In a Village by the Sea Picture Book Activities
Picture Books
A house without books is like a room without windows. —Heinrich Mann
In a Village by the Sea is a beautiful book by debut author Muon Van and richly illustrated by April Chu. It lends itself to creating picture book activities. The story is familiar and yet exotic at the same time. Children will delight in getting a peek at the setting of a fishing village in Viet Nam. The story is told from different perspectives starting out with a view of the village and narrowing into a hole in the floor where a cricket lives. The prose is lyrical and children will enjoy reading it again and again. I can’t say enough about how beautiful and magical the illustrations are in this book. You will be transported away to a different world.
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In a Village by the Sea Picture Book Activities
We were so inspired that we created a lesson plan full of picture book activities for In a Village by the Sea.
Of course, all good books need an art project as part of the picture book activities and for our In a Village by the Sea lesson plan we tried to catch some of the movement of April Chu’s illustration and give it a slightly Asian feel by adding origami. Learn how to make your own Fishing Scene.
Respond to Literature with Journal Pages
Encourage them to respond to what they have read by writing or drawing about the story. We made a journal page as a companion activity for In a Village By the Sea.
We are collecting journal pages based on books to make our own journal of what we have read. It is a fun way to remember our favorite books. Be sure to check out all the fun, free printables. Children will enjoy all the fun printables that we have available for you to download!
In My World perspective printable activity for In a Village by the Sea picture book activities
In a Village by the Sea is also a book about perspectives. We see the images through the eyes of the different characters.
Make your own In my World coloring and writing project to go along with reading this book.
Explore Viet Nam with the links provided in the curriculum. Enjoy a modern version of a classic Vietnamese recipe!
Discussion and Writing Prompts for the book In a Village by the Sea:
For young children use these prompts to lead a discussion about the book. For older students have them write and draw their responses. While you are reading the book have the children notice whose perspective each page is illustrating.
- This story is shown through the eyes of the various inhabitants. Talk or write about what the fishermen were seeing. (The fishermen saw the village by the sea. They felt the storm coming.)
- Talk or write about what the dog saw. (The dog saw the kitchen. He was curious and wanted to see what the woman was cooking.)
- Talk or write about what the woman saw. (The woman saw her baby sitting by her side. The woman and the baby are waiting for her husband to come home.)
- Talk or write about what the baby saw. (The baby saw the hole where the cricket was hiding.)
- Talk or write about what the cricket was doing. (The cricket is humming and painting a picture of the fisherman in the storm.)
- Talk or write about the fisherman saw while he was in the storm. (He saw a village and in that village was his house and in that house, his family is waiting for him to come home.)
- Talk or write about how things can look different depending on who is looking at them. For instance, to the fisherman, his house looked far away.
- Talk or write about a time when you were waiting for someone. How did it feel to wait?
Transport your children into another world through the joy of reading and by exploring picture book activities!
Image reproduced with permission from Creston Books
