Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Not A Box

Oh my goodness! I found the most adorable books today. They are written and illustrated by Antoinette Portis and are so simple in their format that it just blows me away!


Not a Box is the story of a small rabbit who shows that a box can take the imagination absolutely anywhere. Portis successfully captures the thrill of when pretend feels so real that it becomes real in this understated masterpiece. I love it when a book can take me back to my own childhood and this book certainly did it for me. I remember being fascinated with boxes as a child and using them to form elaborate creations from a boat to an entire kingdom. It was on Emmy's first birthday that she was first introduced to boxes. She took to them right away ignoring most of her gifts in favor of being pushed around in a box while her Mommy or Daddy made some kind of funny motor noise -Vroom, vroom!

With the success of the first book, Portis followed it with a second book titled Not a Stick. This time we follow a small pig with a stick in his hand as he finds out that there are endless options for play. Whether it's conducting an orchestra, painting a masterpiece, or slaying a dragon, give a child a stick and his imagination will take over! This is a picture of Emmy's stick collection that she keeps outside our front door. I have heard of moms who disapprove of sticks, but I say go for it!

When I come upon book treasures such as these, I tend to WAIT for the right moment before I share them with Emmy. I have a "secret" box that holds among other things, books that I want to read with Emmy. This box has recently been discovered by my curious 3 year old and now resides on a higher shelf in my closet. I am waiting with anticiaption for the just right moment to pull these books out of the box.

Here is a fun animated version of the book Not a Box found on YouTube. Enjoy!

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