What Unites Us Is Greater than What Divides Us
2024 Books To Treasure illustrator Sophie Blackall reminds us of the wonders of humanity
A picture is worth…
Quick, what do you notice about a picture book?
Well, obviously…the pictures.
For young readers, the artwork in picture books is what captivates them the most – and what can be the biggest encouragement for them to learn how to translate all of the squiggly lines of text into meaning. In other words, to learn how to read.
That’s the essence of the Tulsa City-County Library’s popular Books To Treasure program, which has been in existence for 21 years.
Because of the generosity of the Anne and Henry Zarrow Family Foundation, the library has been able to give free picture books – with extraordinary illustrations – to second graders in Tulsa and Tulsa County every year. (250,000 free books given and counting!) All of this in anticipation of bringing a celebrated illustrator to Tulsa and supporting the reading growth of children in our community.
Sophie Blackall
The 2024 Books To Treasure illustrator is Sophie Blackall, a two-time Caldecott Award winner – a top award for picture book illustrators. She will be in Tulsa for a public presentation and book signing on Friday, November 8, 6 p.m., at the Hardesty Regional Library.
Pictures of Humanity: If You Come to Earth
The library works with all public and private schools in Tulsa County to get free books by the Books To Treasure illustrator into the hands of second graders. If your second grader is homeschooled or a librarian doesn’t get to your child’s school, simply drop by any of TCCL’s 24 library locations in mid-to-late October to pick one up.
This year’s book, If You Come to Earth, is both written and illustrated by Sophie Blackall.
The text is a letter from Quinn, a young person in a stocking cap, to an imagined visitor from outer space. Quinn explains, layer by layer, what the alien visitor can expect if they come to earth.
As the opening text states: “If you come to Earth, there are a few things you need to know…We live in all kinds of places. In all kinds of homes. In all kinds of families. Each of us is different. But all of us are amazing. And, together, we share one beautiful planet.”
Quinn shares what to expect, from big to small, including that our planet is made up of land and water, that there are many different kinds of homes, families and bodies of people here. We have brains with invisible thoughts, and bodies with visible clothing. We experience weather; we use transportation to get around. We go to school as children and young adults; as adults, we practice different professions.
The book also covers leisure activities, food, rivers and oceans – the picture on this year’s Books To Treasure card is all of the hidden sea life underneath the water – animals on land, birds, languages, people with different abilities, natural and manmade objects, illnesses, age and wisdom.
It is an extraordinary journey, and Sophie’s delicate, whimsical paintings carry extra joy and thoughtfulness that will bring children to look at them over and over and ponder all the ways that humans are more alike than different.
Other Books by Sophie Blackall
Sophie Blackall, who hails from Australia but now lives in New York, has countless beautiful picture books worth checking out as well:
Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear, written by Lindsay Mattick and illustrated by Sophie Blackall
Did you know that Winnie the Pooh was based on a real bear in World War I that writer A.A. Milne used as inspiration for his famous books? Both you and your child will be charmed by the story and the illustrations of the real-life bear. This won Sophie Blackall her first Caldecott Award.
If I Was a Horse, written and illustrated by Sophie Blackall
Being a horse might bring some benefits – no bedtime and no rules! – but there are some other unexpected consequences in this “thought experiment” of one child trying to see what life might be like as a horse.
Ahoy!, written and illustrated by Sophie Blackall
Imagination reigns supreme as a child keeps interrupting a parent trying to vacuum and enticing them into a great game of pretend – the house is an ocean, and they are on a ship!
Hello Lighthouse, written and illustrated by Sophie Blackall
Also a Caldecott winner, this is a gentle look at one family and how they change (and grow) as they take care of a lighthouse.
Books to Treasure Presentation by Sophie Blackall
Children’s book author and illustrator Sophie Blackall will talk about her work and sign books
- Friday, November 8, 6 p.m.
- Hardesty Regional Library, 8316 E 93rd Street, Tulsa
