Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday, dear friends. And today is such a special day for this particular book because it is the one-year birthday for PENNY AND THE PLAIN PIECE OF PAPER.
HURRAY!!!!! What a beautiful book Miri Leshem-Pelly created! And I’m so thrilled to be able to share it with you. Miri is not only mega-talented…she is also mega-generous and one lucky winner is going to snag a Picture Book Critique or a Zoom chat with Miri…so make sure you leave a comment. Maybe you could tell us what YOU would write/draw on your plain piece of paper.
PENNY AND THE PLAIN PIECE OF PAPER
Written and illustrated by Miri Leshem-Pelly
Published by Philomel (2020)
Ages: 4-8+
Themes: SEL, creativity, self-esteem
Synopsis from Amazon:
One little doodle girl takes control of her own creative destiny in this funny and imaginative book perfect for fans of Harold and the Purple Crayon!
Penny lives on a plain piece of paper, with just one problem–she’s bored. There’s nothing to do, no one to talk to, not a single way to keep herself entertained! Not one to wallow, Penny makes a decision: it’s high time she ventured out into the world and explored other types of paper.
But when she’s not serious enough for the newspaper, not angular enough for the graph paper, and not repetitive enough for the wrapping paper, Penny doesn’t know where she belongs. With some help from the friends she’s met along her journey, though, she comes up with the perfect paper plan for herself.
In this fun and funny book about fitting in and finding home, imagination wins the day!
Praise for Penny and the Plain Piece of Paper:
* “Penny’s journey through varying visual styles is bright, fascinating, and funny . . . Irresistibly touchable.” —Kirkus Reviews, *STARRED REVIEW*
Why I Love This Book:
- Simple yet vivid illustrations engage the reader.
- Text perfectly portrays Penny’s search for where she belongs.
- I love books that encourage children to be creative…and to love who they are.
RELATED ACTIVITIES:
Working with paper is always fun for kids – just pull out the crayons or markers and many will be happy to doodle for hours. Add scissors and glue and you could spend a whole day creating amazing things. Check out some of these projects: https://www.thejoysharing.com/2020/02/paper-crafts-for-kids.html
Please remember that the best way to thank an author for her beautiful books is to buy them and review them, tell friends about them, and ask your local library to purchase copies for their collection.
Here’s a link for the Teacher’s Guide that Miri created for Penny and the Plain Piece of Paper. It’s a 14-page PDF with many creative activities, available for free on Penguin Classroom website:https://penguinclassroom.com/books/penny-and-the-plain-piece-of-paper/
And here’s a link for the wonderful trailer: https://youtu.be/QxDqrSrXfgU
And a few more links so you can connect with Miri and find out more about her wonderful books:
Book page
Her website
Free downloads
Kirkus starred review
And guess what, dear friends? Miri will be back on September 4th for Will Write for Cookies. I can’t wait to see what delights she will be sharing with us them! Please make sure you leave a comment to be entered in the wonderful giveaway…and please share this post on your social media.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
Miri, PENNY has inspired me to draw a rainbow. Thanks!
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How lovely! I love rainbows 🙂
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As a non-artist, this book inspires me. PENNY is adorable!
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Thank you! This makes me so happy!
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Love the concept, I’ll definitely check it out! Thank you for sharing : )
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Thank you, I’m so glad to hear that. I hope you’ll enjoy the book 🙂
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Congratulations, Miri! Penny and all her paper choices sounds very creative. Looking forward to reading your book! I guess I’d write on my piece of paper : )
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Thank you so much. I hope you’ll like reading my book 🙂
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Love this! Thanks for sharing, Vivian!
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Thank you!
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What a great story- it’s on my list! Thanks for sharing, Vivian.
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Thank you for adding my book to your list 🙂 I hop you’ll enjoy it.
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My students will love this book! I’m sure of it!
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Awww… Thank you! I’m so glad to hear you’ll share my book with your students! I’d LOVE to hear what they thought about PENNY.
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I enjoy finding books that are unique like this one and I can’t wait to read it. I shared on tumblr: https://yesreaderwriterpoetmusician.tumblr.com/post/660693230156906496/via-perfect-picture-book-friday-penny-and-the
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Thank you so much for your nice words and for sharing my book! 🙂
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What a delightful idea! I love the illustrations. Can’t wait to read to my grands. Congratulations !
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Thank you! I’m so glad you like my book. Thanks for sharing it with your grands! 🙂 I hope you’ll enjoy it together.
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This is a clever idea for a book about finding one’s place. Love the illustrations!
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Thank you very much!
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This sounds like such a fun book…and might inspire children to create their own doodles!
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Thank you very much! I really hope it will inspire kids to doodle and get creative. 🙂
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This book is absolutely adorable!!! I truly can’t wait to share it with my in person classes this year. Thanks for highlighting such a creative and fun picture book! 💖
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Thank you so much!!! It makes me so happy to hear you’ll share it with your students. I’d LOVE it if you could let me know what they thought about it!
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Love!!! Can’t wait to read it.
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Thank you!!! I hope you’ll enjoy reading my book 🙂
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Fabulous! Thanks for sharing, Vivian.
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Thank you! I’m glad you like my book 🙂
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Penny’s adorable! Is she really printed on shiny, wrinkled paper? How clever!
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Thank you! For the illustrations I used photos of wrinkled papers and placed my scanned hand drawings on top of the photos using Photoshop, to create the illusion of real pieces of papers.
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Book looks great, look forward to reading it!
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Thank you! I hope you’ll enjoy reading it 🙂
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I love these illustrations. So much fun! Thanks for sharing, Vivian!
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Thank you! 🙂 I’m glad to hear you love my illustrations.
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What a lovely picture book! Absolutely perfect for my kindergarten library!
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Thank you so much! What a joy for me to hear that you’ll add my book to your kindergarten library! I’d love to hear what the children thought about it 🙂
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This looks like a very creative story. Thanks for featuring it.
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Thank you so much! I hope it will inspire kids to get creative too 🙂
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Such a creative story! I hadn’t seen this when it published last year, but I’ve added it to my “to read” list now!
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Thank you! Never too late 🙂 Thanks for adding it to your list, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading it.
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