Chalk

Title: Chalk  
Author: Bill Thomson   
Illustrator: Bill Thomson  
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark
Publication Date: 2010   
Genre/Format: Realistic Ficton/Wordless Picture Book   
Summary: Three kids head to the park on a rainy day where they find some magical chalk that brings their drawings to life!  
What I Think: I think this might be my favorite wordless picture book!  I picked this up from the library and read it with Peanut in the car waiting for my husband one day.  We had fun looking at the pictures and figuring out together what was happening in the story.  We were both scared for the kiddos in the scary part (can't give it away...)!  We've reread this book many times since that first reading.  It's truly a story that illustrates the benefit of rereading because every time we read it we think about how to tell the story and anticipate what is going to happen next.  It reminds me of Mary Poppins when they jump into the chalk drawings but it also reminds me of Jumanji. 
Read Together: Pre-K - 12  
Read Alone: Pre-K - 12  
Read With: Karate Hour and other books by Bill Thomson; The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney
Snatch of Text: There is no text!  The illustrations are absolutely superb though!   
Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Making Predictions, Making Inferences 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Writing With a Picture  
Writing Prompts: Write your own text to match the story, then revise it or go back and rewrite the story to see how it changes. 
Topics Covered: Imagination, Problem-Solving, Magic 
Translated to Spanish: Wordless!  Bonus!