Early Book Review: A Squiggly Story by Andrew Larsen

A Squiggly Story by Andrew Larsen is a picture book that is currently scheduled for release on September 6 2016. A young boy wants to write a story, just like his big sister. Athough he knows his letters, he doesn't know many words. “Every story starts with a single word and every word starts with a single letter,” his sister explains patiently. “Why don't you start there, with a letter?” So the boy tries. He writes a letter. An easy letter. The letter I. And from that one skinny letter, the story grows, and the little boy discovers that all of us, including him, have what we need to write our own perfect story.

A Squiggly Story offers encouragement for developing readers and writers to be creative and take chances. Writing a book can be a daunting task for adults, never mind young children still learning how to read and write. I loved the example his big sister sets, and her encouragement. Like any art form, with writing you need to start with a single word, a single letter, and expand from there. Much like the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds encourages artistic expression by encouraging children to start with a simple mark on the page, this book suggests that inspiring writers start of much the same. Anyone can tell their story with art or words, but only if they get started. The story is told as the young boy writes his book, and while my advanced digital copy has some formatting issues- which I fully expect to already be fixed in the final copy- the fun illustrations and story panels with dialogue bubbles come together to engage the reader and give the pages a nice textured look. I really enjoyed the read and think it will be a favorite among many readers, teachers, librarians, and parents.

A Squiggly Story is a great picture book for encouraging young children to be creative, and to ret new things (like writing their own book). The sibling relationship and persistence of the young author are great examples for readers of all ages.