One Little Bag by Henry Cole

One Little Bag is a wordless book - these are sometimes referred to as textless books and IBBY call them Silent Books - but of course they are far from silent. This one for example contains a really complex and very satisfying story about the creation of a paper bag beginning with a tree in the forest and then moving from the factory to the grocery store. This is not the end, however, because this bag is used and reused over and over again and even becomes a part of the generational story of one family. 

"On the very first Earth Day my entire school celebrated. ... That day ... my lunch was packed in a small paper bag. On that first Earth Day, however, I did not throw my bag away after lunch. Instead, I folded in and slipped it back into my back pocket. ... The next day I used that same little bag to carry my lunch to school again. And the next day. And the next day. For three years. ... It looked a little weather beaten with all the stapes and scotch tape I used to keep it together. I figure that bag was used about seven hundred times."  Henry Cole

This book needs to be added to your school library BUT here in Australia it is way too expensive. This book was published in 2020 and while it is still available it now costs AUS$53+. Back in 2021 the library where I borrowed this book paid AUS$32.

Here is the blurb by Henry Cole: From a tall tree growing in the forest-- to the checkout counter at the grocery store-- one little bag finds its way into the hands of a young boy on the eve of his first day of school. And so begins an incredible journey of one little bag that is used and reused and reused again. In a three-generation family, the bag is transporter of objects and keeper of memories. And when Grandfather comes to the end of his life, the family finds a meaningful new way for the battered, but much-loved little bag to continue its journey in the circle of life.

In this video Colby Sharp talks about reading this book to his class. Take a look at the Kirkus Star review. Here is the webpage for Henry Cole. 

Cole beautifully shows how small acts of reusing something can become tradition in a family. The book never seems like a lecture, always just showing and demonstrating how reuse is possible and its great potential as well. The paper bag in the story if remarkably resilient for so much use by generations, but I think we all have items in our families that survive despite being used by everyone, to be handed to the next generation. Told in images only, the book is filled with fine-line drawings that shine with light. The paper bag is the only color on the page, its brown color becoming all the more warm and glowing and the red hearts popping with color. A truly great wordless picture book. Waking Brain Cells

I previously talked about Nesting by Henry Cole.