Isabella Girl on the Go by Jennifer Fosberry
Illustrated by Mike Litwin
Published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
2012
Isabella, the same creative and adventurous girl from My Name is Not Isabella, is back. This time around Isabella is spending the day in her backyard with her father. She imagines herself as an archaeologist, a queen, an artist, a warrior, and even an astronomer. Along the way, she takes readers on a beautiful journey to some of the most renowned world monuments and places: the pyramids of Giza, the Eiffel Tower, Chichen Izta, the Great Wall of China, and the Taj Mahal, among others.
Her father keeps asking her to help around the backyard, but Isabella has bigger plans and an imagination to take her there. The illustrations by Litwin are wonderful. There are wonderful details to captivate readers in each page, like the buttons that make Isabella's stuff animal eyes and that reappear throughout the illustrations. Or you can try to figure out where did Isabella get her inspirations for each journey (like the tomato plant that turns into the Eiffel Tower or the wooden fence that becomes the Great Wall). At the back of the book, there is a description of all the places Isabella visited as well as a list of resources to learn more about them. Great book to share with all the girls in your life!
I am a prospective elementary school teacher and I really enjoy your blog. I feel that good literature can reach students on so many levels and really appreciate that your list includes books with such rich characters - strong girls, imagination, crocodiles who read philosophy! Because the themes are so rich I feel like so much could be done with your selections in the classroom. I am curious what you do after you read these stories ... do you discuss them or have students write about them or are they mainly just for reading?
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