The Little Book Bird hopped up and down on the branch several times.
“I have to tell my friends about this! Right now!” she exclaimed. “About drawings that can become the beginning of new journeys! About how to keep ideas from running off again!”
She flapped her wings and flew between the trees so quickly that a few little leaves spun in the air.
The Author and the Wise Owl laughed.
“That is exactly what it looks like when an idea turns into action,” the Author said cheerfully. “It all feels very natural: conversations, stories, drawings, journeys, actions. Everything is connected.”
“Because in our world, every story in a book leads to action,” the Wise Owl replied.
“You know, Wise Owl, this may be the answer to a question I often hear from parents: what is a story-based children’s activity book? It is a book with stories in which a child not only reads each story but also continues it through drawing or coloring, observation, choice, cutting, searching, comparing, or another kind of action,” the Author said.
“But anyone can take an ordinary story and add a coloring page, a maze, or a few questions after it. Would that make the activity book story-based?” the Wise Owl asked.
“No. A book becomes story-based when the activity after the story grows out of what the child has just read and has a reason within the story,” the Author replied.
“Yes. That is why our books do not end with the last sentence of a story. A story-based children’s activity book gives the child a small action to take each time. Not as a test, not as an exercise, but as a continuation of the adventure. It develops through participation, not through instruction. The child stays inside the story and experiences it with hands, eyes, attention, and imagination,” the Wise Owl added.
“Do you think, Wise Owl, that a story-based children’s activity book is like an ordinary school workbook?” the Author asked.
“I do not think so,” the Wise Owl replied. “Because in this kind of book, each activity is not a check of what the child remembers, but a part of the adventure.”
“Exactly. That is because each story in such a book is not just a story, but an adventure. The whole book is made of the adventures you and the Little Book Bird share. Without both of you, those adventures would not happen,” the Author added.
“And it seems the main character of our books is already coming back to us. Probably with new ideas!” the Wise Owl said cheerfully.
“Here I am!” the Little Book Bird called out happily. “I told my friends about the drawings! And now I have new ideas! What were you doing?”
The Author and the Wise Owl laughed warmly.
“We were talking about our books, what they are and why they exist. More precisely, about what a ‘story-based children’s activity book’ is,” the Wise Owl replied. “What do you think?”
“I think our books are interesting and… they are about you and me, about our adventures and the friends we meet!” the Little Book Bird exclaimed.
“And the activities are interesting too,” she added. “You know, I think this kind of book does not say, ‘Do the task!’ It says, ‘Let’s keep going!’”