Susanna Leonard Hill has a feature on her blog called Perfect Picture Book Friday. It is a list of “perfect” picture books recommended by all sorts of people. I chose this book because I love Mrs. Spinelli’s books and the message is great!
Nora’s Ark
By Eileen Spinelli
Illustrated by Nora Hilb
32 pages – 4+ years
Published by Zonderkidz on February 19, 2013
Theme/Topic – Religion / Imagination
Opening and Synopsis –
“The Weatherman predicted rain.
So Nora built an ark.
Just like Noah.
Well… not just like Noah.”
Nora heard it was going to rain, so, she built an ark. She gathered animals 2 by 2. She uses her imagination and a broken chair, planks, and boxes, to make a great ark. Now all she has to do is wait for the rain!
Why I liked this book – Once again Mrs. Spinelli creates a masterpiece! Besides being a wonderful re-telling of Noah’s Ark, this book has a great message about using your imagination! Nora uses what ever she can find to use her imagination to build an arc and save the world’s animals. The illustrations are soft and beautiful and go perfectly with the story. They show what Nora thinks is going on in her mind – what she is imagining, and then shows what really is going on. I love that Nora paints her toenails waiting for the rain and one of her crew mates (her little brother) has to leave to take a nap! I won’t give away the ending, but you will probably figure it out! 😉
Activities and Resources –
I found a great activity on PBS kids that I actually did in school. You build a boat out of tin foil and then put pennies on it until it sinks. Then you try to change the design of your boat and see how many pennies it can hold. It teaches you about how a boat floats! Click HERE to get the activity!
Foil boat activity (Photo credit: Micah Sittig)
Boatful of Pennies. (Photo credit: San José Library)
I also found a boat building activity on Scholastic Book’s teacher’s site. It is meant for younger kids (PreK-K). Click HERE to go to it!
To learn more about Mrs. Spinelli, please visit her website HERE!
To find more Perfect Picture Books please visit Susanna Hill’s blog HERE!
Share this:
Categories: Age 1-5, Age 6-9, Perfect Picture Book Friday
Take time out to call by my blog Erik, you might like it enough to browse and even follow, it’s about New (to me) Authors 🙂
Thank you! I will! Thanks for stopping by my blog! Please come again!
A new Eileen Spinelli book is cause for celebration! And I love your activity–hands on but not too messy.
We actually did the boat building activity in school. It was cool to see who could design the best boat!
Cool activity, I love it.
Thank you! Thanks for visiting my blog too! Please come again!
I love Spinelli’s books. Thanks for suggesting yet another to read, Erik!
I think you will LOVE this one too! 😉
I have no doubt this must be an amazing book. Thanks for presenting it. I am sad to say I’ve been working on the same idea for some time – of course, the amazing Eileen will have done it better. That just goes to show what comes to procrastinators who doubt themselves. I suppose it’s all right in the end. The world gets a beautiful book, and I get to revel in a shared experience.
This activities looks like fun!
The book is really great. I am a huge fan of Mrs. Spinelli. That’s happened to me – get an AWESOME idea and then find out there already is an awesome book out with the same idea. I think it just means that great minds think alike! 😉
What a fun book! I was just going to say I’m surprised no one else thought of that by now, and there Joanne says she wrote one. What else is there we can be first 😉
I saw another picture book and a MG book with the same name, but they have different stories. Maybe we can write Norman’s Ark 😉
I love that the illustrator is named Nora… I wonder if that helped her inspiration? Looks a lot of fun, Erik.
I saw that too! Isn’t that cool?!? The illustrations are as wonderful as the story!
Thanks, Erik. This is my first intro to Ms Spinelli. I visited the link and her books look amazing. This is on my library list right now!!
Mrs. Spinelli is one or my favorite PB authors! I hope you read lots of her books! 😀
I’m afraid of rain. And I’m pretty sure I’m also afraid of boats, and pennies, and foil, and nail polish!
Love and licks,
Cupcake
I’m afraid of nail polish too Cupcake. 🙂
Thank you so much Erik, for the lovely review! I´m the Nora who added pictures to the book, and you´ve added sunshine to my day. “Nora´s Ark” is among the most beautiful stories I ever illustrated. A hug from Argentina!
WOW! Thanks Ms. Hilb! Thank you for taking the time to comment! I really LOVE the illustrations you did for this book!
Very nice review! I am going to find this book during my next library visit. It sounds terrific. I love the cover. I bet the illustrations are fantastic. I love Ms. Spinelli’s books. She is so imaginative, just like her Nora.
Thanks Ms. Morris! The illustrations are beautiful! I hope you find it!
What a great find, Erik. I like that we get two views, one of what is in her mind and what is really going on. Very clever. Thanks for sharing and have a great weekend.
Thank you Ms. Tulloch! I thought the illustrations were very imaginative!
Great book, Erik! I’m pinning it. We do that experiment and my class always loves it!
I LOVE the boat activity! We did that in school too! 🙂
What a lovely idea – re-telling the classic Noah’s Ark and building it by using your imagination to save the world’s animals.
It has a great message in many ways! Thanks Dr. Clune!
This book sounds terrific, Erik! I love the details you included about the toenail painting and the nap – so perfect! And I love your activities, especially that boat building one! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I love that humor in the book! They are saving the world’s animals and the little brother has to go take a nap! Hee hee!
Books about using your imagination are the best! I love Eileen Spinelli’s books, and she’s such a sweetheart, too. I hadn’t heard of this one (I’m out of touch since the bookstore closed), but in 2005 Natalie Kinsey-Warnock wrote a book called… Nora’s Ark! However, the Nora in that book was an elderly woman, not a little girl, and it was based on the Vermont flood of 1927. Check it out sometime, Erik!
Mrs. Spinelli is VERY nice! I remember seeing her at the bookstore at the event I met you at! 🙂 I did see that book when I was looking for a cover image to use. I am going to see if our library has the other Nora’s Ark! 🙂
Wow – so many interesting comments. I love that Nora-the-Illustrator left one too!
My kids and I will be boat building soon – you can count on it! Thanks for a wonderful review, as always.
I hope you have fun! 🙂 Thanks Ms. Mealey!
The book sounds delightful, Erik. It’s a must read for me. Love the tin foil boat activity…especially that you fill it with pennies…LOL…since my name is Penny. But, I kind of think just one of me would sink it!
I don’t think you’d want to sail on a tin foil boat anyway 😉
Thanks Ms. Klostermann!
What a unique story Erik. Loved your review. Like the idea of Nora using her imagination to save the animals.
I really enjoyed this one!
I love Noah’s Ark stories, but they never seem to show any dogs! I hope Nora brought dogs on her ark! This sounds like a good book and I like your boat activity! Pretty clever! Thanks for sharing!
Sadly there were no dogs… goldfish and spiders but no dogs. 🙁 It’s still a very nice story!
But there are cats! and two little crows!
YES! YES! And toy monkeys!!! All BEAUTIFULLY drawn!! 😀
What a great choice for PPBF, Erik! This looks like a wonderful book…and I love that it is a ‘Nora’ who builds the ark with her imagination. Sounds like something Josie might do…with your help, of course.:) GREAT activity…fun AND educational!
We build forts together (and separately)! I like doing that. Nora’s Ark is GREAT!
Still waiting on this book from the library – now even more impatient! Love your activity – maybe I can float a cookie or two, in case I get hungry reading in the tub!
*snicker* I hope *breathing deeply, as if to hold back a laugh* you find it! *snicker snicker snicker*
Snicker used to be my favorite candy bar, back when it might have been the only thing I was gonna eat for hours – and granola bars were not yet on the scene!
My parents love snickers – twix is my favorite 😉
Oooh. Very interesting premise for a picture book. I also liked the activity links you shared. Very nice.
It is a great book to show imagination! 🙂
This book sounds like fun. I’m sure the younger ones will love it.
I’m sure they will too!