{Synopsis} – Life is a Bowl Full of Cherries show children the magic of idioms – words that separately have one meaning, but together take on something entirely different.
Children are curious about words, especially phrases that make them laugh (“Couch potato!”), sound silly (“Eat your words”) or trigger images that tickle a child’s sense of the absurd (“Pie in the sky”).
Life is a Bowl Full of Cherries uses outlandish illustrations of what the words describe literally. The reader then has to guess the “real” meaning of the phrases (which is upside down in the corner of each spread). At the end of the book, the reader is invited to learn more about these figures of speech.
Our first book of idioms, Birds of a Feather (2009), dealt with birds, insects or animals. Life is a Bowl Full of Cherries uses food idioms. Both are fun – and instructive!
{My thoughts} – Idioms, of how wonderful they can be. I always get a good giggle when my children ask me how it is possible for someone to be a {couch potato} or how a book can be as {flat as a pancake}. Children have the problem with seeing things literally instead of in the light they are meant to be seen. Idioms are meant to be silly ways for an individual to express themselves.
I personally am a very logical and literal person so I tend to interpret things as such. Idioms are something that I have always struggled with as a person. I understand the concept and how they work and their purpose. But it is difficult for me to agree that they ultimately make sense. This book is rather creative and it takes some of the more popular idioms and puts them to illustration to show children just how silly they are. This book would be a wonderful addition to any teacher/ homeschooling parent or libraries shelves. It is a wonderful learning tool in my opinion.
Final Conclusion: 5 Star Rating.
