April is the month of poetry, Earth Day, and the Month of the Young Child so there is no better read to get you into the April spirit than “Du Iz Tak?” by Carson Ellis. This Caldecott Medal winner features a community of creepy crawlies who have discovered an unfurling sprout. They become fascinated as the shoot grows and blooms, all the while communicating in a made up language. This is a wonderful read-aloud book, and although you may feel more than a bit silly speaking in an unknown bug vernacular, once you commit, even the most reluctant reader can’t help but be captivated by the plot of these tiny creatures building a furt within the leaves of their beloved gladenboot. Will the booby voobeck eat them?! Or destroy their furt? This book gets everyone involved in the story. The audience has to use the pictures to decipher the imaginary language, linking the visual and linguistic to form the complete story. By sharing this book your child will get a lesson in the subtleties of language. They will discover that inflection can convey a tremendous amount of information and meaning. These characters are using a language that does not exist but we can tell when they are happy, scared, and disappointed. This opens up lots of discussion. How do they feel about that? What does that phrase mean? Do you think all this is going on in our yard right now?

Between the gorgeous nature artwork, and the humor and poetry of the fabricated dialect, you and your young child will adore “Du Iz Tak?”