Early Childhood Preschool, Portage, Michigan

I had so much fun reading my book, The Fanciest Flower, to four different classes of preschoolers at the Early Childhood preschool in Portage, Michigan! They loved the silliness of the story and were quick to giggle about everything from the fork on the cover to the spaghetti on the last page.

As I read, we talked about the different kinds of flowers mentioned throughout the book. Many of them were familiar, like roses, lilies, and tulips. Others were brand new to some, like lilacs, poppies, and hibiscus.

After I finished reading, I pulled out my whiteboard and did some drawings of silly flowers that they gave me suggestions for. I drew a puppy flower, lion flower, spaghetti flower...even a dinosaur chicken flower! We talked about the different parts of a flower and they helped me remember to give each one some petals, a stem, and a leaf. Sometimes I asked them how many leaves the flowers should have and they decided two, then three, then ten, all the way up to one hundred! Their enthusiasm was so much fun and I really enjoyed getting to meet each wonderful group of kids.

I even got to read to some very young littles, who liked to get up close and personal with each illustration. Without any prompting, they pointed out things in the drawings that they recognized like flowers, butterflies, and cakes. Their focus and attention to detail tells me they will make fantastic little readers very soon!

I'm so happy I got to share my book with these brilliant little minds! Thanks for having me, Early Childhood Preschool!

(Photos posted with permission)