Pairing Power

Just as two eyes provide depth missing when we look ahead with just one eye, a pair of complementary books provide a deeper experience of their shared—and complementary—theme. The pairs suggested here each fit together, rather than presenting oppositional or dichotomous views. Like a pair of friends rowing a boat across new waters with greater ease than can a single sailor, their pairing shows how complementarity itself can be more powerful than either/or.

The following kids’ book pairs support insights—and spaces for questions, too. If you are looking for ideas for ways to lean into those questions and let young readers take themselves further into the worlds opened by each pair, we offer some extension suggestions, too.

Shadow Games

Let’s start with a pair for the very youngest of readers. Whether at home or at preschool, playing with light and shadow needs only a universally and freely available set of tools: light, hands, and imagination.

Shadow Play, by Helena Haraštová and illustrated by Serafima Kosikava, comes from Czech publisher Albatros Books’ series “Guess What It Is.” Board book weight, gatefolded page spreads each offer a “shadow” image across from drawings of a small number of possibilities. Opening the gatefold reveals the accurate response, and a full page illustration of what cast the shadow is shown in context. This offers both much to discuss and observe as well as many possibilities to create local shadow guessing games.

Rosa’s Big Shadow Puppet Experiment, from Child’s Play, is also part of a publisher series. Author and illustrator Jessica Spanyol creates attractive STEM-centered board books and picture books as part of “Rosa’s Workshop” series. With a diverse cast of toddler and preschool aged characters engaged in activities just right for the age group, here we explore how shadows are created by light and shapes that we use to block it against a contrasting field. Note, too, this one also comes in a bilingual, Spanish text first edition.

Interior page of Shdow Play shows cutout/shadow of something tall, narrow, and pointed on top with text "Have you noticed that when the sun comes up, the shadows start to play? On the pavement, on the grass, on the table, on the kitchen counter - everywhere! Can you guess what is making this long shadow?
Photo of small child playing with their shadow in the sunlight and text that reads Shadow Science Light and Movement Play! preschool science fun

Find lots more shadow activities and even preschool-friendly lesson plans in Shadow Activities for Preschoolers.

Picture Books about Making Art

Making art happens in every childhood—and for lucky kids, the opportunity to both make art and appreciate the art made by others develops lifelong.

From Red Comet Press, Eighteen Flowers for Grandma, by Alison Goldberg with illustrations by Jesse White, presents two stories fully melded into a single lovely arc: young Sadie wants to honor her grandmother’s accomplishment with an appropriate gift, and in determining what that can be, she experiments with a wide range of child friendly art materials. The illustrations show what the materials are and how she demonstrates their use.

With How Dreadful, author and illustrator Claire Lebourg presents a beautifully toned and comically told story of an artist trying to achieve her vision of excellence. Translated from French by Sophie Lewis, this Transit Children’s Edition story shows the artist—albeit here a sentient insect with a cadre of equally exaggeratedly proportioned friends who are anthropomorphic critters—needing practice, some critical appraisal, and outside support to arrive at “success.”

Insect painter shown with posing caterpillar under bright light in studio and text that reads "it took her hours and hours"

Looking to extend this pair with ready-to-go activity suggestions? The Long Island Children’s Museum provides a deep and rich site at Talk about Art. You’ll find tips on conversing with young ones about both their own creations and what they observe in the art made by others. Teachers can also use the Visual Thinking Strategies lesson plan to which the museum points.

Woman with small child on her knee points to the knee of a person in a pencil sketch displayed on a gallery wall
Stories Rooted in Moral Tradition

Looking for great picture books that show moral and ethical precepts in action? While discovering such kids’ books that do so with grace and accessibility can seem fairly doable, finding ones that spring from diverse traditions that encode universals is now on the rise. The Talmud’s history as the guide for daily life in any Jewish community–as well as a text that covers Jewish law, ethics, folklore, and other strands of what exists to make a culture one that can provide its members identity, a code of behaviors, and ultimate values—has been inspiring delightful new picture books. These are neither didactic nor closed to understanding by readers unfamiliar with Jewish traditions. The values they demonstrate are, indeed, universals.

The picture book The Midnight Mitzvah, written by Ruth Horowitz and illustrated by Jenny Meilihove, published by Barefoot Books, gives young readers a well composed and delightfully told story of a young chipmunk, Hanina, as she puts into action two precepts of a millennia-old law: (1) help others and (2) do so without embarrassing them. There’s nothing preachy or demanding of cultural knowledge here. The precepts are familiar to preschoolers (even when they can’t help themselves from breaching them). The very contemporary art is brightly and deeply colored and the anthropomorphic chipmunks clearly distinguishable.

The Hedgehog Who Said, Who Cares?, written by Neri Aluma, illustrated by Amit Trainin, and translated from Hebrew by Ilana Kurshan, is published by Kalaniot Books. So what’s Hedgehog sloughing off here? Turns out, he’s well practiced in self-interest at the expense of the community. Building his house without regard that his chosen spot presents an impediment to anyone and everyone else, he can’t see how he’s responsible for playing a part in a good greater than his own interests. Of course, the tale here brings Hedgehog around to understanding the universal importance of caring and neighborliness.

Ilana Kurshan, who translated THE HEDGEHOG WHO SAID, WHO CARES?, gives adults guidance in Why We Should Teach Our Children Talmud Folk Tales — Instead Of Grimm’s Fairy Tales as an immediate route to locating more like this pair. “Like” in origin and also “like” in their high interest for kids who just want good stories (and adults who are fearful of exploring unfamiliar traditions that, in fact, speak universal concepts).

Picture Books Featuring Brave Beginning Swimmers

Learning to swim takes more than opportunity: it also takes a degree of bravery–faith that the water can be supportive and that access to it can be achieved without other threats to attaining this skill.

I Will Swim Next Time, by Emily Joof, illustrated by Matilda Ruta, and published by Floris Books, provides a beautifully depicted story of one small child’s efforts to confront, and eventually overcome, her fear of the water at a seashore. Like her author, the child’s depiction shows her African-diaspora heritage, which goes unremarked here. Her fears, however, are addressed centrally in both the brightly rendered and painterly illustrations and in her conversations with her gentle and understanding mother. In addition to learning to get into the water, she learns that it is okay to go at her own pace.

Kwesi and Nana Ruby Learn to Swim, by Kobina Commeh, illustrated by Bárbara Quintino, and published by Barefoot Books, directly addresses impediments to learning to swim beyond fear of the water itself. Kwesi has trepidation about learning to swim and when discussing this with his grandmother he learns she doesn’t know how to swim either. The two embark on the companionable project of learning. This, too, is a picture book that is specifically and purposefully told from a contemporary Black perspective. When Kwesi wonders why Nana’s lived so long without learning this skill, he—and the young reader—learn about how the history of oppression has touched even this opportunity at skill-building and enjoyment. In addition to sharing this history in a way young readers can absorb, the colors and watery world here are as brilliant as in I WILL SWIM NEXT TIME, with a different artistic approach that is just as evocative of both people and place.

Wordless page has painterly image of a small brown child looking back at viewer from within a wave, wearing googles and a smile

For Black Communities, Learning to Swim Can Be Anything but Simple offers adults seeking better understanding of the historic and systemic issues arising as backdrop for learning to swim while Black. The article also offers connections to organizations that support Black swim learning, how to talk with kids about separating myths from facts, and the importance to kids’ safety the skill of swimming can be.

Imagined Alternate Natures

Next is a pair of picture books for older readers, from elementary school and up. Illustration-driven and inviting, the imaginative play of seeing the world in ways it might have been–or maybe it is?–comes to the fore.

If Flowers Were Little Monsters, written and illustrated by Claire Le Men and published by Helvetiq, is, as the subtitle tells clearly, “a field guide to fact and fantasy” inspired by 20 real flowering plants. Yes, we do learn a wide range of facts, including poisonous plant parts and places in the flowers local ecosystems as supporting other plants and animals, too. The illustrations show us relative sizes and natural colorations. However, we also learn about myths associated with these plants and see what they might look like if their properties gave form to fantastic beings instead of the blossoms we know.

And speaking of fantasy, artist and author Ana Matsusaki’s  The Collector of Heads, translated from Portuguese by Bruna Dantas Lobato and published by Tapioca Stories, is a large format book with each page offering a panoply of possible “finds” within the cranium of such diverse persons as a botanist and a musician. Who is finding these—by collecting their heads? Ah, that would Rosalia, who collects the heads of the recently departed to preserve their memories and stories.

In the musician's head illustration shows a collage-like image including musical notes and instruments in the brain of a face

Elementary Arts Integration: Similes and Metaphors offers one direction for furthering the rich and fantastical bounty this pair offers. Another activity might well be: what would Rosalia find inside the heads of the flowers described by Claire Le Men?

Hands-on Science for Middle Graders

This pair of nonfiction books, again providing plenty of informative—and fun—illustrations, shows the what, how, and why of observations and experiments elementary aged readers can undertake without a lab.

The Awesome Physics in Your Home is written by a collective known as The Amazing Theatre, comes from Albatros Books as part of the authors’ and publisher’s series of “Science All Around Us.” Illustrated by Tomáš Kopecký, the content provided by The Amazing Theatre is by a group of traveling performer educator scientists! Among them are three veteran math and physics teachers, and a chemistry teacher. The theatrical nature of their presentation, well boosted in book form by an illustrator who also creates computer games, immediately involves kids in discovering physics functions and properties at work and on display room by room in an ordinary home. With clarity explaining and showing experiments that can be performed with no lab and guidance just from the book, the invitation to dive in and do is irresistible.

How Do You Become a Mad Scientist? is one in a Flowerpot Press’ STEM series appropriately named “How Do….”  This volume is written by Madeline J. Hayes and illustrated with humor and panache by Srimalie Bassani. The quick answer to the title question is: experiment! And experiment with understanding of what properties you expect to find as they relate to formal studies of chemistry, physics, natural sciences, and even biology. There are facts and figures, clear directions, engaging questions to explore, and goofy, full color pictures. 

Science Buddies provides a rich collection of freely accessible STEM Activities for Kids. The experiments on the site are authored by scientists and presented in pedagogically sound ways for elementary aged scientists. Teachers and care providers can find specific activities to introduce in class or at home—or just turn your young scientist loose on this website to find what interests them in exploring further.

We’re preparing a Pinterest board of Perfect Pairs where we will continue to post couples of complementary titles with guidance to an extension resource on the topic or theme each pair presents. Expand kids’ minds with both/and options in place of either/or. Grab your knife and fork and get ready for some satisfying kids’ book meals!

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