This makes my heart sing today ! After a long work day, I like to sit down and look at beautifully illustrated books just like this one-Blue Rider by the talented author and illustrator Geraldo Valério, Groundwood Books (My Book of Birds). It calms me down and I find peace.⠀
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This wordless title is part of our wordless book collection. ⠀
With wordless books children become creative storytellers. Pre-and early readers build important literacy skills such as listening skills, vocabulary, comprehension and structure of stories. By using words of their very own, struggling readers gain confidence and motivation as they read this story time and time again, including new observations and feelings with each read. This book is also beneficial for children who are being raised in multi-language households.⠀
About the story...⠀(from the publisher)
On a gray and crowded city sidewalk, a child discovers a book. That evening, the child begins to read and is immediately carried beyond the repetitive sameness of an urban skyscape into an untamed natural landscape. The child experiences a moment of true joy, and as if in response to that single blissful moment, people seem to come alive in all the other rooms of the apartment block. Thanks to the power of one book, an entire society is transformed.⠀
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In creating this book, Geraldo Valério was inspired by the German Expressionist group known as Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), which formed in Munich in 1911 and included painters Franz Marc and Wassily Kandinsky. These artists sought to find the spiritual significance in art, with an emphasis on form and color. In turn, Valério has created a wordless book that speaks volumes about how art can transform us beyond the sometimes-dreary world of the everyday.⠀
