Nicole Tracy
Literary Columnist
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Chick by Lucille Colandro is a reimagined version of the classic “There Was An Old Woman Who Swallowed A Fly”, with a twist on it to make it an Easter story.
The story itself is simple, the old lady manages to swallow not only a chick, but all the ingredients necessary to make an Easter basket, then trips over her dog, regurgitates the now completed Easter basket that then somehow perfectly falls into the hands of the Easter Bunny.
The way the story is written is a plus for younger kids – it’s words are repetitive, there’s not a lot going on in this story to distract away from the main point, thus building the story thru retelling of the same points over and over.
The illustrations in the book are colorful, and give the child plenty of room to imagine what would happen if one really could swallow a chick and other implements of Easter. Saying that, though, it is important to point out that no chicks were harmed in the making of the Easter basket in this tale. Aside from a slight look of confusion on the chick’s face the whole time, there’s nothing that a child could find particularly frightening. It was a cute enough story, and would be good for a 3-4 year old child.
Dirt on My Shirt by Jeff Foxworthy is a collection of poems geared towards kids. Topics covered are items such as grandparents, friends, animals, playing outside, and other general kid friendly fare.
The poems are light hearted and whimsical, and humorous enough for both parents and children to find these to be enjoyable when read together. The illustrations in the book are well done, and add to the poem. One poem in particular, “Bubbles” is sure to be a hit for any little boy.
I Lost My Kisses by Trudie Trewin is a story about a little calf named Matilda Rose. She loves kisses. However, one day, she manages to lose her kisses – turns out her father is away on a trip and she has not gotten her kisses that day – so she sets off to find them. There are lots of discussions with her friends on what kisses really are, and where they think she can find them, only to lead up to the ending where Matilda’s dad arrives and gives Matilda her missing kisses.
The book itself is broken down into small chunks of the story per page with illustrations that give the child an excellent sense of what’s going on in the story while hearing or reading it. This one would be especially good to read to the child who is missing a family member who is off on a trip, but will be coming home soon.
Froggy’s Sleepover by Jonathan London is a story about Froggy, who is getting to go to his first sleepover at his friend Max’s house, and is very excited about it. Froggy manages to forget a few things while getting ready, then when he finally makes it to Max’s house, one thing leads to another, and he wants to go home to sleep. Houses are switched several times, and finally, Froggy and Max fall asleep at 9 am.
The most obvious thing about this book was how much fun it would be to read aloud with all the sound effects used in the story. This is one of those stories kids could ask to hear more than once a night before bed, it is that much fun to read. The illustrations are very kid friendly and colorful.
Froggy would be good for kids of all ages, after all, who doesn’t like making sounds like “shlooop!” This one is almost guaranteed to cause a giggle or two.
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In addition to serving as an associate librarian with the Howard County Library, Nicole Tracy has years of experience in literary fields. She writes an exclusive weekly column for The Nashville News.
