The excitement and energy that went into this book fairly oozes from its pages. Designed to provide children with the ideas to get busy--doing, playing, wondering, investigating, and so forth--Courtney's Creative Adventures is inspiring and imaginative.
The book is designed scrapbook-style. After introducing herself, the author, Courtney Watkins, takes a leap back in time and reinvents herself as a ten-year-old. The book's pages are filled with messages from Courtney, photos and illustrations of her life as a child, fill-in-the-blank pages, and so forth. By actually presenting a real-life scrapbook, the author effectively wins the hearts of young readers--and inspires them to do the same.
One spread shows Courtney's time line, from birth to age ten, and offers instructions for readers to do the same (or something similar). Games to play in the car, directions to make quicksand, ideas for performing and starring in a play--these are just a few examples of the eclectic mix of suggested activities included in the book's pages. In the Car Games section, kids can fill in a "billboard" blank, play an "initial scavenger hunt", engage in a whistling or "no scratchy no itchy" challenge. Our 8-year-old tester quickly found inspiration in Courtney's sample "blueprint" of her childhood home. She spent a fun-and-learning-filled solid hour creating her own blueprint, and proudly displayed it on her bulletin board.
Besides offering suggested activities and games, there are gloriously self-indulgent questionnaires and forms to fill out (such as the "school report card" and the "get to know your own home" questionnaire). The activities are rarely run-of-the-mill--in fact, they're imaginative and they're just kooky enough to motivate children to actually do them, not just read about them.
The book features watercolor, ink, and mixed-media collage illustrations and type fonts hand-lettered by the author. The result is a presentation that is friendly, warm, and personal.
Courtney's Creative Adventures is a treat. It is ideal for inspiring kids to think in unusual and unique ways, and for giving them the confidence to express themselves with their own individual style.
