Tag Archives: lucky picture book

lucky by david mackintosh + pineapples (+ screenprint giveaway!)

11.18.2014

Lucky by David Mackintosh (2014).

Thanksgiving is around the corner and we’re thinking about two things for the holiday: food and feeling thankful to have what we already have. Perhaps rephrased as feeling lucky about what’s in our lives. Now. This picture book has something to do with that.

Lucky promises to answer the question posed at the beginning. What is Mom going to surprise these two brothers with at dinnertime? What could it be? (Do note that pineapple in the bowl of fruit on the very first page as it comes into play.)

The narrator and his little brother, Leo, come up with plenty of possibilities during their day at school, each more exciting (implausible?) than the last.

Their final hypothesis is the best of all, gently gleaned from a magazine they’re reading in the Nurse’s office. I love the way the power of suggestion works in this book. And the magnitude of jumping to conclusions.

The boys are CONVINCED they’ve won a two week all expenses paid trip to HAWAII, land of volcanoes and grass skirts and fruit. We should all be so LUCKY, no?

They’re wrong. Of course they’re wrong. And there’s disappointment pre-dinner table.

But not for long. Because, in the non-cheesiest way, Mackintosh shows us what the narrator has to be thankful for. He figures out for himself why he’s quite lucky. Already, without the trip to Hawaii.

He’s lucky in the little things and even in that little brother Leo of his.

Mackintosh’s illustrative style is so recognizable. There’s a retro quality. There are real photographs thrown in. And sometimes scribbles. Type that perfectly narrates the visual story in its white spaces. All with a whole lot of playfulness.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

David was kind enough to send me a limited edition screenprint to give away to one of you LUCKY readers! And it’s signed! Enter with the Rafflecopter above! (And see the printing process here.)
I’ll contact the randomly chosen winner by email for your mailing address.

(Open to N. America only—sorry about that far-flung international readers! Giveaway ends Monday, November 24. Good luck!)

Thanks to David Mackintosh for images!

So, pineapples! For anyone dreaming of going to Hawaii for two weeks (expenses paid-hooray!), here are some pineapples instead. The shape, the color, there’s so much bright and happy about a pineapple. They look like they symbolize bounty, no?