The Blank Page

How a Piece of Paper Connects to Everything

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Pub Date 22 Sep 2020 | Archive Date 22 Sep 2020
Parallax Press | Plum Blossom

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Description

Is a blank page really blank? Beloved poet Alberto Blanco pulls back the curtain and illuminates all of the elements hidden in a single piece of paper: the tree it was made from, the rain and sun that allowed the tree to grow, and the people that created it. An enlightening read for readers young and old, it soon becomes clear that a blank page contains the whole cosmos.

In The Blank Page, world-renowned Mexican poet Alberto Blanco inspires children and adults to keep looking deeper, to never take things at face value. Charming illustrations by Rob Moss Wilson portray a world that slowly comes to life in a single sheet of paper: first the tree, then the forest, then the people are discovered, revealing the whole interrelated ecosystem of our world. As Blanco says: "Where nothing happens, there is a miracle we are not seeing."
Is a blank page really blank? Beloved poet Alberto Blanco pulls back the curtain and illuminates all of the elements hidden in a single piece of paper: the tree it was made from, the rain and sun...

Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781946764621
PRICE $16.95 (USD)
PAGES 32

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Average rating from 60 members


Featured Reviews

This is a simple yet fantastic book that takes us through the journey of the process of creating paper. It’s not an in depth look but it shows kids how things are created with a lot of different components.

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I believe this book is perfect for any child to read as it shows them to be conscious of the environment. I like how the author dove deep into what is behind the making of a book. This would be an amazing book to incorporate into a lesson plan when going over recycling and the affects we have in the environment. I believe the author really made it easy for children to understand how ecosystem rely on each other to work in unison. The age group I would say is pk-2nd grade I believe if it wanted to target a larger audience it would need to give more information.

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A thoughtful book about looking and exploring. This book poses the question of “can you see what this is?” and in those terms, what this encompasses, as a whole, as an individual, and asks you to try and explore it. I thought it was a great book about looking into something and seeing more. It is a great book for kids and to get kids to see more than just a blank page, and to get them to begin to ask themselves about the things they see and understand. It was a simple yet beautiful book. The artwork was great and added a nice touch to the already wonderful message of the book.
* Thank you netgalley for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

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A quick disclaimer: I don't have children, and although I was a Rainbow Guide leader for a number of years, I have never been a children's librarian. My opinion is as someone who teaches Bibliography, History of the Book, and the Artist's Book, and who collects artists' books, with a focus on commercially published artists' books.

I love this book and cannot wait to be able to lay hands on it. A core text in my collecting, writing and teaching is A Child of Books by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston (London: Walker, 2016 and over 20 translations worldwide). Around that, I obtain other works that aim to talk about reading and books to children, so this one will fit right in. It will be a great discussion point for students - what makes a book with these aims an artist's book as opposed to a book with nice pictures? Where does the text take us? What level of harmony is there in the pictures and the text? What is the level of collaboration? (Jeffers and Winston collaborated in text and images, whereas here there is a clear division). Is there a level of didacticism? What is the role of the imagination?

So many great ways into thinking about these issues.

I'm putting it through as 4/5 and not 5/5 because, personally, I would dial back the message-signalling a little, and because I would like to see more blanks in a book about blank pages. However, I appreciate that I am coming to this work from a different angle from most potential purchasers (presumably people with children in the picture-book age group).

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What a magical book for children (and for adults too, really). I read this to my 4 year old, and he absolutely loved the illustrations. You can always tell when a book is making a child really "think" by how long they look at the pages and by following the path of his/her eyes. Beyond looking, this book is wonderful for stimulating the imagination and working to make something out of "nothing." I also loved that this was a great introduction for children into taking care of our earth and environment. This book feels special in the imagery and words, and is such a fun peek into the world of poetry/art for little ones.

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I liked that this book asks children to see further than simply what they can physically see. It has some elements of being environmentally conscious and being aware of the resources it takes to produce a simple, every-day object- in this case a page- without being overly moralistic. I enjoyed the illustrations, especially the ones with more detail. Overall a good read that could tie in well to lessons on conservation.

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The Blank Page is a book that shows children exactly where their paper has come from and the process it went through to become a page in their book. It makes children understand that a piece of paper is so much more than just what you can see.

When I was a child I went on a school trip to the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Manchester. Amongst many of the things that we saw and were taught was how the paper was made. They had a whole demonstration beginning with the trees and ending up with a piece of paper we each were given that was made there. I was fascinated and have never forgotten that day. This book took me straight back to that day in my mind.

The illustrations are quite basic looking but they are there just to give the reader a taste of what they can actually see on the page. They are to use their imagination for the rest of the images. The funny thing is that I first read this in a PDF file on my computer (I had an arc copy of the book), and the pages didn’t have any illustrations. I was confused but going back and reading it again I thought the idea of the book was to use your imagination to see what was happening at each stage of the paper’s life and to show that a blank page is never really blank if you use your imagination.

After reading some reviews where reviewers mentioned the illustrations I became confused. Were they talking about the illustrations that they had conjured up in their heads or was I missing something, so I downloaded a Kindle version and lo and behold the pages did have illustrations. Small ones but they were there. I actually preferred the book when I was making the story up and creating images in my head – sorry.

Overall, this is a wonderful book for making children see more than just a piece of paper, to make them understand that it doesn’t just magically appear in books, that paper is created from nature and that if they look hard enough they will see that.

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An informative children's book that provokes deep thought regarding how the universe is linked, and how something comes from nothing. Teaching young children how something as simple as a blank page, has come so far from the process of papermaking, starting with a seed in the ground, turning into a tree. Gorgeous accompanying illustrations, my only regret is that my kindle is only black and white. Very well written, enjoyable for those of all ages.

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I love reading children's books, because you can read it at any age, and yet still get something out of it.

The Blank Page tells the readers that there is something more than the mere blank page. There are a lot of things that go into the making of a single piece of paper. It includes the whole universe, including YOU. And to quote the author, Alberto Blanco here; "Where nothing happens, there is a miracle we are not seeing."

This book is a subtle way in instilling to readers to be mindful of our ways and how we affect the world we live in. That we are a part of everything that comes to be made. That even the world and the universe come together in order to make a single blank piece of paper. It is also a book that gives the readers a great first glance into being environmentally conscious.

The art and the wordings in the book all came together and created a masterpiece for everyone to enjoy. I highly recommend this book to any reader, of any age.

(Thank you Netgalley and the author for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.)

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The simplicity of this book, but the complex message within it, it what is most appealing about this book. I really, really liked the message of the book. At first glance, it is the story of all of the processes behind how paper is made. It makes one realize how much work goes into getting a single piece of paper, and I think it would encourage children to appreciate what a process it really is. I think it will inspire them to cherish books. It was also the story of looking beyond the page, and how there are many things going on behind the scenes that you do not always see or notice at first. A message of how things are connected. I think this would be a superb read aloud for primary classrooms. While young readers can easily connect to the story and learn about all that goes into making paper, I think this message will be equally appealing for older readers. It will really encourage them to think about things more closely and see the bigger picture. The simplicity of the text and simplistic artwork mesh well together, however, I am not certain that I loved the illustrations in this book. Because of the concise and precise message in the text, and the overall message that there are bigger things that you don't always see working in this world, I think I would have preferred to see more realistic artwork. I did enjoy seeing the owl pop up throughout the book, and I think that would be an appealing activity for young readers, to look out for the owl. I would have liked to see more blank pages in a book called The Blank Page. The text was very conversational, and though provoking, and I liked that.

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The Blank Page by Alberto Blanco and illustrated by Rob Moss Wilson is a children's book that explains how paper is made. He speaks about the many people that are involved and the different parts of nature that are affected or contribute to paper as well. This book is easy to understand and I like the simplistic illustrations that go with it because they don't distract from the topic but rather enhance the experience.

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