Looking Closely Inside the Garden, text and photographs by Frank Serafini. Kids Can Press, 2008.
"Look very closely. What do you see?
These questions face a black page with a four-inch circle in the center. The circle shows a small portion of the picture on the next page. I had wondered just why the publisher had not simply cut a hole in the black page to show the next page. Then I noticed that the close-up portion in the four-inch circle does not come directly under the circle on the next page. The author/ photographer has made the decision that the most interesting close-up might be in the far corner of the actual photograph.
Opposite the large photograph (which bleeds onto the left hand page) is information about what you are seeing.
This could be used as a test of observation/ a guessing game/ lessons about who and what are in a garden. Appropriate for a wide range of ages.
Although this, and his other books in this series, are published by a Canadian publisher, Frank Serafini is Associate Professor of Children's Literature and Literacy Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He calls himself an educator and is an avid nature photographer. He previously worked as a primary schoolteacher. (That sounds Canadian to me. How about you? Perhaps he comes from Canada.)
Others in this series include: Looking Closely Across the Desert, Looking Closely Along the Shore, Looking Closely through the Forest, All Available now.
More Nonfiction Monday messages can be found here.
-wendieO
2 comments:
Sounds intriguing. I do think the die-cut approach is usually more interesting to kids, but I guess placement and expense do have to be taken into account.
I'll have to look for these books.
Definitely different. Thank for posting about this.
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