I will use it to encourage my students to use their imaginations to take them to faraway places. When I became a mother, I would push my own children on the swing and help them imagine they were going to kick a cloud or fly to the moon. When I was a little girl, my swing set was my favorite toy and I loved to imagine I was flying places, too. First, I will express the many text to self connections I made. I will use this book to demonstrate several things to my first graders. The faces of the dad and girl are almost like stick people drawings and yet their expressions of happiness are clear. The illustrations are childlike drawings done in bold colors with black outlines so they stand out.

The last page ends with an illustration of her hugging her dad from the swing and the word, 'Again!' All the way up and all the way down, the little girl's face depicts the pure joy of imagining you are in far away place. By the middle of the book she is greeting aliens in outer space. She gives a thumbs up to a climber at the peak of a mountain. Next she is pointing at kids on top of a skyscraper. First, she is looking a giraffe in the eye. The words simply say, 'Higher! Higher!' As you turn each page,you see how much higher her imagination is taking her on the swing. An unnamed little girl is being pushed on a swing by her father. “Our imaginations took off, and the sequel to Higher! Higher! was born.” Leslie Patricelli lives in Ketchum, Idaho, with her husband, their three children, a slow fat cat, a quick kitten, and two bunnies that can outrun them all.I loved this picture book because the illustrations so clearly show the fantasy world where your imagination can take you. “While racing home from the post office, my daughter Tatum was riding on my back yelling ‘faster Mommy, faster!.’ ” she says. Leslie Patricelli is the author-illustrator of Higher! Higher! as well as nine board books starring her beloved bald baby character, most recently Tubby and Potty.

Native American Family Imagination & Play Hang on tight for more comic joy in this companion to the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor winner Higher! Higher! Run, Daddy! Faster! Faster! How fast can Daddy go? Faster than a dog? A horse? How about a cheetah? Must his feet even touch the ground? Leslie Patricelli reprises the duo from Higher! Higher! in another humorous riff on a favorite pastime - a laugh-out-loud-funny tale of few words about doting dads and high-energy kids whose imaginations know no bounds. Author/illustrator: Leslie Patricelli A day at the park.

Higher! Higher! by Leslie Patricelli