What is a Book?

The book that will transform children's relationship with reading. Emily Dickinson once likened a book to a frugal frigate that can carry you away to unknown lands of imagination. Albert Einstein believed that imagination is more important than knowledge. A book is a little thing. It seems like just a bunch of paper. It has a cover, a title, words. Sometimes drawings too. What Is a Book explores how a book is far more than paper and ink-it is a gateway into imagination, experience, and discovery. A book is a house. It is like a roof over your head, a cozy place to stay-a safe corner to hide away where you feel protected and secure. A book is a door. You open it and step into a different world. Will you meet someone? What will happen next? As the book reveals how a story can be an airplane, a blanket, a mirror, or a window, it shows how each metaphor represents a journey from the familiar self into something new-stimulating, comforting, and full of wonder. A book is a window. There is someone not at all like you out there-someone different, someone you are curious to understand and know more about. Perhaps that is why we read: to explore difference, connection, and possibility. A book is also a brick, a swing, and a sandwich. When you discover why, you understand what books can do for us-where they can take us, and what they can teach us. This is both a powerful book for children and a reminder for adults of why we have always loved, valued, and cherished books-and why they remain so important. AGES: 4 to 7 AUTHOR: Lucia Stipari has been a touring singer, a circus squire, gymnastics teacher and firefighter. Then she began working in publishing and is a book graphics agent. Her school degree is in philosophy and she lives in Italy. Elisa Codutti is a prizewinning children's book illustrator from Italy. Her illustrations are simple yet sensitive to the world of the child and filled with humorous touches.