In this magical picture book, a young child is lured away from technology to find fun in the forest. He is playing a game on his device destroying Martians until his mother takes it away from him. She hides the game, but he finds it and goes outside in a neon orange raincoat. He drops his computer console in a pond and then becomes captivated by what he finds – snails, squishy mushrooms, seeds, mud, icy rainwater, stones as clear as glass, and more. Soaked, he returns home, wanting to tell his mother what he has seen, felt, and tasted outside in the world. But he doesn’t tell her. Together they sit in the kitchen breathing in the smell of their hot chocolate. That’s all they did “on the magical do-nothing day.” The artist used gouache, oil, collage, and wax pencils to create the texture and details of nature in this breathtaking book. mjw |
Title: On A Magical Do-Nothing-Day
Author: Beatrice Alemagna
Illustrator: Beatrice Alemagna
Publisher: Harper Collins
Copyright: 2017
Original Language: French
Translator: Jill Davis
Original Publisher: Albin Michel
Original Copyright: 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-275760-2
Hardcover pages: 48
Age range: 4-8
Genre: Picture Book
Author’s ethnicity: Italian
Author’s residence: Paris
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Italian
Illustrator’s residence: Paris
Awards: A New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book 2017
Subjects: Forest, Imagination and play, Parents, Rain and rainfall, Technology, Video games |