Richard T. Morris

This is a Caldecott Honor Book about a bear who is exploring a flowing river. As the bear flows down the river he gathers other animal friends until they all fall down a waterfall. This is one of my favorite books and I would love to have in my future primary classroom. The illustrations are perfection and worth having a conversation with students having what they notice and wonder about the pictures in this book! A simple read which would be great for beginning readers or as a read aloud with the class.… (more)

-Something I notice about the relationship between the mood, setting, time, or feeling and the technique and colors used is that it is all working together to create a more full picture of love and community which is the point of the book. The soft colors create a welcoming atmosphere.
-It is both horizontal and vertical formatting! When they fall down the waterfall it turns vertical and this creates the illusion of height.
-The end papers are blue.
-The title page has a simple illustration of the river and the bear which is where the story starts.
-There are a few pages that only illustrate what is going on and there are no words.
-One of the visual elements used by the artist is value. There is quite a lot of blank white space. This creates a lighter tone of emotion.

I would totally use this in younger classrooms to help demonstrate the importance of diversity.… (more)