BOOKS ABOUT LINES

A collection of the best picture books to read to young artists and prewriters when first exploring the different lines need for writing and drawing.

Last year I shared my secret to how to teach handwriting to preschoolers to help teach everything from correct letter formation to shapes and numbers to prewriters. I used the line rocks during intentional teaching time as well as part of invitations to play or provocations for children to explore independently. Another way I like to provide support for learners using such provocations is with picture books. Here are my favourite picture books for exploring lines.

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Lines That Wiggle by Candace Whitman is a recent addition to our home library. A bright colourful book that provides a good giggle for young children while they are also being inundated with rich rhyming vocabulary (curve, curl, swirl). The book finishes by asking the reader to find some more lines - the perfect invitation! 

Follow the Line by Laura Ljungkvist I've mentioned before when I wrote about perfect books for looking at prepositions. Ljungkvist uses such clean lines and retro colour combinations to create a beautifully illustrated book that would suit a multitude of provocations from its Picasso-like faces to its curly clouded sky.

Look! Look! Look! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace is a book you want in your collection. It's the story of three mice quietly enjoying their afternoon when a postcard arrives for the owners of the house they reside in. On the front of the postcard is a Portrait of Lady Clopton by Robert Peake. The mice borrow the postcard and spend the afternoon finding patterns, colours, lines and shapes. This book has combined so much great math and art language in one. 

Lines by Philip Yenawine is another book that very effectively uses famous artwork to explore different lines. It challenges the reader to find straight lines, curved lines, lines that make shapes. It's only available now second-hand but worth keeping an eye out for.

The Line by Paula Bossio is a wordless book that much like A Long Piece of String by William Wondriska, invites you to pick up the piece of string and follow it. I'd included A Long Piece of String as one of my favourite alphabet books and I would certainly include The Line in my list of wonderful wordless books now. It's hand drawn illustrations invoke a great sense of childish humour and imagination whilst also dealing with a child's fear of scary monsters. 

Journey by Aaron Becker I have to include here again. It's one of my all-time favourite picture books that reminds me of when I was a child dreaming of being able to walk through the back of my cupboard and into Narnia. Journey is the story of a girl who draws her way out of her world and into another where a spectacular adventure awaits.

Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal is such a funny book. A simple line drawing forms the basis of an argument let's say discussion between two protagonists - one who feels strongly that the shape is a duck, the other who feels equally strongly that it must be a rabbit. A great reminder that a line/shape/cloud/object can really be anything we imagine.

Outside the US? 
I recommend The Book Depository.