Tag Archives: Curiousity

Elem. – The Ship in the Window

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Jonker, Travis. The Ship in the Window. Viking, 2024. 978-0-593-35057-7.  Unpaged. $18.99.  Grades K-2.

An adorable mouse named Mabel lives in a cabin near a lake with an unnamed man and boy. The father has built a model ship, complete with sails and rigging, as his son and Mabel look on. All three admire the vessel as it sits in the front window, but no one is permitted to touch it. Mabel longs to examine the ship and take it out for a sail on the lake, picturing herself as the captain. One night, the mouse removes the ship from the cabin and places it in the water. As wind fills the sails, little Mabel navigates the vessel on the lake, using the stars for guidance. She faces some rough seas, but all is calm as the sun rises. On awakening, the man is alarmed to find the model is missing, but he and his son are overjoyed when they see that the craft is seaworthy. Their happiness is short-lived when the ship strikes a big rock. Will the trio find a different way to put the pieces together? Cordell uses a limited color palette of blue, gray and brown for his charming vintage looking illustrations. The muted colors create a cozy and calming atmosphere. The author’s message is about the joy of curiosity and the thrill of adventure.

THOUGHTS: This sweet story works well as a read aloud and is a good choice for nautical storytimes. Recommended for elementary collections.

Picture Book

Elem. – The Curious Why

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DiTerlizzi, Angela. The Curious Why. Illustrated by Lorena Alvarez Gomez. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2024. 978-0-316-50014-2. 34 p. $18.99. Grades PK-3.

The story opens with a little boy who has grown bored of all of his usual sources of entertainment: toys, screens, playing, etc. Enter “The Curious Why” who helps all “to see that you’re only bored if you choose to be!” Why leads to other questions like how, what, where, and when. The kids who ask why end up looking for answers in the library, where other kids are also researching their own passions. The Curious Why then leads the characters through all sorts of adventures ending with the message: “Now there’s no limit to how far you’ll go, how much you’ll learn, or how much you’ll know!”

THOUGHTS: The colorful illustrations and rhyming text will delight young readers and inspire them to find answers to all their questions and to love learning. My own child really loved going through the book over and over again finding new details in the picture. For an educational setting, I definitely would recommend this as a supplemental text to introduce research projects. 

Picture Book