You Can't Take a Balloon Into the Museum of Fine Arts by Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman and Robin Preiss Glasser

You Can't Take a Balloon Into the Museum of Fine Arts is one of my recent favorites.  This graphic novel explores the city of Boston.  Though this book is completely wordless, the author and illustrator, Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman and Robin Preiss Glasser tell a humorous story of a balloon.  Enjoying a day in the city, grandparents take their grandchildren to the Museum of Fine Arts.  Rather than bringing the granddaughter's green balloon into the museum, the grandmother waits outside with it.  Hilarity ensues as the balloon is accidentally let go.  It travels through the city into various famous and historic places in Boston including the Public Gardens, Old North Church, Boston Harbor, and even Fenway Park, gathering a parade of followers in its wake.  Meanwhile, the children and their grandfather explore the museum; taking in the fine art.

This is the third book in the series.  Weitzman and Glasser previously wrote You Can't Take a Balloon Into the Metropolitan Museum and You Can't Take a Balloon Into the National Gallery.  Appropriate for students at any reading level, words could be created by students during writers workshop. This book would also, serve as an excellent mentor text.  Even though there are no words, the story has a very clear pattern that students could imitate as they create stories of their own.  The pattern is similar to that of The Gingerbread Man or The Mitten.    I would highly recommend this book to any elementary teacher.