Cover image via Amazon.com

Today, I’ve chosen Someday for Perfect Picture Book Fridays.

Someday
Written by Alison McGhee
Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
Atheneum Books for Young Readers, February 2007

Suitable for: Ages 4 and up

Theme/Topic: Family, Growing Up

Opening: One day I counted your fingers and kissed each one.
One day the first snowflakes fell, and I held you up and watched them melt on your baby skin.

Brief Synopsis: A mother shares her love for her daughter and her hopes for the milestones to take place someday. From the book jacket: “A mother’s love leads to a mother’s dream — every mother’s dream — for her child to live life to its fullest.”

Link to Resources: Parents can talk to their children about life milestones. Perhaps focusing on milestones at home, community, church or school. Parents might also let their children think about milestones in their parents’ lives — high school, college, marriage, etc. For older children, you could talk about the support network of parents, family, teachers and in the community needed to accomplish goals. I wasn’t able to find a specific lesson plan for this book. I found a lesson plan on Community — Goal Setting for children to set personal and academic goals.

Dads can take their children to Peter H. Reynolds website to send a Mother’s Day eCard based on the book.

Peter H. Reynolds has a page on his website about Someday. I could get lost on his site for hours.


Writers might find the online store on Alison McGhee’s site interesting. She writes Haiku for You to benefit charities or you can order a signed copy of her books. She also offers manuscript critique services for full-length novels, but I thought the Haiku for You is a unique item. She blogs here.

Why I chose this book: I’m a sucker for this story and the illustrations. It reminds me of those early wiggle days of my son’s life and makes me look ahead to the events to come. Hence, this sentence in a School Library Journal review “However, its greeting-card quality will appeal more to new mothers and gift-givers than to children.” I think that’s fair, but I want my son to love this book like I do. So, I’ll keep reading it until he says, “Mama stop it.”

To find more picture books and resources, visit Susanna Leonard Hill’s blog and look for the Perfect Picture Books page.