Ransom, Candice. The Big Green Pocketbook. Illustrated by Felicia Bond. A Laura Geringer Book/HarperCollins, 1993.

First of all, does anyone really call a purse a “pocketbook”? And what’s more, in the cataloging information, one of the subject headings for this book is HANDBAGS–FICTION. Does anyone call a purse a “handbag” these days? Maybe, I might say “I left my bag in the restroom,” but handbag? Pocketbook? Maybe it’s regional. Or perhaps the author just wanted kids to learn a new word. Pocketbook. It is a rather important sounding word.

So, The Big Green Pocketbook is the story of a little girl whose big green pocketbook is empty. She can’t think of anything to put in it at home, but when the girl and her mother go to town on the bus, she collects many items to store in her big green pocketbook: a bus ticket, a lollipop, a keychain, a sample calendar, some crayons, and more. Now her pocketbook is full of treasures. The author describes each place that the mother and the little girl visit during the course of their morning errands with simple, but evocative text. However, as the girl and her mother arrive home after a long morning in the city, the story takes a critical turn. Nevertheless, all ends well with some help from a friendly bus driver.

Felicia Bond, who also did the illustrations for If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and its many sequels, does a lovely job of showing the little girl and her mother and the big green pocketbook that the little girl fills with treasures from her morning in the city. Just looking through the cheerful and colorful pictures in this book can tell the story, and nonreaders will enjoy being reminded of the story, just by perusing the pages on their own, after having it read aloud once or twice.

A Pocket for Corduroy by Don Freeman and Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne would be good followup reads for this one. And you might want to have an old pocket or pocketbook or purse, or even a handbag, to give your preschooler after the reading, so that she–or he–can collect treasures in her very own Big [Color] Pocketbook.

The Big Green Pocketbook by Candice Ransom is a Picture Book Preschool selection, and it can be checked out as a part of the PBP Farms and Cities Picture Book Treasure Box from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.

Biblioguides: The Big Green Pocketbook by Candice Ransom.