I usually review recent picture books, but when I found today’s Perfect Picture Book on my granddaughter’s bookshelf and when I remembered how much I had enjoyed reading it with her mother, I had to share it with you.
Title: Alison’s Zinnia
Written & Illustrated By: Anita Lobel
Publisher/Date: Greenwillow Books/1990
Suitable for Ages: 4-8
Themes/Topics: flower names, generosity, kindness, concept book, girls’ names, alliteration, alphabet
Opening:
Alison acquired an Amaryllis for Beryl. Beryl bought a Begonia for Crystal.
Brief Synopsis: An alphabetical concept book exploring flowers and girls’ names.
Links to Resources:
· Try writing your own alphabet story about food (Andrew ate an avocado with Brad) or another topic of your choice following the structure of Alison’s Zinnia;
· Discover these rare flowers;
· Try planting some of the flowers mentioned in Alison’s Zinnia.
Why I Like this Book:
Alison’s Zinnia is a simple but clever introduction to flowers, generosity, and interesting girls’ names. Each page showcases one girl and one flower that begin with the same letter. The girl does something with the flower for another girl, whose name begins with the next letter. And what does the last girl, Zena, do with a Zinnia? Zero in on it for Alison, bringing the reader full circle, and helping to explain the title.
Lobel cleverly uses alliteration to tie the girls’ names, flower names, and actions together and to set a pattern that flows through the book and keeps readers turning the pages. Each spread features two large illustrations of the featured blooms plus small vignettes showing the featured actions – all of which are means of spreading kindness.
Although Alison’s Zinnia is an older book, with its spare text, clever structure, and gorgeous paintings of flowers, I think it stands the test of time and will be enjoyed by children and their adults today.
A Note about Craft:
Such a simple idea – a concept book that features the ABC’s. But using alliteration, Lobel features girls’ names paired with flowers, both usual and less-well-known, that start with each letter of the alphabet. She then adds kind actions that also begin with each letter. These actions add a special layer to the story. Add in the gorgeous illustrations and you have a picture book that stands the test of time.
I wonder, though, how someone today could update this concept, perhaps by focusing on an own-voices theme or names or on a particular region. Notably, several of the girls in Alison’s Zinnia seem to hail from earlier times, and only one child of color appears in the illustrations.
This Perfect Picture Book entry is being added to Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Book list. Check out the other great picture books featured there!
Wander, Ponder, Write 