations rendered by Violeta Dabija. The matching dust jacket and book case take us to the seashore where the cheerful crab and sentinel seagull (on the back) direct us to the title and a poetic question, respectively.  It's interesting to compare the three books together.  The solid color endpapers on one become the main background color for the jacket and case on another.  In this instance the blue from Water Can Be... supplies the opening and closing hues.  The golden yellow from this book is seen on the endpapers of A Leaf Can Be... as well as on its title. A circle of pebbles in blue, golden yellow, brown and white frame the text on this book's title page.  The beach from the jacket and case appears as a double-page spread for the verso and first page; two feet resting on sand and pebbles, a fish fossil in view.

With each image Dabija places all the elements with care making strikingly atmospheric scenes.  You want to climb her mountains, walk through the glen next to an ancient fountain, eavesdrop on students in a museum or search for a perfect pebble.  Page turns give us a glorious window into another world.

Delicate details invite closer inspection; scrolled stone pots holding flowers, dust aglow from sunshine stirred by a butterfly's flight, or lace gracing a wrist.  Picture size, edge to edge, shifts with the poetic phrases from single to double.  The larger visuals are a breathtaking blend of two separate thoughts.

You can nearly hear the waves washing against the rock walled harbor in one of my favorite images.  On the left sailboats silently sit in a protective arc, a lighthouse guarding the entrance.  The buildings in the seaside community spread across the gutter from left to right.  A canal runs through the village center, bridges placed at intervals.  Shades of blue, purple and red with splashes of white supply a true feeling of serenity.


A Rock Can Be... written by Laura Purdie Salas with illustrations by Violeta Dabija has you wishing it was a pebble you could pick up and carry in your pocket.  Using our eyes and imaginations first and then using our own senses second, we notice rocks with a brand-new mindset.  This book is a gift from Laura Purdie Salas and Violeta Dabija to us.  Now we need to pass it on to others as often as we can. The concluding five pages showcase informative explanations about each of the two word phrases, a Glossary and a list of five books for Further Reading.  

To discover more about Laura Purdie Salas and Violeta Dabija please follow the links attached to their names.  You will be able to visit Salas's website and an illustrator page devoted to Dabija.  For most of March on a daily basis Laura Purdie Salas has been tweeting about all the things rocks can be.  They are collected on her blog.

If Not For Them...

Living in northern Michigan there are two things you simply can't ignore, trees and water.  One of my favorite hikes is through the woods along the shore of Lake Michigan.  When no one else is around, early in the morning, I've seen white-tailed deer playfully jumping in the water along the beach and a bald eagle soaring above the treetops.  By climbing a series of hills on paths winding among pines, oaks, maples, poplars, beeches and ferns, I can see two different arms of Lake Charlevoix.

It would be easy to take such abundance of both for granted, but I don't.  Reverence would be an apt description of how I feel about trees and water, knowing they could disappear if not protected.  In 2012 a book garnering a Golden Kite Honor Award, Picture Book Text, placement on the International Reading Association Teachers' Choices 2013, Primary Readers, the position of a Minnesota Book Award Finalist 2013, a The John Burroughs Riverby Award for 2012 and listed on the National Council of Teachers of English 2013 Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts titled A Leaf Can Be... (Millbrook Press) written by Laura Purdie Salas with illustrations by Violeta Dabija spoke (still speaks) to the youngest of readers (which means all of us) about the place of leaves in the natural realm. 

A leaf is a leaf.

It bursts out each spring

when sunny days linger

and orioles sing. 

After these introductory poetic phrases which truly make you feel like singing yourself (go ahead, read them aloud now), you read the title of the book followed by eleven, rhyming, two-word defining sentence finishers; one set per page.  Then the first sentence of the volume is repeated with three new lines moving from spring to fall.  Again two-word, lyrical, rhyming descriptions depict the ever-changing potential of leaves in the lives of many.

Clearly Laura Purdie Salas is a keen observer of the out-of-doors; noticing the multiple purposes of leaves.  Her true gift though lies in her combinations of words.  Not only are they true but absolutely beautiful. Here are two sets of couplets.

Tree topper

Rain stopper

Wind rider

Lake glider

After the narrative concludes, she takes each of her two-word phrases, explaining them in more factual terms. This is not only an invitation for learning but for readers to challenge themselves to think of their own two-word portrayals of leaves.  The final page includes a small glossary as well as a list of four books containing more information.

Fortunately for readers three short weeks ago Laura Purdie Salas and Violeta Dabija released a new collaboration bringing us a second stellar title, Water Can Be... (Millbrook Press).  Having watched the levels of Lake Michigan fall to their lowest in my memory, this ode to the splendor of water in all its forms is timely and timeless.  From drop to downpour, it's never been more eloquently depicted.

Water is water---
it's puddle, pond, sea.
When springtime comes splashing,
the water flows free.

As in the previous title we readers are treated to eleven representations of water in the world.  Each pair's cadence creates a melody not dissimilar to the sounds water can make; almost silent to a roar.  We are magically moved to each location.

Water is a birthplace and residence, a mirror, a source of food and drink, a land shaper, a cycle maker, a disguiser, a temperature changer, a color coordinator and a source of destruction.  Its capabilities, like a leaf, change with the seasons.  We can see its distinctive values in the outer world as well in our homes and workplaces.

When you read the word choices of Laura Purdie Salas, you want to grab a pencil and paper as fast as you can, to start jotting down what you notice about water in the spring, summer, fall and winter.  She makes you realize you need to pay closer attention, to be more appreciative.  Her use of language challenges you to stretch beyond the obvious, renaming what you see, hear, smell, touch or taste.  Here are several twosomes from this title.

Thirst quencher
Kid drencher

Salmon highway
Eagle flyway

Four pages are devoted to clarifying water's role in the double word phrases.  Her sentences are enlightening and entertaining at the same time.  Salas is careful to speak as if in conversation with her readers.  Here is a single sample.

Rainbow jeweler: Did you know that without water, we would have no rainbows? They form when sunshine meets water vapor in the air.  The sunlight hits the water vapor, bends, and travels to your eye.  The light makes different colors depending on how it bends.

A glossary and list of five books ends this title.



Of Violeta Dabija the publisher's website says:

She works in both traditional and digital media and often mixes them to produce delicate and atmospheric illustrations with a traditional feel.

The matching dust jacket and book case on each volume features an altered version of a visual from within the pages.  On the back is a smaller illustration framing or highlighting a question to the reader about a leaf or water.  The endpapers are a solid color, taken from the front of the jacket and case.

The shapes and hues on the title page blend and extend into the verso and first page, softly stunning, so lovely you wish you were standing beneath the tree branches filled with singing birds or next to the rapidly moving stream.  For each set of words, Dabija has created lively, graceful images endearing and expressive, favoring shades of green in the first and of blue in the newest title.  That is not to say she does not use other colors to great effect.

 She adds her unique, skillful brand of marvel and magic on every page.  The final two pages, a single illustration in both books, show men and women creating topiaries from shrubs and trees and a castle, crescent moon, rabbit and dragon from ice.  In A Leaf Can Be... one of my favorite pictures (nest former) is of a flock of white birds gathering leaves to make homes in a single tree.  The combination of greens, blues and browns, tiny white blossoms surrounding the shape of the branch ends, is life affirming, full of peace and hope.  Featuring a cascading stream, white-tipped waves forming, falling down through the spring forest with snow-capped mountains in the distance, Dabija pictures Downhill speeder from Water Can Be...  You can almost hear the racing sound of the water.  This is one of several favorites of mine.


Let us hope that A Leaf Can Be... and Water Can Be... written by Laura Purdie Salas with illustrations by Violeta Dabija are the first two of many collaborations.  These books are breathtaking in word and pictures.  Read them for the quiet pleasure they bring.  Read them for the information they provide.  Read them to see a leaf and water in a new light.  Most of all, share them with everyone often!

Please follow the links embedded in the author's and illustrator's names to access their official websites. Laura Purdie Salas has numerous extra features for educators; how the book began (for A Leaf Can Be...), reading guides, videos and activity sheets. Follow this link to the publisher's website for inside views of both books, and a PDF downloadable bookmark for A Leaf Can Be... At this link to Cynthia Leitich Smith's blog, Cynsations, view several videos about Water Can Be...  Here is a link to a Pinterest board Laura Purdie Salas created for Water Can Be...

Do not miss the #SharpSchu Book Club tonight on Twitter which features these two books.  Be sure to check back here later for a link to the archive if you miss the chat.  Watch. Connect. Read. John Schumacher  Sharpread Colby Sharp