wordless books · writing workshop

Fox’s Garden Book Review and Giveaway!

Betsy Hubbard

I first fell in love with the Enchanted Lion Books Stories Without Words Series back in 2012 when I found The Chicken Thief at my local library. I then began seeking out the books and since have enjoyed many of the titles. The latest book, to be released on September 16th 2014 Fox’s Garden, by Princesse Camcam has not disappointed, as it is every bit as beautiful and full of story as the other books in this series.

Fox_Garden_case_v02.indd

What I find so fascinating about these books is their ability to hold onto the reader through the illustrations and to take you deep within the story of its characters. In the Fox’ Garden we are taken into a world not digitally created, but carefully crafted with the use of paper cutouts and lighting that was painstakingly captured through photography. You have to see it to believe its beauty.

There are so many possibilities with these books and their uses in writing workshop. Wordless books allow the reader to frame the text in their own way and tell the story with their own interpretation. The use of questioning comes easily with a wordless book. There were many questions that came to mind as I read the Fox’s Garden that I am eager to ask my students. Each may have a different answer, creating different stories and ideas.

The Fox’ Garden demonstrates the cruelty and kindness within the characters through facial expressions and gestures. As students create their own characters, these kinds of details can be replicated in their own illustrations, deepening a written story.

When using storytelling as a catalyst for writing, wordless books allow students to have endless conversations about what they determine the pictures are saying. This kind of discussion takes the pressure off of students to have their own story and allows them to tell someone else’s. This is a great way to break into talking about writing with a reluctant group of writers.

The Fox’s Garden has surprises throughout the story that hold the reader’s attention. This kind of detail is an ideal mentor to help draw out more style and voice from young writers.

I hope you will give wordless books a try as a mentor text during your workshop time. I think it opens many doors for discussion, questioning and thinking about the idea of story on a deeper level. I look forward to more publications from the Stories Without Words Series in coming years. Enchanted Lion Books has graciously offered a giveaway of the Fox’s Garden to one lucky reader. See below for more details.

Lani is the winner of the newest publication by Enchanted Lion Books, Fox’s Garden! Congrats Lani

Here is what Lani had to say in her comment, “Love the idea of giving students a story waiting to be told!”

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION:

  • This giveaway is for a copy of Fox’s Garden.  Many thanks to Enchanted Lion Books for donating a copy for one reader.
  • For a chance to win this copy of Fox’s Garden, please leave a comment about this post by Wednesday, September 17th at 11:59 p.m. EDT. I’ll use a random number generator to pick the winner, whose name I will announce at the bottom of this post, by Friday, September 19th.
  • Please be sure to leave a valid e-mail address when you post your comment, so I can contact you to obtain your mailing address if you win.  From there, my contact at Enchanted Lion Books will ship your book out to you.  (NOTE: Your e-mail address will not be published online if you leave it in the e-mail field only.)

 

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Published by Betsy Hubbard

Daughter, sister, mother, teacher, and writer.

62 thoughts on “Fox’s Garden Book Review and Giveaway!”

  1. I love this idea! I used to use Good Dog Carl to do writing when I taught first grade, but now I am going to try it with fifth graders! Thanks for reminding me of the power of pictures!

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  5. Lately, wordless books have been on my mind. I’ve been hearing about their benefits and think it’s time for me to plunge into this genre. Thank you for sharing the resource.

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  7. I love the idea of promoting more wordless books in my third grade classroom. I’m thinking of creating a wordless books tub now! This book would be a great addition! Thanks for sharing!

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  10. I had written a reply but cannot yet see it. Under moderation. I would like to receive this book as it really warms my heart and reinforces my fav word: Tenderness.

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  11. Tenderness is a warmth expressed in photography, in illustrations of cutouts, in emotions and it is this little things done with such warmth that makes this such an enchanting world of love and care which goes and comes around. My favorite word ever is Tenderness and this book, story and art conveys that to finest detail.

    Thanks,

    Manish (anisuddha@gmail.com)

    PS: I had uploaded an image recently on my fav word:

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  21. I fell in love with wordless picture books when introduced by my colleague and friend in first grade! Love watching the students as they process and invent with wordless picture books.

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  25. Just discussed storytelling with a group of amazing coaches following up on our time with TCRWP this summer. I am going to share this blog with them so that we can all see how these wordless books might enhance our work with writers.

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  29. I’ve been trying to use more wordless books at home with Isabelle to encourage her to develop her own words for what she’s seeing in the pictures. It’s exciting to be able to add another book to my must-have list. Thanks Betsy!

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  31. I can think of so many possibilities, from the very youngest (who can dictate) to the oldest (who can write th story for younger children.). How wonderful! I would love to have it and will look for the others. Thank you for bringing this up.

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  32. I am definitely going to look into this series from Enchanted Lion Books. Thanks for sharing the information and suggestions for using wordless picture books.

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  34. Thank you for this great idea. I will be trying it with my grade 6 students. As this is new to me and others, a future post listing the variety of ways one can use a wordless book in the classroom would be great!

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  36. Wordless books that have depth in their illustration to set the groundwork for our close reading. We zoom in on details to discover and infer more about what the author is saying. Students can also use magnifying glasses to get the idea of close reading to gel.

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  38. I am currently using 2 wordless picture books, Journey and Bluebird, with my 6th graders. They will be studying plot structure and writing the storyline in words for the books. I think wordless picture books can be a great resource for inferencing and questioning. I look forward to using more PB’s in the future.

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  39. I confess- wordless books used to make me really uneasy. I wasn’t sure what to do with them. But I too have fallen in love with them and all of the possibilities for using them in the classroom. The pictures and light in this book look amazing.

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  41. One teacher at school has a huge collection of wordless books & another teacher had his students choose one and write their own story. It was a marvelous project, so much learning involved. I’ll share this book title with them, too, Betsy. Thanks for telling about it & the important uses in workshop!

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  42. Wordless books are always fun to use with my kindergarten kiddos. I enjoy listening to their ideas as they travel through the pictures of the story. A child’s viewpoint is so precious! This book sounds great!

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  43. I am happy to learn about a new wordless series, too. I love to use wordless books with kindergarteners, teaching them how to “read” the book through pictures, and work independently or with a buddy, pointing to parts of the picture and saying something about them.

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  45. I’m ready to try more wordless books in my Writing Workshop. How exciting to hear that this once again part of a classroom. My 5th graders think that you cannot read these books! I am excited to help them discover that they can!

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  47. I’m always on the lookout for wordless books, so I am thrilled to discover this series. I will be checking them out. Wordless books allows students to practice comprehension strategies by eliminating the stress of figuring out the text.

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  51. As a fourth grade teacher, I too have loved using wordless books to spark interest. They love creating a story of their very own or play the role of detective creating the untold story. I will be purchasing this one to give it a try!

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  53. As a speech pathologist, wordless books are a wonderful tool in therapy. I see so many possibilities for using this book, both with articulation skills and language development! Great review and great give-a-way! Thank you.

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  54. As a former librarian, I know the value of wordless books and was always so disappointed when students passed on these books because ‘there was no story.’ I think using these books as a mentor text is a great idea!

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  56. I love wordless picture books, and I am happy to see them staring in conversations again. It makes me sad to see wordless picture books discarded as nice but not for instruction. Once teachers move past the lack of words and see the value and beauty in these books, the are hooked! Thank you for sharing this one. It is already in my book basket for purchase. Happy Reading.

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  57. Wordless books give our younger readers a way to understand story, experiment with language and for teachers to model “think alouds”. Thanks for the recommendation!

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  58. My students and I had wonderful book talks last year with several wordless picture books as we worked on comprehension strategies. I love the idea of using wordless books for writing-and also wonder how it will work with my reluctant writers. Thanks for the post!

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  60. As I read your comment about how the facial expressions show so much about the character, I thought I need to use this book when teaching my 5th graders about writing fiction. I plan to emphasize show, not tell. It sounds like this book can show us exactly how to see the expression and then my writers can write that description. Thanks for teaching me about tihis great picture book!

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