My Day in the Park

PreS-Gr 2–A young boy narrates the details of his love for the park and what he sees or who he meets while there. From people to insects, from plants to tightrope walkers, he talks about them all. The story itself is simple, but it is relayed and shown in such a way that readers will be playing an iSpy in the pages and memory game mash-up of their own park visits as they follow the narrator. On the left page, all the things the boy sees are shown in miniature, with clear text underneath the picture of each. On the right, the boy talks about one specific activity he likes to do related to the left page; on one spread, the left page of “In the small wood” shows small pictures of trees with their names clearly displayed beneath, and the right side is one large picture about how long the boy can balance a helicopter maple seed. Orzel’s illustrations are key in this book, acting almost as a picture dictionary of a park, while also showing different activities and views of the narrator. Altogether this is a wonderful book for getting children excited about going to the park and introducing them to new words.