Window

Jeannie Baker
Walker Books
Age 5-7

A mother and baby gaze out of the window at the scene of wilderness and sky. As her son grows from a baby to adulthood the scene changes as houses and roads are built and the village becomes a city. When he becomes a father himself, he moves to the countryside and gazes out of the window at the wilderness beyond, but already there are signs of the development to come. The story is told in exquisitely textured collages and the detailed Illustrations are to be explored time and time again. This is another stunningly crafted, wordless picture book by the award-winning author, subtly charting the passage of time.

Share the story

Read the book aloud
This is a book told in pictures, so slowly look together, exploring the layers of meaning crafted into the pages, talking together about what you notice.

Join in
Encourage children to talk about what they see on each page and how this changes from one double-page spread to another.

Talk about the story
Talk together about the ideas in the book and what it means to you. Encourage children to ask questions and to share what they notice about changes in their local environment.

Things to make and do

Make a collage
Children can gather a range of natural and manmade materials to create a collage picture, perhaps of the scene outside their window, the view in a picture or photograph, or from their imagination.

Write the story
Children can tell, then write, the story told in the pictures of the book (or you can write down their words for them). They can read it aloud to themselves first, to see if they want to make any changes, before reading it aloud to you.

Make a photo story book
Using a few photographs from babyhood to the present, talk together about what you see and remember, and the changes that have taken place over time. The photographs can be sequenced and stuck in a book with children’s captions written below.

Find out more

Find more books by this author here

Find films of books by this author here

Find out about the collage technique used in the book

Find out more about collage here and here

Find out more books about Our World