#blogbookaday: The Book of Mistakes

Summary: “One eye was bigger than the other. That was a mistake.
The weird frog-cat-cow thing? It made an excellent bush.
And the inky smudges… they look as if they were always meant to be leaves floating gently across the sky.

As one artist incorporates accidental splotches, spots, and misshapen things into her art, she transforms her piece in quirky and unexpected ways, taking readers on a journey through her process. Told in minimal, playful text, this story shows readers that even the biggest “mistakes” can be the source of the brightest ideas — and that, at the end of the day, we are all works in progress, too.” (Taken from Goodreads)\

Review: I found this title to be absolutely delightful and such a great message for young children who stress over perfection. With sparse text and black ink drawings colored in with pencils and watercolors, the focus is on how the drawing isn’t quite right, except when it is. The author/illustrator perfectly shows how you can adapt a mistake to make it work for what you need and what you have. I think this title would work well for kids (and adults) of all ages allowing older kids to open up a discussion about their feelings about perfection and making mistakes, while young children will delight in watching the illustrations change throughout the story.

Personal Reaction: More and more children I encounter have this horrible and almost debilitating fear of making mistakes and usually choosing to not even try something for fear of failure. This is a trend that is not helping children grow into adults who think outside the box, looking for creative solutions to the problems the world faces today. I hope that a book like this can show kids that making mistakes is not the end of the world, in fact, it’s just an opportunity to try something different!

Title: The Book of Mistakes
Author: Corinna Luyken
Illustrator: Corinna Luyken
Publisher: Dial Books
Publication Date: April 18, 2017

This is a new idea I’m trying on my blog this year that was inspired by @donalynbooks and @heisereads – to provide a brief review of a picture book every day of 2018. You’ll get a brief summary of the story, a review of the content, illustrations and theme, my personal reaction to the book and all the pertinent publication information! Enjoy!