This is a Story by John Shu illustrated by Lauren Castillo

This is a word.

This is a word on a page.

This is a page in a book.

This is a book on a shelf

waiting.

This is a book.

This is a reader.

Here are more readers with minds full of questions ...

With a sea-horse kite in hand, a child heads out with Dad to the library. On the way they stop at a park, joining lots of people, some of whom are flying kites, too. At the library, a person toting a big pile of books hands over a story on a favorite subject: the sea horse. All around, there are readers poring over books, each with their own questions, ideas to explore, hopes for the future, and imaginations ready to spark.

Here is the book from the shelf:

There are heaps of books in This is a Story - they are all listed on the last page. I spied Hello Lighthouse; The Wild Robot; Windows; Flora and Ulysses; and The One and Only Ivan. There are so many others. 

It's Book Week here in Australia and so this seems like a perfect book to share with a group of students (after you explore or celebrate or cheer for the CBCA 2023 winners). It is also perfect for talking about the 2023 slogan - Read Grow Inspire. Coincidentally the poster for 2023 by Matt Ottley features a seahorse!

John Shu has written a beautiful dedication for his book:

"This is a story for Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Molly O'Neill, Kate DiCamillo, Lauren Castillo and you."

John Schumacher, better known as Mr. Schu, travelled the world to share his love of books as the Ambassador of School Libraries for Scholastic Book Fairs. In this video John talks about his book which started out as a poem. Colby Sharp talks about this book here. Take a look at other books illustrated by Lauren Castillo.