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A review by laurelinwonder
Where Shall We Go Big Black Crow? by Arielle North Olson
5.0
Okay, I added this book to Goodreads myself because parents and teachers of littles will love it. We received a copy in our monthly selections from Literati, who also sent a message about this little book. Which included information I think relevant:
"it was written and illustrated by three generations of the same family: Arielle North Olson, a children's book author in the U.S., wrote the story with her daughter, Christy Olson Kennedy, while her granddaughter, Caity Kennedy, did the illustrations."
About the publisher from Literati:
"So what’s the story behind Little Latitude? When she was two years old, Vinay and Neha Diddee's daughter Anahi couldn’t read, but she loved Eric Carle’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. She’d flip the pages and move her fingers along the text as if she was reading - but it was the artwork she found captivating.
Vinay and Neha thought The Very Hungry Caterpillar was a fantastic book, but that it was the exception rather than the rule when it came to finding titles their daughter loved. By the time Anahi was five, the Diddees realized there was an opportunity to fill this void - particularly as she now had a brother, Vir, three years her junior, who they hoped would become an avid reader like Anahi.
“Books in English by Indian publishers were mostly mythological tales, or about Indian culture - which are important to us,” Neha says, but there wasn’t much variety. What’s more, she says the illustrations didn’t appeal. “We’d read a story to our children and they’d say ‘mama, why does this character look so angry when the story says something else?’ We realized then that when you can’t read, you’re looking at the visuals and that’s what you connect with instantly.”
As for imported Western titles, there were books by Eric Carle, Julia Donaldson, and Quentin Blake, but not much else with quirky illustrations and great written content. Vinay was running his own textile company, and Neha, a photographer, had been working for years with National Geographic as a picture researcher, but they thought: why not launch their own publishing company. In 2011, Little Latitude was born."
There is of course more to know about this little book, which you should order directly from Little Latitude ASAP, but what I want to say is it is just a beautiful book, the illustrations are incredible, and not like anything I've seen in a board book. It also has little descriptions of the different birds mentioned throughout the book at the end, so children can learn from it. I also love the the lift flaps are actually kind of hidden, so it's like a little secret treat.
"it was written and illustrated by three generations of the same family: Arielle North Olson, a children's book author in the U.S., wrote the story with her daughter, Christy Olson Kennedy, while her granddaughter, Caity Kennedy, did the illustrations."
About the publisher from Literati:
"So what’s the story behind Little Latitude? When she was two years old, Vinay and Neha Diddee's daughter Anahi couldn’t read, but she loved Eric Carle’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. She’d flip the pages and move her fingers along the text as if she was reading - but it was the artwork she found captivating.
Vinay and Neha thought The Very Hungry Caterpillar was a fantastic book, but that it was the exception rather than the rule when it came to finding titles their daughter loved. By the time Anahi was five, the Diddees realized there was an opportunity to fill this void - particularly as she now had a brother, Vir, three years her junior, who they hoped would become an avid reader like Anahi.
“Books in English by Indian publishers were mostly mythological tales, or about Indian culture - which are important to us,” Neha says, but there wasn’t much variety. What’s more, she says the illustrations didn’t appeal. “We’d read a story to our children and they’d say ‘mama, why does this character look so angry when the story says something else?’ We realized then that when you can’t read, you’re looking at the visuals and that’s what you connect with instantly.”
As for imported Western titles, there were books by Eric Carle, Julia Donaldson, and Quentin Blake, but not much else with quirky illustrations and great written content. Vinay was running his own textile company, and Neha, a photographer, had been working for years with National Geographic as a picture researcher, but they thought: why not launch their own publishing company. In 2011, Little Latitude was born."
There is of course more to know about this little book, which you should order directly from Little Latitude ASAP, but what I want to say is it is just a beautiful book, the illustrations are incredible, and not like anything I've seen in a board book. It also has little descriptions of the different birds mentioned throughout the book at the end, so children can learn from it. I also love the the lift flaps are actually kind of hidden, so it's like a little secret treat.