My Little bookcase is celebrating the birthday of talented and accomplished author and illustrator, Eric Carle. I’m delighted to welcome Mandi Johnson to My Little Bookcase to share one of her favourite Eric Carle books. To make it even more exciting, it’s a book I haven’t read yet.
Mandi’s a talented writer who is recording the details of her personal crusade: to make time for nice things with her family each day. You can find her sharing details of books, films, art and yummy stuff at That Book You Like.
by Eric Carle (Puffin Books)
I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that my 3-year old is a busy boy. He moves fast, thinks fast, talks fast…I frequently wonder at his boundless energy.
And that is one of the reasons why I love Eric Carle’s Slowly, Slowly, Slowly said the Sloth. This beautifully illustrated, sublimely paced picture book is methodical and soothing for both reader and child. Picking up this book will always slow Oscar down a few paces.
As with all of Eric Carle’s work, each page is tactile. The illustrations are vibrant and textural, and each page has Oscar reaching out to run his fingers across the page. This book introduces many characters, and we have endless fun naming each animal and making the noises we imagine that they’d make.
Interestingly, Slowly, slowly, Slowly said the Sloth seems a little like two stories in one. There’s the written story, which is poetic and meaningful. It’s quite lovely in the way it shows that it’s okay to be a little bit different from the rest of the jungle gang (I’m quite smitten with sloth…I wish I was as happy to set my own pace.) And then there are the illustrations themselves, which seem to carry a whole story of their own. Oscar has a ball playing ‘spot the lizard’, counting the butterflies and squealing at the scary bat. It is probably not really a surprise that his absolute favourite is the big old howler monkey, and he really enjoyed picking out the colourful birds hidden in sloth’s beautiful tree.
Carle’s work is amazingly timeless, I loved The Very Hungry Caterpillar when I was a kid. My eldest son was given a beautiful copy of …Caterpillar about 10 years ago accompanied by a toy that I’d have loved when I was little, and which really brought the story to life for him. And now I continue to enjoy Eric’s stories with Oscar. Decades of enjoyment. Thanks Eric…
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