All by himself?

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All by himself?

Title:

All by himself?

Author:

Arnold, Elana K., author.

Potter, Giselle, illustrator.

Summary:

What does it take to create something new? A whole lot of work—and a whole lot of people! The child may be the one to stack the building blocks. But someone had to transport the blocks, and someone had to carve the blocks from wood, and someone had to plant the tree that provided the wood for the blocks, and so on! -- Amazon.

Audience:

Ages 0-8. Beach Lane Books.

Grades K-1. Beach Lane Books.

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

1 volume (unpaged): color illustrations ; 29 cm.

Genre:

Picture books.

Cumulative tales.

Subject Term:

Cooperation -- Juvenile fiction.

Blocks (Toys) -- Juvenile fiction.

Building -- Juvenile fiction.

Author(s):

Potter, Giselle,

Publisher:

Beach Lane Books,

Publication Date:

2022

ISBN:

9781534489899

Publication Information:

New York : Beach Lane Books, [2022]

Call Number:

P ARNOLD

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003665687	New Picture Books	ARNOLD	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

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Summary

A child spends the day building a castle with wooden blocks--all by himself! But was it really only his work that made his masterpiece possible?

What does it take to create something new? A whole lot of work--and a whole lot of people! The child may be the one to stack the building blocks. But someone had to transport the blocks, and someone had to carve the blocks from wood, and someone had to plant the tree that provided the wood for the blocks, and so on!

Written by National Book Award finalist Elana K. Arnold and gorgeously illustrated by Giselle Potter, this deceptively simple story reminds us that we are all connected--and that no one builds anything all by themselves.

Author Notes

Elana K. Arnold writes books for and about children and teens. She holds a master's degree in creative writing/fiction from the University of California, Davis, where she has taught creative writing and adolescent literature. She is a frequent speaker at schools, libraries, and writers' conferences. She is the author of several acclaimed young adult novels including the Printz Honor book Damsel and National Book Award finalist What Girls Are Made of , as well as her picture books All by Himself? , What Riley Wore , and An Ordinary Day . Currently, Elana is the caretaker of seven pets, only two of which have fur. She lives in Long Beach, California, and you can visit her at ElanaKArnold.com.

Giselle Potter has illustrated many books, including Try It! by Mara Rockliff, All by Himself? by Elana K. Arnold, and Kate and the Beanstalk by Mary Pope Osborne, as well as her own Tell Me What to Dream About , This Is My Dollhouse , and The Year I Didn't Go to School , about traveling through Italy with her parents' puppet troupe when she was eight. She lives in Rosendale, New York, with her husband and two daughters. Visit her at GisellePotter.com.

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

The eponymous "himself," a white-presenting youth who proudly builds an elaborate block structure, doesn't appear for the first half of this cumulative picture book. Instead, Arnold's (Just Harriet) "The House that Jack Built"--tinged narrative and Potter's (Sister Wish) watercolor and ink art--which has a stylized geometry and playful directness reminiscent of Grant Wood--introduce the people, portrayed with various skin tones, who make the child's triumphant moment possible. First is the tree farmer who planted a seedling "years ago/ before the child was even born," followed by an arborist and woodcutter; then it's on to the studios of the woodcarver and artist who fashion the blocks, the truck driver who delivers them to the shop where the shopkeeper puts them up for display, and, finally, the grandmother who buys them. "Because of all this,/ today/ the child built a masterpiece.// ALL BY HIMSELF!" Lightly underscoring the message, the story then shifts into reverse, reviewing the work involved, and ending not with the farmer but rather, "of course.../ the tree itself." With a measured tone and quiet beauty, the creators celebrate people's interdependency, indebtedness to nature, and the importance of recognizing one's support structures. Ages 3--8. Author's agent: Rubin Pfeffer, Rubin Pfeffer Content. Illustrator's agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary. (Sept.)