Wednesday, December 1, 2010

All of Me by Molly Bang



All of Me: A book of thanks, by Molly Bang
Not since Maurice Sendak’s Mickey declared “I’m in the milk and the milk’s in me!” has there been a book that so thoroughly captured the joy and wonder of being a preschooler. Beginning with a close-up of two sturdy feet, a small child gives thanks for different parts of his (or her?) body, for the five senses, for emotions, for the whole universe, inside and out. The mixed media collage illustrations are created on brown paper bags and suggest that this is a handcrafted celebration of all things self. The endpapers contain a description of Bang’s process for writing and illustrating the book. A perfect fit for preschoolers.
Target age: Preschool-Kindergarten

This review originally appeared in the Kutztown Book Review, Fall 2010.