“It was an absolutely wonderful, positively perfect, especially terrific idea.”

Keven Henkes sentence almost sings with fun sounds. Henkes isn’t afraid to use big words, then he strings them together in a musical way. Here the first word in each pair has four syllables which lends a poetic touch. I’ve blogged about this prolific children’s writer before because he understands words and kids so well. In this book titled Owen, a little boy has trouble giving up his blanket when it’s time to start school.

Grown-up writers can learn from good kids’ books. I dare you to read one aloud today… whether there’s a kid present or not!

“Lilly ran and skipped and hopped and flew all the way home, she was so happy. And she really did want to be a teacher when she grew up — That is when she didn’t want to be a dancer or a surgeon or an ambulance driver or a diva or a pilot or a hairdresser or a scuba diver…”

Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse is the story of a little girl who can’t wait for sharing time at school causing the teacher to take her special things for the day and causing Lilly to show her anger. In this sentence at the end, Lilly is friends once again with her favorite teacher. Kevin Henkes is one of the best children’s book authors. He really understands kids. Here Henkes’ juxtaposition of various possible career choices is so true to life. My aspirations included singer, architect and entomologist. The funny thing is Lilly the mouse is very much like my girl – both are creative and passionate. 🙂