First Lady Patricia Blagojevich announces her Holidays selections for Children's Reading Club: Moby-Dick: A Pop-Up Book by Sam Ita and Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island

CHICAGO - With the beginning of the Holiday season, First Lady Patricia Blagojevich today announced her book selections for the month of December, Moby-Dick: A Pop-Up Book by Sam Ita and Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.  Sam Ita's adaptation of Moby Dick, targeted to children as young as four years old, comes vividly to life in a three-dimensional graphic novel, the first of its kind.  Stevenson's Treasure Island is admired as a masterpiece of English literature and considered one of the greatest adventure novels of all time.  

 

"Classics can be enjoyed by people of all ages.  Reading classical literature is important especially to child's development because it helps expand vocabulary and strengthen writing skills," said First Lady Patricia Blagojevich.  "I encourage parents to read with their children, it is one of the best ways to spend quality time with them.  I hope that the picks for this month will be enjoyed by families all across Illinois this Holiday season." 

 

Three of the most famous words in English literature - "Call me Ishmael" - begin Herman Melville's masterpiece, Moby-Dick.  Now, the epic saga of Captain Ahab's obsessive quest for the white whale comes vividly to life in a three-dimensional graphic novel by Sam Ita. Every amazing element is awe-inspiring: there's not just one pop-up per spread, but several, surrounded by colorful comic book-style panels that convey the story's drama.  Some of the pops-ups are huge and incredibly detailed, like the Pequod itself, which rises gloriously from the page, complete with rigging. Others, smaller but no less wonderful, hide beneath flaps and folds. In one instance, readers actually get to look through a 3-D periscope and see Ishmael through the "lens," drifting in the ocean. The quality of Ita's paper engineering is nothing short of breathtaking and will carry the readers off on an unforgettable adventure.

 

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, for children at a middle school reading level, is one of the most frequently dramatized of all novels. It tells a story of young Jim Hawkins who is caught up with the pirate Long John Silver in search of the buried treasure of the buccaneer Captain Flint.  The author of this world-renowned classic was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer, and a leading representative of Neo-romanticism in English literature. 

 

The First Lady launched the Children's Reading Club literacy initiative in March of 2005, and has selected books such as Charlotte's Web, Harriet the Spy, The Boxcar Children and A Light in the Attic for the recommended list. Each month's book selections are featured on the First Lady's website, http://www.illinois.gov/firstlady.  The First Lady hopes the recommended list will enable parents to find books the whole family can enjoy.