By Leslie Lindsay
Have you ever struggled to find the perfect book? I know I have! And I’m a ‘reader.’ How about a child in your life? I’m betting so. This darling children’s book–with bold, bright illustrations–by football champion Malcolm Mitchell is sure to delight.
~BOOKS ON MONDAY|ALWAYS WITH A BOOK~
CHILDREN’S LITERACY
Henley hates to read.
When Henley is supposed to be reading before bed, he builds a castle with his sheets.
Henley hates reading so much, he took a wagon full of books to the town swimming pool to find out how well they could swim.
MY VERY FAVORITE BOOK IN THE WORLD (Scholastic, December 29) is super-adorable–the words, the illustrations–all of it, is so heartfelt and moving. It’s about being a kid who hates to read, but all of his classmates seem to thrive with a book in hand. It’s based on the real-life experience of football star Malcolm Mitchell, who says, “When I was a kid, reading was my biggest challenge. It was the thing that scared me most, because it was such a struggle […] nothing felt lonlier than being the kid in class who couldn’t read well. Deep inside, I knew I was as smart as everyone else, and I liked the stories…so what was the problem?”
When the daunting task of finding his favorite book is assigned at school, Henley is at a loss. He goes to the library and the bookstore. He looks at so many books of all shapes and sizes, but none of them have made Henley excited enough to read more.
“To Succeed, You Must Read”
After a fruitless search, Henley returns home, but defeat quickly turns to triumph with one exciting discovery: his mother kept all the books that he wrote when he was younger. That is when Henley gets an idea.
At school the next day, Henley is just as excited as his classmates. And he shares the new book he wrote, The Book Boy. Because there is a book for everyone, even if you have to write it.
EXTENSION ACTITIVITY:
You might try ‘making’ a book with your child. I did this as a kid and still have many of them, which is such a treasure. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just some folded pieces of paper, secured with a staple, illustrated with markers or whatever you have around the house. Your child might need a little prompting–maybe try looking at old photos of things you did together and generating a new story from that. If you have a collection of books as home, take a peek and re-ignite your interest and passion. You might even consider doing a book swap with neighbors or friends. If your child is largely non-verbal, you can still glean much from his or her drawings. Maybe she or he could ‘act it out’ and you can do the writing, or label the drawing based on what you might know from context. Most of all–have fun!
FOR MORE INFORMATION, TO CONNECT WITH MALCOLM MITCHELL via Social media, or to purchase a copy of MY VERY FAVORITE BOOK IN THE WHOLE WORLD, please visit:
ORDER LINKS:
~UPDATED, 2nd EDITION OF SPEAKING OF APRAXIA available from WOODBINE HOUSE!~
Artistic image of book cover designed and photographed by me, Leslie Lindsay. Follow on Instagram for more like this @leslielindsay1 #alwayswithabook #bookstagrammer.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Malcolm Mitchell is the rookie who helped the New England Patriots win Super Bowl LI. He’s also the founder of an initiative called Read with Malcolm, which introduces book ownership to students, and works to improve literacy in schools. Malcolm’s Share the Magic Foundation promotes the benefits of reading to kids in underserved communities. As the New England Patriots Summer Reading Ambassador, he encourages summer reading. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
ABOUT YOUR HOST:
Leslie Lindsay is the award-winning author of SPEAKING OF APRAXIA (Woodbine House, 2012) and former Mayo Clinic child/adolescent psychiatric R.N. She is at work on a memoir. Her writing has been published in Pithead Chapel, Common Ground Review, Cleaver Magazine (craft and CNF), The Awakenings Review, The Nervous Breakdown, Ruminate’s The Waking, Brave Voices Literary Magazine, Manifest-Station, and forthcoming in The Family Narrative Project (FNP) and Semicolon. Her photography was featured on the cover of Up the Staircase Quarterly in May 2020, other photography in Another Chicago Magazine (ACM) and Brushfire Literature & Arts Journal; poetry in the Coffin Bell Journal. The 2nd edition of SPEAKING OF APRAXIA will be available this fall. Leslie has been awarded one of the top 1% reviewers on GoodReads and recognized by Jane Friedman as one of the most influential book reviewers. Since 2013, Leslie has interviewed over 700 bestselling and debut authors on her author interview series. Follow her bookstagram posts @leslielindsay1.
- GoodReads
- Facebook: LeslieLindsayWriter
Twitter: @LeslieLindsay1- Email: leslie_lindsay@hotmail.com
- Amazon
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~UPDATED, 2nd EDITION OF SPEAKING OF APRAXIA available from WOODBINE HOUSE!~
represented by Catalyst Literary Management: MODEL HOME: Motherhood, Madness & Memory
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[Cover and author image courtesy of Scholastic and used with permission. Artistic image of book cover designed and photographed by me, Leslie Lindsay. Follow on Instagram for more like this @leslielindsay1 #alwayswithabook #bookstagrammer.]
Leslie A. Lindsay| Writer & Creative 