Perspective: Laura Vaccaro Seeger

This week in library we will be sharing the work of author Laura Vaccaro Seeger who has written and illustrated 15 books! Students and teachers are mesmerized by the series of eighteen questions and answers in her pop-up book titled, Black? White! Day? Night! Through a series of die-cut pages, we discovered things that are the opposite of what they seem: a black bat transformed into a white ghost, an page of like diamonds that uniquely became snowflakes that are different! This simple read aloud is inspirational and engaging, leaving students ready to create their own die-cut books!

Laura Vaccaro Seeger introduces and shares some of the backstory for creating her book titled, Green on teachingbooks.net. Click here to listen. How many kinds of green are there? There’s the lush green of a forest on a late spring day, the fresh, juicy green of a just-cut lime, the incandescent green of a firefly, and the vivid aquamarine of a tropical sea. Caldecott and Geisel Honor Book author Laura Vaccaro Seeger created an entire book about one color! What an inspirational creation. Listen to the story being read below.

I Used To Be Afraid by Laura Vaccaro Seeger was released in August. Here is a little bit of backstory on how the book came to be…

I USED TO BE AFRAID is a book about perspective. It’s all in the way you look at things. The little girl – she used to be afraid. Very afraid. Until she learned to change the way she viewed her world! What are your fears? How can you change your perspective?

The die-cuts can be very challenging! Look at the diagram Laura Vaccaro Seeger drew to help her think her ideas! For example, in “I used to be afraid of shadows”, the die-cut hole is the little girl’s shadow cast upon the wall. The shadow is the exact same shape as the girl, of course.

When the page is turned, the die-cut becomes the shadow of the girl’s right hand in her heart-shaped shadow puppet, which is the exact same shape as her hand, of course.

But what this means is that her hand and her crouching body are also identical in shape!

Challenge: Create two pages with die-cut holes to illustrate your fear. With the turn of the page, transform your fear from frightening to not so scary after all!