Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Perpetually asking "why?," a little rabbit receives answers from his patient ursine friend in this gentle, thought-provoking new picture-book from author/illustrator Laura Vaccaro Seeger. Some questions - why are the birds flying off in formation? why is bear eating honey? - are easy to answer, but others - why has the little redbird died? - are more difficult. Always honest, the bear admits when he doesn't have the answers, and eventually heads for his winter hibernation spot. When the show more rabbit pleads with him to stay, it is his turn to ask why...

A simple but ultimately thoughtful text is paired with beautiful watercolor artwork in Why?, which highlights the importance both of asking questions and of accepting the fact that we can't always know the answers. This is a difficult idea to grasp sometimes, and not just for children, so kudos to Seeger for exploring it here. The heartwarming ending, in which the friendship between the bear and rabbit is emphasized, allows the reader and listener to close the book with the feeling that, although some things may be uncertain and unknowable, friendship and love can be relied upon. Recommended to young questioners. show less

First the Egg is a beautiful, early childhood, book that illustrated the cause and effect relationship. Seeger starts the book with "First the egg, then the chicken." The illustration of the egg includes a cut-out in the page, with the white feathers of the chicken making the shape of the egg. Each pair of pages following contains the same layout. "First the tadpole, then the frog" and so on. As I read, I could hear my Kindergarten students jumping with excitement to tell me what comes after show more each "first". Seeger uses tangible relationships for young readers including seed/plant, word/story, and paint/picture. She ends the book in the opposite way she began the book, truly leaving young readers to ponder the common saying. "What comes first? The chicken or the egg?" I would totally use this book with my kindergarten students. In whole group we could have a great discussion based on this book, but I also would like to have my gifted students read it to me individually and discuss their thoughts with them. Love this book! show less

Now this is a perfect use of die cuts (unlike some of this author's other books, where it just feels shoehorned in). A cutout of an object (lemon to start) is shown on a non-matching color, saying lemons are not red... when the page is turned, the die now shows the correct color from the facing page. Additionally, the "red" page now shows something that truly is red - an apple! Clever and a great way to engage an audience.

Seeger always amazes me with her creativity and skill. This text and illustrations encourage students to slow down, and look closely through the pages, and think. In this book, she spreads all two-pages in green. Seeger is dedicated to one particular shade of green in her Honor Book. When I finished reading this book, I read it again immediately. I wanted to slow myself down, savore each page and think about the difference between the shades of green that the authour features. The shades show more that Seeger chooses are revealed through a nonfiction topics such as” forest green, sea green, lime green, and pea green” There are few unusual greens like "wacky green" for a green striped zebra; Seeger did not draw a green zebra to show that there are a lot of different shades of green in the world. Instead, "wacky green" is to expand children’s understanding of the presence of shades of green in the world to the creative “imaginary world”. Seeger creates simple yet wonderfully concept books. Her mastery of die-cuts adds a delight in unexpected and intelligent ways. I was amaze by the die cut shared by the tiger and lizard. The rectangular die cuts shows the words “jungle” and “khaki” but each is embedded in the painted scenes. Children will not easily recognize the words but when they see them they will appreciate the art and her engineering work. show less