It took me a bit of time to really think about what my favorite picture book is. In my mind, I went through the list of books that are some of my known favorites that I have read with my son and/or my students: Into the Forest, The Book with no Pictures, A is for Activist, and King & King are only a few books that crossed my mind when I started to think about my favorite picture book. Then, I decided on What Do You Do With an Idea by Kobi Yamada. This book is part of Yamada’s What You Do series and sets a glowing example for children and adults alike on how to express themselves, how to gain confidence in their thoughts and beliefs, and how to turn those thoughts and beliefs into realities.

This picture book encourages readers, young and old, to follow their paths and share their ideas. The child in the book reviews the scary side of sharing ideas, so he goes through the progression of keeping the idea to himself. Once he gained more confidence through attending to his idea, his idea grew, and continued to take more space in his mind and life until it expanded into the greater space of the world.

To me, this book really encourages young people to build upon their ideas and to stick with them even if others do not support them. It challenges the reader to gain confidence and understanding in his/her/themselves and allows for ideas to be transformative. While this is a picture book and is geared toward pre-school to early elementary aged children, it could be beneficial for older children as well.

If this book has piqued your interest, then I also recommend looking into other books by the same author: What Do You Do With a Problem? and What Do You Do With a Chance?

What are some of the books you’ve read that address ideas or creative thinking?