All Sorts by Pippa Goodhart illustrated by Emily Rand

Just like the little girl, Frankie, in this book I do enjoy sorting things. It would be a joy to share this book with a young child because the sorted and unsorted illustrations contain so much detail. There's lots to talk about here.  Then I think it would be fun to tip your toy box or junk drawer or button jar onto the floor and begin some sorting.

End papers! Boy oh boy they are SO good in this book. We open with chaos (well chaos to a sorter) and end with calm organisation. You can see this on the front and back covers too!

My only question about this book, which I did enjoy, is about the "message".  I actually do not want to find a message. I just enjoyed all the sorting.  If there is a message I guess it is about diversity and that we should celebrate the way people are all so different from one another - there is no need to sort people - everyone is an individual and that aspect of humanity should be celebrated. Here are some activity pages to use with this book. 

You could also use this book when you talk with library groups about the ways libraries are organised. A library is one of the most perfect examples of sorting in action.

The illustrations by Emily Rand are a total delight; colourful and full of detail they will encourage slow browsing and chat about all those familiar objects. A Library Lady

About the publisher Flying Eye Books: At the core of what we do is a simple pledge: whatever the project, whatever the medium, genre, or format, Flying Eye Books will take your children’s eyes on a journey of wonder!

The topic of sorting seems like a perfect one for illustrator Emily Rand who previously gave us:

The Lost Property Office

And here are some other titles by Pippa Goodhart (I love her name):

Best Test

Read more about Iranian illustrator Ehsan Abdollahi

Little Nelly's Big Book

The Button Box by Margarette S Reid illustrated by Sarah Chamberlain

Tuesday Treasure

I have a button jar. Inside are buttons collected by my Grandmother, my mother, and a few I have collected myself. I loved sorting the buttons when I was a child. Sometimes my mother and I would hunt for buttons to add to her sewing projects (my new clothes). Looking at an old button can bring a flood of memories.

I also enjoy books about sorting. All Teacher-Librarians love to make order out of chaos. sorting books into Dewey Decimal numbers is actually fun and it can be a little like sorting buttons into sizes, colour, styles and shapes.

Ben loves to play with the buttons in his grandmothers box. There are buttons with painted flowers and buttons that resemble jewels. Some are covered with cloth and others are made from leather. Ben and his grandmother play a game with the buttons and then Grandma explains the materials used to make buttons such as glass, horn, wood and seashells. 

On the final page of this book you can read more about the invention of buttons. No one knows who originally came up with the idea but archaeologists have found objects that look like buttons under cities built thousands of years ago.

This is a simple book but I found it a joy to read. The Button Box was first published in 1990 and amazingly it is still in print but even if you cannot find this book why not grab your own button collection and enjoy a little sorting and conversation with your young reading companion.

What to do with a box of old buttons may seem like a slight notion for a book (and it doesn't made much of a story), but this lightly fictionalised enumeration of the ways that buttons' variety can open windows on critical thinking should provide an inspiration to parents and teachers.  Kirkus

Here are some other picture books about and featuring buttons:

Nanna's Button Tin

Corduroy

A friend like Ed

Little Oleg

My friend at Kinderbookswitheverything has two posts celebrating buttons:

October Count your Buttons Day

November World Button Day