Little Black Crow

Little Black Crow: This book had darling illustrations. I really liked the watercolor, but that was really the only thing I liked. I didn’t follow the story, there just wasn’t any story to follow. I didn’t like all the questions. At the most, you could use this to show students to look at pictures and guide their questions. But I feel students can do this without prompts.

I'm not as fond of this Rashcka book as a a few of his others. Nevertheless, I can see the value in this question style book. Raschka captures the nature of questioning little ones. Such a simple book, yet not lacking in depth. Our little narrator hones in on human like fundamentals of relationships and identity with his short but apt questions. I wonder why he chose a crow?

I wonder if sutdents would be able to categorize the nature of each of the questions in this book. I would love to have them observe an animal and write their own book of questions to that animal.

A little boy sits on a fence and wonders about a passing crow,
"Little black crow where do you go? Where do you go in the cold white snow? Where do you go?"
Through the boy’s series of poetically repetitive questions, we learn about the little black crow, but ultimately, more about the boy who questions it,
"Do you ever worry when you hop and you hurry? Are you ever afraid of mistakes you’ve made? Are you never afraid?"
Raschka’s watercolor illustrations evoke the simplicity and wonder of childhood. Enchanting.
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A young boy uses a series of open-ended questions to connect with a little black crow. Shows an interesting connection with nature, indicating humans and animals often have the same concerns - safety for themselves, their families, etc. I love that the entire text is written in questions!

What kinds of things does a crow fly by during his day and where does he want to go? What does he do in the cold white snow or in the stormy sky? Will he meet anyone on a branch? This text uses rhyming words to allow the illustrations to to finish the things not said. The pages are filled with earthoned ,somewhat tie-died watercolor illustrations as we follow a black inked crow hopping on a branch overseeing his surroundings while a boy hopes he notices him. The feel of this book reminds me of days laying on the grass and watching the crows in the trees above me and wondering, as they sat on the branch, what they thought of me and my world. It's a nice reflec ting kind of book for kids. Highly recommended. Ages 3-6.

Raschka takes his spare verse and asks deep questions about animals and their relationship to humans. Through it all, his watercolor images move, transitioning as the book continues from a black and brown palette to a glory of pinks, blues, oranges and yellows. Even the illustrations have a minimalist feel to them, just like the verse they leave plenty of room for readers to insert themselves into the book.

Little Black Crow is written in only questions. A little boy watches a crow and continues to ask questions to the crow. Are you a boy? How do you sleep? etc. A great book about curiosity and thinking.