This is the House that Jack Built
Debbie Barry
Paperback
(CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Sept. 11, 2017)
Children love reading this additive nursery rhyme, with its longer and longer repetitive sentences. The original Mother Goose rhyme is adapted for modern children, with a few additions and changes. The colorful illustrations help children remember and connect with the verses as the story unfolds. Nursery rhymes help children build early learning skills and vocabulary, and the rhythm of the rhymes helps children remember what they have learned. Nursery rhymes carry the history, culture, and traditions of the English from the misty, distant past to the present, and help children learn and understand ideas that have been taught to English-speaking children for centuries. Reading these rhymes with parents and caregivers, who can explain new words and ideas to young learners, helps children form personal connections that last a lifetime. The legally-blind author and illustrator created the illustrations in much the same way young children would draw similar pictures: with bold lines, simple shapes, bright colors, and minimal details, using wide-tipped colored markers on paper. They result is solidly cheerful, old-school illustrations that resonate with young aspiring artists. The bold lines and strong colors allow Debbie to draw her own illustrations from her wheelchair, despite her profound vision loss, providing an example to children young and old that handicaps do not meant helplessness, and do not need to stop a person from doing normal – or even amazing – things!
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