61) Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months by Maurice Sendak

Bibliographic Citation: Sendak, Maurice. Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months. HarperCollins, 1991. 32 pages. ISBN: 978-0064432535.

Format: Paperback

Age Group: Ages 2-4 Years

Annotation:  A little boy talks about the reasons it is good to have chicken soup and rice

during each month.

Reflection: The story consists of twelve different poems for each month.  Lots of rhyming and repetition is used and at the bottom of each poem, the last line always ends with “chicken soup and rice.”  The story itself teaches children about what the weather is like during each month, giving them real world experience through this book.  The poem format promotes learning and memorization of the months.  The illustrations stand out in the book because they are done in Sendak’s classic and very particular style.

Categorization Tags: Soups, Humorous Stories, Months, Rhyme

48) Silly Sally by Audrey Wood

Bibliographic Citation: Wood, Audrey. Silly Sally. Harcourt Children's Books, 1992. 32 pages. ISBN: 978-0152744281.

Format: Paperback

Author/Illustrator Sites: http://www.audreywood.com,   

Age Group: Ages 3-4 Years

Annotation: Sally has an upside down adventure on her way into town.

Reflection: Silly Sally is funny story that continually repeats the line “Silly Sally went to town, _______ backwards, upside down” throughout the book.  Subsequent pages show Sally meeting various animals and the text uses rhyming and action verbs to describe the interaction.  The main line is repeated but with the substitution of the new action verb introduced in that scene.  The book teaches animal names and action verbs, and gives children the opportunity to make a prediction about what happens on the next page.  After meeting the sheep, Sally and the animals fall asleep, “Now how did Sally get to town, sleeping backwards, upside down?” is asked to get children to guess.  The next page brings in a new character, Neddy Buttercup who does the opposite of Sally, “walking forwards, right side up.”  The following pages show him tickling the animals one-by-one and repeats the action verb associated with the animal, prompting children to repeat what they remember happening previously in the book.  The book ends with Sally being woke up by Neddy Buttercup and tickling him back, and Sally getting to town “walking backwards, upside down” which is repeated from the first line of the book.   

Categorization Tags: Humorous stories, Stories in Rhyme

41) Bedtime for Mommy by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Bibliographic Citation: Rosenthal, Amy Krouse. Bedtime for Mommy. Illustrated by LeUyen Pham. Bloomsbury USA Childrens, 2010. 32 pages. ISBN: 978-1599903415.

Format: Hardcover

Author/Illustrator Sites: http://www.whoisamy.com, http://www.leuyenpham.com   

Age Group: Ages 3-4 Years

Annotation: A little girl puts her mom to bed with a bedtime routine.

Reflection: Bedtime for Mommy is a cute story where the daughter reverses roles with her Mom for a night.  Instead of being tucked in to bed, she tucks her mom into bed.  It is a very amusing story for both parents and children because many families can relate to the situation.  Pham’s watercolor drawing are colorful and cute, and attractive to the eyes, helping to keep children’s eyes on the book. 

Categorization Tags: Bedtime, Mothers and Daughters, Humorous Stories

5) Bark George by Jules Feiffer

Bibliographic Citation:  Feiffer, Jules. Bark, George. HarperCollins, 1999. 32 pages. ISBN: 978-0062051851.

Format: Hardcover

Awards: Florida Children's Book Award (2003), Missouri Building Block Picture Book Award (2000), Charlotte Zolotow Award Nominee for Honor Book (2000), Vermont's Picture Book Awards: Red Clover (2001), Buckeye Children's Book Award for K-2 (2001) ...more Grand Canyon Reader Award for Picture Book (2002), Flicker Tale Children's Book Award (2002), Keystone to Reading Book Award for Primary (2001)

Author/Illustrator Sites: http://www.julesfeiffer.com 

Age Group:  Ages 2-4 Years

Annotation: George’s mom tries to teach him to bark, but something strange happens so she decides to take him to the vet.

Reflection: My favorite book, that I believe will stand the test of time is,"Bark,George" by Jules Feiffer.  This book has all the elements to stand the test of time to become a classic.  The book starts off with George's mom and she tells George to bark and the first thing that comes out is a, "meow."  She continues to tell George to bark and a series of animal sounds come out following the cat, a duck, a pig and then a cow.  Children have a blast making animal sounds and have even more fun trying to teach George how to bark correctly.  George's mom takes George to the Vet to see if George can get his bark back and the Vet pulls out a cat, a duck, a pig and finally a big cow.  Of course by now, the children understand that this is a make-believe story because a cow couldn't really come out of George's stomach and many children are relieved at this point.  After the cow is pulled from George, the Vet tells George to bark and he does.  George's mother is so excited, that she kisses each of the animals and the Vet.  On the way home, George and his mother pass a bunch of people and she is so excited and wants to show off George to everyone on the street, so she says, "Bark, George" and George says..."Hello."  That's the end of the story, which in my opinion, is destined to become a classic.

Categorization Tags: Juvenile Fiction, Veterinarians, Dogs, Animals, Humorous stories.