Love and the Rocking Chair is told and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon, winners of two Caldecott Medals and five Coretta Scott King Awards and Honors over five decades. It is a beautiful story based on the history of their own rocking chair purchased in 1965.
This special piece of furniture provides a warm magic place where rocking, cuddling, storytelling, singing and comforting take place. When the first baby begins to venture out to other places of interest, the rocking chair provides a home for a variety of stuffed animals. Eventually the chair is placed in the attic to patiently await the next baby, a generation away. The record of this handing down of love from a mother and father to their son and then on to the next generation is both genuine and pure in the telling.
The illustrations, done in acrylic on Bristol board, feature a beautiful flat color technique that gives each picture a soft opaque finish. Pictures of the little son dressed in cowboy hat and boots riding the rocking chair as if it were a horse and of the granddaughter steering the same rocking chair as if it were a sailboat are delightful and full of movement, imagination and childhood fun. The final illustration brings the story full circle. The grandmother now rests in this same rocking chair with the whole family around her including the recently passed grandfather whose picture is lovingly framed on the wall.
Love and the Rocking Chair by Leo and Diane Dillon is a beautiful picture book about the circle of life wrapped up in beauty and kindness for young children 3-5 years of age (Scholastic, 2019).
The Children’s Bookshelf is a production of WCMU. A link to the podcast and activity questions can be found at Children’s Bookshelf dot org.
Questions for Love and the Rocking Chair
Do you have a rocking chair? Is it big like the chair in this story or small---just the right size for you? How does it sound when you rock in it-----does it creek or squeak? Is it white like the rocking chair in this story or another color? Draw a picture of your rocking chair. Parents can help if needed. Can you give your chair a nickname?
How do you think the rocking horse sounds when the boy rides it like a horse? Try out some sounds. How does the rocking chair sound when the girl steers it like a sailboat? Try out some more sounds. Have fun!
Play an I Spy game and find the following items in the illustrations: a black cat, a picture of a blue pelican, a baseball bat, a jack in the box, a a teddy bear, a doll in a yellow dress, a picture of a rabbit and a panda bear, a green book, a blue suitcase and a knitting basket.
