Someday

by Eileen Spinelli, Rosie Winstead (Illustrator)

Someday
I am going to be
a great artist.
Today
I am off to help my dad
paint the shed.

It's hard to be content with the present moment when you are little. The future has infinitely more possibilities!

Here, the prolific and poetic Eileen Spinelli offers us the opportunity to truly enter the mind and heart of a little girl whose dreams reach well beyond today. With Spinelli's gift for capturing the authentic experience of a child and Rosie Winstead's utterly accessible and adorable artwork, this is sure to be a book that will inspire kids to think about what their own plans are for someday.

Genres: Picture Books, Poetry, Childrens, Fiction, Growth Mindset, Family, Art

30 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Eileen Spinelli is an award-winning children's book author from southeastern Pennsylvania. She has written over 100 picture books and novels for children. Her husband is Jerry Spinelli, who also writes books for children.

Reviews

[Set · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a cute book about a girl that is a dreamer with a big imagination. There are some adorable pictures I couldn't get enough of like the one of her bedroom and the one of her looking out the window.
"Someday
I'm going to be a great artist.
I will carry my paints to the beach to pain the sea."
I used to have the same dream and now it's real.

[Erin Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Used this book to teach a lesson on similes.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read two books today called "someday" Weird I know.
I have also read a stream of 4 star books. Wow!
This books is about having dreams, but doing what you can right now, even as a child to make those dreams come true.
I like the pictures, I like the message and story!

What a nice sister to sleep on the bottom bunk with her younger brother who is scared. I would let my brother go sleep with mom and dad or to suck it up... :-)

[Josiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would probably give this two and a half stars. Since I am such a big Jerry Spinelli fan, I was excited to read Eileen's picture books when I first came to them, and was in no way let down by the depth she fits between two covers separated by so few pages. I was especially surprised by the honesty of feeling in this story. Someday is excellent.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book comparing the reality of every day things to someday--how and what you'd love to do!

Students could write their own someday books!

Detailed sentences would be a good model for students. Some day I will dig for dinosaur bones. Deep in a field where once a farmer grew corn and chickens scratched.

[Valleri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both my children and I LOVED this book! A very endearing story of a little girl who has big dreams. I love a good book that teaches young girls that not everyone is a princess and a person doesn't need another person to validate their existence. Travel! See the world! Be your own YOU!

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a dreamer's book! Love the two sides to her dreaming.

[Gayle Swift · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summer offers a break in routines, a chance to explore, relax, have adventures and spend time with family and friends. Kids can daydream, play, enjoy hobbies and use this break to discover things about themselves, their world and the people around them.

"Someday" by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by Rosie Winstead strikes a dreamlike tone through its delicate collage illustration. Using a classic style of repetition, Spinelli highlights the broad possibilities pairing various Somedays and Todays. A young girl shares her dreams for the future and contrasts them with ways she spends her days. Unbridled imagination infuses her dreams for her future. But this celebration of possibility does not diminish her willingness to live her todays with joy and adventure. This provides a balance of finding contentment in the now while imagining and pursuing the future.

For example, she imagines herself Someday unearthing dinosaur bones and being featured on the news. Today, by contrast, she is”digging for coins under the sofa cushions.” She also fantasizes Someday befriending dolphins and learning “all the secrets of the sea” from them. This contrasts with a Today in which she feeds her goldfish who remain silent keeping their secrets to themselves.

Someday is a pleasant read that invites the reader’s imagination to soar while it reminds them to enjoy the delights of the present moments.

Adoption-attuned Lens: This is a great book for adoptive families to read. Its very premise invites exploration of the future, the present and how one can build on the other. It can be an easy segue to invite a child to consider their past and how they can hold both a reality=based awareness of what occurred as well as their own ideas about how they wish it might have been different. This is not an effort to deny or diminish any trauma but rather to affirm what the child should have experienced. (In a previous blog, which i wrote for GIFT Family Services, we explored the power of therapeutic narratives. “You may wonder how reading books differs from sharing a therapeutic narrative. Denise B. Lacher wrote a terrific book on the subject: "Connecting with Kids Through Stories: Using Narratives to Facilitate Attachment in Adopted Children“ ----Gayle H. Swift, "ABC, Adoption & Me: A Multicultural Picture Book

[Briana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is also posted at Pages Unbound Book Reviews.

Summary: A little girl dreams of all the things she will experience and accomplish someday.

Art: The illustrations are very bright, open, and appealing. With a medium level of detail, they depict a wide-eyed and dreamy girl who is accompanied by a cat on every page. Readers can will have fun looking for the cat, watching the girl’s changing hairstyle, and seeing all her dreams come to life.

Review: Someday is an optimistic read written in a parallel structure that always compares what the little girl will do someday (usually something extraordinary) to what she is doing today (sometimes something fun, but occasionally something a little unpleasant). The story ends with a slight twist, sharing the unique experience the girl is having “right now.” The story is fun, depicting a wide variety of things that the girl might achieve one day, ranging from competing as an Olympic gymnast to dining at the White House, and can be used to start a discussion with young readers about what they would like to do someday and how they can begin preparing right now.

[Bethany Mcguirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spinelli, E. (2007). Someday. New York, NY: The Penguin Group.

Picture Book Soak (one more that caught my attention)


This picture book is told from the perspective of a young girl who thinks about all the things she will do one day and compares them to all the things she is doing right now. Written in a poetic form, the main character shares all her hopes and dreams and seems to be wishing for the future, but in the end, she recognizes happiness in the present. I thoroughly enjoyed this story because it reminds me that it is important to live in the moment and not wish my life away, and I enjoyed the illustrations because they are colorful and creative and really make you want to turn the page. The illustrator did an excellent job of creating playful, cartoonish art that still maintains realistic elements. I think this story could serve as an excellent springboard for a writing assignment in which students describe what they want to be when they grow up.

[Mary]

This book is different from the others I have read today. It was a good read but not my favorite. It is more complex and uses your imagination more. I think this is good for students to read books that can expand their imagination. I was most drawn to the illustrations in this story. They were very complex for a children's book. I think children would enjoy sitting and looking at them. Something that was most powerful to me was how the little girl used her current life to prepare for her future life. I think this is a hard concept to grasp but I think it would be good for students to understand it. I would recommend this to others because of the complex story line. I think it would be a good discussion based book and if I were to use this book in my classroom that is how I would use it.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little girl fantasizes about the future. She imagines what might happen Someday. Someday she's going to paint on the beach wearing a smock. A rich person will offer to buy her painting for two million dollars, but she won’t sell. She will gift it to her art teacher. But Today she will help her dad paint the shed. She might even paint her bike.  Someday she will make friends with a dolphin, but Today she will feed her goldfish named Pumpkin.

Cons:   I wasn’t that taken by the illustrations.

Pros:   This is a book of dreaming and possibilities, yet being happy with the present.

More Reviews: http://www.picturebooksleuth.com/

[Alexa Maring · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book alternating between the present and the future. What I love about this book is the young girls dreams. Whenever the "someday" is being voiced, the events are more extravagant and dreams, but when the "now" is being voiced, standard daily activities are expressed. This would be a great way for students to express their future dreams, while also sharing what they do on a daily basis. I love how the illustrator depicted the reality and the dream states in this book. The colors in her illustrations are bright and vibrant, like the girls dreams.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young girl imagine wonderful things about what she will be “someday” and then Spinelli also lets us see the reality of the girl’s life in contrast. For example, she dreams that someday she will ‘make friends with a dolphin and call her Wilma, who will tell her all the secrets of the sea.’ In her life, she shows off her goldfish, gives it a sprinkle of food, but he doesn’t say anything, just blows bubbles.” Illustrations are beautifully full water-color pages, rather cartoon-like, and the coloring is bright and cheerful. It’s an exuberant book.

[Sophie Klockow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: This book wasn't exactly how I thought it was going to be, but I really liked the beginning! Someday is about a little girl telling what she is currently doing today versus what she hopes to do someday.
Connections: Every boy and girl must have a dream about what they hope to do someday
How you would use it: I would like to use this book around the beginning of the school year when we are doing introductions, when I would encourage my students to be whatever they want to be.
Subject heading:
Imagination--Fiction.
Family life--Fiction.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute little story (at times, the pictures are almost "too" cute but overall I found them charming) about a girl who dreams of having tea with the president someday (even if right now she has to eat with her messy brother!) or digging for dinosaur bones (even if right now she is digging around in the couch for spare change to buy an ice cream come). Fun juxtaposition of Someday vs. Right Now and a nice range of interests the little girl would like to have when she grows up.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute story of a young girl who has many dreams for the future but recognizes that she has to get through today first. Ideas for what she wants to do in the future are paired up with actions she can take now. For exampel, "someday" she will be an Olympic gymnast, but today she can work on her cartwheels.

The illustrations are a little off putting. In some pictures the girl's eyes look very strange. In other pictures, I couldn't tell what I was supposed to be looking at. Sigh...

[Megan M · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an absolutely PRECIOUS book! Everything about "Someday" made me smile. It's a story about a young girl with a big imagination, never held back by the mundane events of her day. Digging for change in the sofa becomes digging for dinosaur bones and lunchtime with her messy brother becomes tea at the White House. The artwork is lovely and I will be looking out for more books by both the author and illustrator in the future.

[Dest · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first impression is that this is the kind of children's book that seems aimed at adults. It's romantical, poetic, and almost feels nostalgic.

But, you know, I could see a little girl (maybe 5-9) really loving this book. It's fun to imagine all the crazy things you may get to do when you grow up (ugh, now I'm thinking about that Pussycat Dolls song).

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love, love, love this book! It inspired me to just keep finding more books to read after I was done with my stack at Borders. This book is so uplifting and has the most beautiful illustrations. This inspiring little girls shows how you can be anything you want and you need to believe in yourself to accomplish anything or anyone you want to be!
GREAT READ!

[WKWyverns]

Shared on the second day of school to get us thinking about what some of our future goals will be. Many of the Wolfhounds want to be professional athletes or Olympians. We will revisit this book two more times this year to help us stretch our thinking about future goals. We also wrote and illustrated a "Someday" page that will be hanging on our wall.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is incredibly inspirational. The little girl dreams of all of the things that she wants to do someday and then compares them to what she is doing now. I think, as adults, we sometimes lose that sense of wonder and possibility, and it is nice to remember it in the pages of a children's book. The poetry is lovely!

[Margaret Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

My four-year-old says: (What made it so good?) The jellybeans! (What else did you like?) The food that they have at their tea party. The dinosaur skull. The goldfish. I like that pretty dolphin. And I like the cat. And I love her painting. And I like her red dress. I recommend it to everyone in the whole wide world!

These are the sorts of dreams that my daughter and I both enjoy:-)

[funny dot J · Rating 5 out of 5]

The girl in the story talks about her big dreams, such as in someday she will win an Olympics gold medal and have lunch with the President. At the same time, she reflect back on her very normal down-to-earth life. The ending is superb: it shows that while the girl continues to dream big, she is mindful that success begins with small steps and she enjoys these moments.

[Romelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each page is a poetry in prose about a little girl with big dreams. Each page alternate between her dreams, which start of with "Someday..." and the present. Love this book. It encourages children to think about their aspirations. Sweet and fun.

SOMEDAY by Eileen Spinelli would make a great birthday gift.

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a cute story of a girl who dreams of doing things someday, but for now does her noraml, every day things. A good read for little children who have the world open to them, even though growing up is so far away. Some cute pictures that will keep the child interested.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a story about a girl that wants to be all these different things when she gets older. Such as digging for dinosaur bones and swimming with dolphins. This book tells children to reach for the stars.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jerry Spinelli wrote one of my favorite YA novels; his lovely wife wrote one of my favorite picture books. Loved how Rosie Winstead's illustrations beautifully complimented Eileen Spinelli's poetic story.

[April Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book that goes back and forth from today to someday. She says what she wants to do someday, and then says today she is doing something. She has big dreams of what she wants to do someday. It's a great book to read to children so they know they can dream big for their futures.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute read of a little girl, talking about her "someday", which is followed by her future aspirations, as well as her "today", which are her daily goals that she has set for herself in the meantime. Will test this book out on my sons to see if they'll like it