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Customer reviews of Lilah in the Land of the Littles:
My granddaughters love this book and at a time when it seems COVID just means restrictions, this book illustrated what I had been telling them: they are only limited by their imaginations. Since my first read, we have found so many projects with buttons, balls, hairpins, yarn, and sharphins people (part shark, part dolphin part person) and the stories keep coming. A delightful easy read with imaginative illustrations.
Important Book to Help Children Cope with Covid Isolation
This month Lesley Koplow published a new book for young children living through the pandemic. Lilah in the Land of the Littles: A Story for Children in the Time of COVID tells the story of a pre-school age child as she navigates the isolation of quarantine. Lilah misses playing with her neighbor. Her mother is busy with work and her older siblings are busy with Zoom school. The book’s description of Lilah’s boredom, anger and disappointment will provide a helpful reflection of the experiences of many young readers.
In the story, Lilah’s mother gives her a ‘cup full of buttons’ and a ‘basket full of cloth,’ saying ‘Nana gave me these to play with when I was little.” Lilah makes a fort under the kitchen table, hidden from view by the family’s most beautiful tablecloth. One of the experiences many families have had during the pandemic is a deeper connection to family history – to objects, stories, and practices passed down through generations. The crisis has shaken people to their roots, and they have found the strength of generations there. Lesley Koplow illustrates this in a gentle way as the mother -who has exhausted all other possibilities – gives her daughter simple objects from her own past. The book is illustrated with collaged fabric scraps that reflect the theme of discovery and connection across time.
In her secret fort Lilah uses the buttons and cloth to build a paracosm, an imaginary parallel world in which she can explore her feelings and dreams. The play gives Lilah a way to escape quarantine in her imagination – she travels to a sparkling lake and and a forest. In her imaginary land “they walked around without masks, because Lilah had added a special ingredient to the flowers that border her town.” In this story, Leslie Koplow illustrates the therapeutic value of play for children during the pandemic.
I hope that educators will share this kind and powerful story with their classes this winter. The book is available in an ebook as well as hard copy – making it easy to share during remote learning. Many children have been home, inside for close to a year. Lilah in the Land of the Littles offers comfort to them while illustrating the value of imaginative play for their families.
Helen Frazier
New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute
Helen Frazier is the Institute’s Director of Early Childhood
Lilah in the Land of the Littles was the subject of a podcast on Teaching Learning Leading K-12. Click below to listen:
Review of Lilah in the Land of Littles in Early Childhood News from New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute
Jasmine's Big Idea was the subject of a podcast on Teaching Learning Leading K-12. Click below to listen:
Wilson's WIshes was the subject of a Podcast on
Teaching Learning Leading K-12.
Click below to listen:
Kirkus Reviews Popcorn A Kitten Comes to School
…Koplow’s book is filled with empathy, not only for the lost feline who strikes back out of fear, but also for the classmates who all experience Popcorn’s visit differently. Wilson’s class is diverse; the students’ felt-and-paper faces are many colors, and their choices of whether to wear a face mask or not give a sense of immediacy to the moment in which the tale takes place…. An engaging and accessible feline tale about feelings, well suited for school use and discussion.
Popcorn Comes to School was the subject of a Podcast on
Teaching Learning Leading K-12
Click below to listen:
Kirkus Reviews Popcorn's Lost and Found
Popcorn, a kitten, collects items that remind her of her human friends in Koplow’s follow-up to Popcorn Comes to School (2022).....The eye-catching illustrations combine patterned paper, ribbon, and other materials in mixed-media collages. Jasmine, Wilson and Lilah are returning characters from Koplow’s Stories for Children in the Time of Covid series.....A charming mystery for young cat lovers, with striking mixed-media collage illustrations.
Book 2, Understanding Feelings in Community
In a March 2023 podcast for Teaching Learning Leading K-12, Lesley talks about her Teddy Bear Circle Books. See below:
Kirkus Reviews Ellie the Deli Cat Finds a Friend:
A standoffish deli cat comes out of her shell to make a new friend in this illustrated children’s book.
Ellie is a mama cat living in one of the most delicious types of places: a deli. She loves to watch the employees make sandwiches while her kittens play and human children traverse the store. She prefers to look at the people but not touch…. But the arrival of a white boy named Ben throws her for a loop…. There’s something about him that Ellie can’t quite put her claw on, but she can tell that he’s different. Ben prefers to be by himself, as she does, and he loves the sunlight, too. It isn’t long before the two of them meet on common ground to become pals and widen both of their horizons as they befriend another child in the store.
Koplow’s book—her sixth for children, after Popcorn’s Lost and Found (2022)—is cozy and heartwarming. Ben’s autism is thoughtfully handled; the author refrains from making it the center of the story by focusing on Ellie. Koplow’s collage illustrations reflect this warmth and bring visual texture to the story... A sweet tale of a cautious feline and a boy with autism.
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