Wednesday, February 5, 2014

The Most Magnificent Thing - Ashley Spires

The Most Magnificent ThingThe Most Magnificent Thing is a most magnificent book!  It's the story of a little girl and her dog that make plans for a new invention.  She has a vision, but things aren't going exactly as planned.  When things go from bad to worse she gets quite frustrated.  Her friend the dog suggests a walk.  When she calms down and looks at things from a different perspective things might just be ok.

I would use The Most Magnificent Thing in my school as a read aloud for children in kindergarten to grade 3.  Aside from being a fun story with great pictures, which it really is, it can be very useful to teach many lessons.  Just the other day a grade 3 teacher asked me for a book on someone having a very bad day that escalates to a blow up and then a cool off.  This would be perfect!  It can be used to teach students to look at things from a different perspective.  Perhaps students could draw a picture of something they would invent.  There is also a lesson about how hard work pays off.

The author's name was quite familiar and when I looked at her book list I see I have read many of her books.  Also, many of Ashley Spires' previous titles are past nominees from the Forest of Reading Blue Spruce category.  I suspect The Most Magnificent Thing will be appearing on the nomination list next year.

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