The children’s book What A Treasure written by Jane Hillenbrand and illustrated by Will Hillenbrand is Pennsylvania's One Book, Every Young Child 2010 selection. The colorful picture book for children 3 to 6 follows Mole as he digs and digs, discovering treasures for his animal friends and himself in his backyard. In this video Will Hillenbrand models how to read a picture book to preschoolers with great warmth and expression. He talks about the cover and the mystery of the characters on it. Overlaid are close-ups of his illustrations as he reads.

In its fifth year, the Pennsylvania’s One Book Every Young Child program highlights the important of early literacy development in preschoolers. The target age group contains about 560,000 children who attend preschools, kindergartens, Head Start and childcare facilities. The program’s design emphasizes the importance of engaging children as an adult reads to them. As part of the program, the book author or illustrator visits early learners in libraries, museums and other venues throughout the year and reads to them.

During his visit to Schlow Library in State College, Pennsylvania, he explained to a crowd of preschoolers how his wife and he got the idea for the story. When his son was about two and a half, he loved to dig. Hillenbrand showed snapshots of his son digging in the snow and trying to dig inside. He even showed a birthday cake for his son with the first Mole, a paper mache creature, on the cake. He told the preschoolers that he transferred pictures of Mole to a tee shirt and a bag for his son.

One morning Jane Hillenbrand left her husband a note based on an idea she had floating around in her head. It was the beginning of the story What A Treasure. Together they worked on the story until the words and pictures came together in a published book in 2006.

Will Hillenbrand appealed to his audience of preschoolers as artists by drawing characters on an erasable white board as they entered the library’s community room. He confided that he had been an artist since he was a little boy and he suspected that some of them were just like him. Hillenbrand shared the process of how he created the characters by projecting a series of drawings. He revealed how he got the rich color of his drawings: He used colored pencils to layer colors on both sides of the paper within the outline of the characters. At the end of the presentation the preschoolers stretched out their arms and clapped like crocodiles to give the illustrator a round of applause.

For reasons to write in every day life, check out this music video sung by children from Between the Lions Reasons to Write.

For reasons to read in every day life, listen to this music video sung by Patty Loveless and Buddy Jewel from Between the Lions Reasons to Read.

For an introduction to art that tells a story visit the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, through this flash interactive Art That Tells a Story.

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