Do Nothing (Celeste Headlee)

 

I had no idea who Celeste Headlee was before reading this book. I like her! She's done a lot and written a lot. 

Bertrand Russell (in 1932!): It will be said that, while a little leisure is pleasant, men would not know how to fill their days if they had only four hours of work out of the twenty-four. In so far s this is true in the modern world, it is a condemnation of our civilization; it would not have been true at any earlier period. There was formerly a capacity for light-heartedness and play which has been to some extent inhibited by the cult of efficiency. The modern man thinks that everything out to be done for the sake of something else, and never for it's own sake. (In Praise of Idleness)

The beginning of the book could be summed up with the idea that working hard actually does not get you ahead - so cut it out. Also, "what are you working so hard for?! Your Puritan upbringing that taught you that idleness is sinful." 

I have a hard time giving up the concept of working hard. The second half of the book was more about how to analyze how you're really spending your time - which leads to the idea that you do have time to relax if you just quit scrolling or doing other time-wasters - which I can buy into.

Goodreads says:

Despite our constant search for new ways to 'hack' our bodies and minds for peak performance, human beings are working more instead of less, living harder not smarter, and becoming more lonely and anxious. We strive for the absolute best in every aspect of our lives, ignoring what we do well naturally. Why do we measure our time in terms of efficiency instead of meaning? Why can't we just take a break?

In Do Nothing, award-winning journalist Celeste Headlee illuminates a new path ahead, seeking to institute a global shift in our thinking so we can stop sabotaging our well-being, put work aside and start living instead of doing.

The key lies in embracing what makes us human: our creativity, our social connections (Instagram doesn't count), our ability for reflective thought, and our capacity for joy. Celeste's strategies will allow you to regain control over your life and break your addiction to false efficiency, including:

-Increase your time perception and determine how your hours are being spent.
-Stop comparing yourself to others.
-Invest in quality idle time. Take a hot bath and listen to music.
-Spend face-to-face time with friends and family

It's time to recover our leisure time and reverse the trend that's making us all sadder, sicker, and less productive.

Marianne The Maker (Kelly Corrigan and Claire Corrigan Lichty)

 

Good story to read when we're working on our toy project! 

Goodreads says:
From bestselling author Kelly Corrigan and her daughter debut author Claire Corrigan Lichty comes a new picture book about a determined young inventor!

Marianne's days are filled with schedules, structure, and soccer. There's just one Marianne is a maker. She needs every minute of her weekends to scheme and dream, draw and design, to build and rebuild! This is the story of how a creator with a crackerjack imagination finds a not-so-great way to skip practice and create her masterpiece. But will her dad understand?

Told in delightful rhyme that bounces across George Sweetland's gorgeous collage-style illustrations (chock full of hidden gems,) Marianne the Maker is sure to kindle the creative spark that lives inside all of us.

The Crayon Stub (Marcus Cutler)

 

Siblings can be such a problem! This is a great story about turning a problem into an opportunity. Kids will love the grossness when the little cat throws up and the big cat makes art out of it.

Goodreads says:

A hilarious picture book about an artistic kitty’s search for inspiration—and the mischievous younger sibling who keeps getting in the way.

Big Cat has a fresh new piece of paper, a box of big, beautiful crayons, and a to create something TOTALLY SPECTACULAR and become WORLD FAMOUS! The only problem? All the crayons have gone missing except for one tiny red stub. What a disaster! And even if Big Cat could make something with the stub, what could possibly be spectacular enough to be worth drawing?

Making matters worse, Big Cat has a younger sibling who keeps getting in the way. Little Cat seems less interested in making SPECTACULAR ART and more excited about . . . food, mostly. What's a feline in search of inspiration to do?

Packed with sly humor and visual jokes in Marcus Cutler's bold, appealing artwork, The Crayon Stub tackles big questions about creativity, resourcefulness and collaboration—delivering big laughs along the way!

So Good they Can't Ignore You (Cal Newport)

 

I love this book. Surprisingly, the title of this book comes from a quote of Steve Martin, of all people!  It gives you ideas of something you can actually do! Forget about finding your passion.  Adopt the craftsmanship mindset. If you work on your skills and become a master, passion becomes one of the results. 

In the book, he gives four great rules:

Rules #1 Don't follow your passions. That's dangerous, Career passions are rare. Passions take time and is a side affect of mastery. Seek autonomy. competence and relatedness. Traits that define great work are creativity, impact (find a way to make a difference) and control (keep it!).

Rule #2 Be so good they can't ignore you. Develop your skills. Become a fanatic! 

Rule #3 Turn down a promotion. Stay in control of your life

Rule #4 Think Small, Act Big. Have a mission. Misions require capital and marketing. Make small steps in the right direction and success will be the natural result.

Goodreads says:

In this eye-opening account, Cal Newport debunks the long-held belief that "follow your passion" is good advice.

Not only is the cliché flawed—preexisting passions are rare and have little to do with how most people end up loving their work—but it can also be dangerous, leading to anxiety and chronic job hopping.

After making his case against passion, Newport sets out on a quest to discover the reality of how people end up loving what they do. Spending time with organic farmers, venture capitalists, screenwriters, freelance computer programmers, and others who admitted to deriving great satisfaction from their work, Newport uncovers the strategies they used and the pitfalls they avoided in developing their compelling careers.

Matching your job to a preexisting passion does not matter, he reveals. Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it.

With a title taken from the comedian Steve Martin, who once said his advice for aspiring entertainers was to "be so good they can't ignore you," Cal Newport's clearly written manifesto is mandatory reading for anyone fretting about what to do with their life, or frustrated by their current job situation and eager to find a fresh new way to take control of their livelihood. He provides an evidence-based blueprint for creating work you love.

So Good They Can't Ignore You will change the way we think about our careers, happiness, and the crafting of a remarkable life.

Smart Cookie (Jory John)

 

Jory John is amazing! This story is brilliant.

My students don't really get many of the play on words....but they love the illustrations.

Goodreads says:

Be a smart cookie—and don’t miss the fifth picture book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Food Group series from creators Jory John and Pete Oswald!

This cookie has never felt like a smart cookie no matter how hard she tries, especially in comparison to all the clever cupcakes and brilliant rolls in the bakery. Will a dash of creativity and a sprinkle of confidence be enough to help her learn that perfect scores and having all the answers aren’t the only ingredients for intelligence?

Jory John and Pete Oswald serve up another heaping plate of laughs and lessons with this empowering, witty, and charming addition to their #1 New York Times bestselling series!

Beautiful Hands (Kathryn Otoshi and Bret Baumgarten)

 

Beautiful and simple. 

Goodreads says:

This colorful concept book reveals an illustrative surprise and reading delight with every turn of the page. Little hands can do so many wonderful things: plant ideas; stretch imaginations; and reach for dreams. Parents and educators will enjoy sharing the word play with young readers. Children will revel in the spectacular art created using thumb- and hand-prints. The book's uplifting message will rouse and motivate, leaving no heart untouched.

Based on co-author Bret Baumgarten’s experience of holding his daughter’s hands every morning and asking her, "What will your beautiful hands do today?," this book was created to inspire children everywhere to use their power to help themselves and others achieve their dreams. Co-authored and illustrated by Kathryn Otoshi (One, Zero, Two), it is sure to charm. 

Malala's Magic Pencil (Malala Yousafzai)

 

I picked this story because we are learning about India in Social Studies. This is not a story to rush through! We stopped and had all the girls leave their desks so we could see what it would be like in our classroom if all the girls could not come to school. It was impactful! My students knew that Malala had been shot and the page that talks about how the Taliban tried to stop her was profound for us. At the end of the book, they gave it a round of applause. Appropriate! 

Goodreads says:

Nobel Peace Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author Malala Yousafzai's first picture book, inspired by her own childhood.

Malala's first picture book will inspire young readers everywhere to find the magic all around them.

As a child in Pakistan, Malala made a wish for a magic pencil. She would use it to make everyone happy, to erase the smell of garbage from her city, to sleep an extra hour in the morning. But as she grew older, Malala saw that there were more important things to wish for. She saw a world that needed fixing. And even if she never found a magic pencil, Malala realized that she could still work hard every day to make her wishes come true.

This beautifully illustrated volume tells Malala's story for a younger audience and shows them the worldview that allowed Malala to hold on to hope even in the most difficult of times.

The Imaginary Garden (Andrew Larsen)

 

Grandpa has moved into an apartment and really, there's nowhere for a garden. Imagination can solve that problem though. Beautiful illustration! This book won the Govenor General's Literacy Award. Another great Canadian author from Montreal. He also wrote Bye Bye Butterflies. 

Goodreads says:

Theodora loved her grandfather's old garden. His new apartment's balcony is too windy and small for a garden. But what appears to be a drawback soon leads to a shared burst of creativity as Theo and her Poppa decide to paint a new garden. As they work side by side — sowing seeds with brushes and paint — a masterpiece begins to take shape that transforms the balcony into an abundant garden.

When Poppa goes away on holiday, Theo helps nurture the garden and it begins to take on a life of its own. This garden grows not from soil but from love, imagination and creativity.

Readers will marvel at each stage of this fertile garden as it grows from seed to full flower, revealing the power of art to enrich our lives.

Boys of Steel (Marc Nobleman)

 

Really cool story behind the story of how Superman was created. I loved that it was created during depression years. It makes me wonder what great things will come out of our pandemic time. There are so many lessons in this story: - Never give up - Dare to dream - Do what inspires you - You don't have to be an extrovert to win

 


Goodreads says:

JERRY SIEGEL AND Joe Shuster, two misfit teens in Depression-era Cleveland, were more like Clark Kent—meek, mild, and myopic—than his secret identity, Superman. Both boys escaped into the worlds of science fiction and pulp magazine adventure tales. Jerry wrote stories, and Joe illustrated them. In 1934, they created a superhero who was everything they were not. It was four more years before they convinced a publisher to take a chance on their Man of Steel in a new format—the comic book. The author includes a provocative afterword about Jerry and Joe’s long struggle with DC Comics when they realized they had made a mistake in selling all rights to Superman for a mere $130!

Marc Tyler Nobleman’s text captures the excitement of Jerry and Joe’s triumph, and the energetic illustrations by Ross MacDonald, the author-artist of Another Perfect Day, are a perfect complement to the time, the place, and the two young visionaries.

The Numberlys (William Joyce and Christina Ellis)

I love books that you have to turn to get the right view. This one is a VERY tall book and is about an imaginary place where there are only numbers. There are a number of wordless pages too, which always makes for an interesting read aloud discussion.

Everything is perfect and orderly. They invent letters and then words and what a world it is!

Goodreads says:


From the team who brought you The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore comes an alphabet tale extraordinaire!

Once upon a time there was no alphabet, only numbers

Life was fine. Orderly. Dull as gray paint. Very numberly. But our five jaunty heroes weren't willing to accept that this was all there could be. They knew there had to be more.

So they broke out hard hats and welders, hammers and glue guns, and they started knocking some numbers together. Removing a piece here. Adding a piece there. At first, it was awful. But the five kept at it, and soon it was artful! One letter after another emerged, until there were twenty-six. Twenty-six letters - and they were beautiful. All colorful, shiny, and new. Exactly what our heroes didn't even know they were missing.

And when the letters entered the world, something truly wondrous began to happen: Pizza! Jelly beans! Color! Books!

Based on the award-winning app, this is William Joyce and Moonbot's Metropolis-inspired homage to everyone who knows there is more to life than shades of black and gray.

The Book of Mistakes (Corinna Luyken)

Great for a discussion on resiliency, making the best of situations, courage and creativity. No need to wad up that paper, throw it out and start again!

Goodreads says:

Zoom meets Beautiful Oops! in this memorable picture book debut about the creative process, and the way in which "mistakes" can blossom into inspiration
One eye was bigger than the other. That was a mistake.
The weird frog-cat-cow thing? It made an excellent bush.
And the inky smudges... they look as if they were always meant to be leaves floating gently across the sky. 
As one artist incorporates accidental splotches, spots, and misshapen things into her art, she transforms her piece in quirky and unexpected ways, taking readers on a journey through her process. Told in minimal, playful text, this story shows readers that even the biggest "mistakes" can be the source of the brightest ideas--and that, at the end of the day, we are all works in progress, too.

Fans of Peter Reynolds's Ish and Patrick McDonnell's A Perfectly Messed-Up Story will love the funny, poignant, completely unique storytelling of The Book of Mistakes. And, like Oh, The Places You'll Go!, it makes the perfect graduation gift, encouraging readers to have a positive outlook as they learn to face life's obstacles.