‘Ish’ by Peter H. Reynolds

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best. Henry van Dyke

Following directly on from my last post, this is an amazing yet simply illustrated children’s picture book about enjoying creativity wherever it takes you. Even children can judge themselves too harshly and not pursue a creative endeavour because they feel they are not ‘good enough’ at whatever it is they enjoy doing. Be it drawing, or instrument playing, or writing, or sewing, or dancing, or inventing, or whatever… Give yourself and your children and grandchildren the gift of abandoning perfection and enjoying the abandon of creative expression. Dare to live life as recommended in this picture book, “ishly ever after.”

Ramon loves drawing, anytime, anything, anywhere. But after a careless remark, all that changes. Ramon’s sister Marisol comes to the rescue, ‘framing’ things for him in a way that opens his perspective to what is way more valuable than ‘getting it right.’

Ish completes a trilogy by Reynolds called Creatrilogy, with two books of similar theme The Dot and Sky Color. Ish is my favourite of the three.