Be prepared to be amazed. No, I swear that I’m not being hyperbolic! Bill Thomson has created another wordless picture book that astounds the eye and encourages imaginative storytelling in young children. In Fossil, a boy and his dog encounter more than they expect as they hike near a lake one day, and their adventure involves old rocks and new magical life. If you don’t want to take my word that this book will knock your kids’ socks off, listen to these experts who just happen to be in the book’s target audience:
Now that you’ve gotten to see some of the book’s images for yourself, let me blow your mind just a little bit more. As with his previous picture book Chalk, there is a note on the copyright page of this one that speaks to Thomson’s illustrations:
“Bill Thomson embraced traditional painting techniques and meticulously painted each illustration by hand, using acrylic paint and colored pencils. His illustrations are not photographs or computer generated images.”
I’ll give you a second to go back and read that sentence again.
I can’t even begin to explain how incredible this fact is, because these illustrations are the most realistic-looking ones I’ve ever seen. The nuances in shade and shadow, the presence of texture and depth, the details in the boy’s and dog’s faces– there are not strong enough words to express my amazement.
I have often written about the usefulness of wordless books in a child’s library, and as you could plainly see in the video above, the absence of text does not at all hinder a creative child’s ability to tell the story. Whenever I brought his previous book into my preschool classroom library, it was always in constant rotation among my students, and I watched as they stared in wonder at the pages for long periods of time. I have no doubt that Thomson’s latest offering will have the same fate in children’s hands for years to come.
Enter to Win
If I haven’t gotten you interested in this remarkable and unique picture book, then I’m not doing my job well enough! You should absolutely enter today’s giveaway to win a copy of this book for an imaginative child in your life. Follow the details in the Giveaway Tools widget below to enter. U.S. mailing addresses only, please.
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This book would be great for my 4 year-old pre-reading son. He enjoys going through wordless picture books with me and telling me the story. Thanks so much for the giveaway.
My grandson would like this book very much. Thanks for this chance.
my granddaughter would love this book
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My daughter would enjoy this!
My daughter would absolutely love this!
My boys would both love it!
My granddaughter would like this!
Dawn- THANKS for your review of FOSSIL and kind words!
My husband would love to read this book with our little boy!
My dad – who took us fossil-hunting whenever he could.
my kids – who dug up more fossils than they could save when helping in the garden.
my hubby – who, every time he tills, tries to toss the fossils in the rock pile so I don’t bring them back and put them on the porch…
me – because really, who can resist a rock filled with a story?
My niece, who teaches about fossils, and lots of my great nephews and nieces.
My grandson turned 4 today.
We looked at Anthony Brown’s book CHANGES and he was ready to do what the boy in the book did: go outside and see if there were any changes!
I know he would love the illustrations, but so would his older brothers and ME!
My daughter would love this book. Thanks for this chance.
I think my youngest would really enjoy this
My niece would love it!
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My children would love this.
I think my kids (10 and 3) would BOTH like the book. Wordless picture books are not very common but can be quite fun. Thank you for the chance to win.
My son would like this book.
i think my niece would enjoy this, she is into “what is this, what was this”
My 18 month grandson would like this book on “rocks”. He has a long sit time when helping me read books. When I ask, he’ll bring me the board books by name. I think he takes after my family, a whole generation of book lovers who read by flashlight when the lights went out.