Brianne Farley

I love this book! The story follows two sisters who are outside and one is reading while the other is looking for ideas for what to do. She uses her imagination and comes up with some amazing and funny ways to use thier tree fort to go on adventures. This book encourages kids to get outside and be creative when it comes to the way they play which is something so important to me. Also, the art in this book is beautiful and brings the imagination of a child to life in a beautiful way.

In my opinion this was a story that many students could relate to. The plot followed the character, Ike, as he figured out how to create the ink that he needed to help him write a story. It was well organized; the conflict was clear and it was easy to follow the character through his process of solving the problem he faced. I feel as though there are many students that have run into the same problem that Ike has with not knowing what to write about when they are assigned a writing show more assignment. By the end of the book you realize that Ike decides to write his book on how he got his ink. When students are stuck they can learn from this book that life experience make for an easy writing topic. Whenever you can relate a writing prompt to something that has happened in your life; it makes the writing that much easier to write as well as more interesting to read. I also enjoyed the way the book was illustrated. The story was about ink so all the illustrations reflected that theme as well with the drawings looking like they were all done in ink as well. Some are simple and some are a little more elaborate but i think that reflected how versatile ink can be. This versatility is also seen in the color choices that was used. Some objects are a solid color while other are patterned with elaborate designs. It is easy to see how much thought and careful planning went into the illustrations. show less

An earnest worm offers to make the reader a sandwich, and goes about collecting ingredients: garbage to make compost, compost to make dirt, etc. This sandwich will take a little time, not too long, maybe a few months....finally, there's a ripe red tomato for your sandwich. All you have to do is toast the bread, spread the mayonnaise...

Very funny, and a great way to teach about composting and vermiculture. A good read-aloud for early elementary.

One of the professional reviews called this book quirky and the word surely fits, in a completely positive sense. It is also quite an imaginative take on procrastination, a quality I know something about.