What If … 
By Samantha Berger
(for readers in grades preschool –3rd Grade)
What If by Samantha Berger is just the read during these trying times. The narrator is a young girl, who represents her individuality with purple hair. She presents us with questions about creativity, and offers her own poetic answers: “But what if that pencil one day disappeared? / I’d fold up the paper till stories appeared.” She guides her story to center stage of the reader’s imagination with her careful words. The beautifully illustrated pages are more than set dressing as they display ponderings and inner thoughts. What If is the story of possibility, creativity, and imagination. Now more than ever, we need to use our imaginations to broaden our horizons as we think up things for our children to do at home!
Mike Curato’s illustrations use collage and found-objects to display the inner workings of our trustworthy narrator. Berger captures the importance of the mind, “If I had nothing, but still had my mind…/ There’d always be stories to seek and to find.” Now is the time for us to use our minds and come up with our own stories! A fun follow up activity is to ask your child to draw or write their own story!
Enjoy What If by Samantha Berger! St. Nicks Alliance’s Youth and Education department used this book as part of their Family Literacy curriculum: Leaders and Heroes. This book showcases the question, who am I? What am I capable of doing? What are my powers? You can use these as prompts for discussions with your children, or as starting points for their own creations.
The Greenline 