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A Story for Bear – Dennis Haseley

This darling picture book is the story of a young bear who is out exploring in the woods one day and finds something curious. He brings it back to his den and looks it over carefully. It was a piece of paper with writing on it. He kept it over the years and pulled it out often to look at it. He’d never seen anything like it before or since, and it became one of his treasures. One day, he went wandering a little further than usual into the woods, and he came upon a cabin in a clearing. A … Continue reading →

The Little Cat Baby – Allan Ahlberg

There once was a time when children thought that babies were brought by the stork or found in the parsley patch. In “The Little Cat Baby,” babies were obtained at the baby shop, which was run by a woman named Nurse Doodle. Whenever a man and a woman wanted a baby, they would head off to the shop to get one. One day, a particular man and woman headed in to the shop. They looked at lots of babies of every size and shape. There was a cry-baby, a flower-pot-throwing baby, and even a baby robot in a box, ready … Continue reading →

Dr. Seuss: And to Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street

This book was the first ever published by Dr. Seuss, and appeared in 1937. Marco is a curious boy with a great imagination. Every day when he arrives home from school, he’s supposed to tell his father all the things he saw as he walked along. However, Dad doesn’t think too much of the way Marco likes to embellish a tale, and tells him to give the straight story. Today Marco’s having a little bit of a quandary. All he’s seen is a horse and a wagon on Mulberry Street, but that’s so tame. He can’t possibly make such a … Continue reading →

Dr. Seuss Series: McElligot’s Pool

This charming children’s picture book by the incomparable Dr. Seuss was first published in 1947. The farmer laughed when he saw Marco sitting on the banks of McElligot’s pool, fishing pole in hand. He tells the boy that he’ll never catch anything there and it’s all a big waste of time. You see, there’s nothing alive in there, and people have been throwing their trash in there for so long, he’s more likely to catch a boot than he is a fish. Marco thinks the farmer just may be right – after all, he’s been sitting there most of the … Continue reading →

Dr. Seuss Series: The Sleep Book

“The Sleep Book,” published in 1962, is one of my favorites by the world-famous Dr. Seuss. The purpose of the book is to make the young listener sleepy, and it’s done in a clever and creative way, of course in Dr. Seuss style. It even comes with a warning that it should be read in bed. We begin by learning that a very small bug named Van Vleck is yawing so widely, you can see down his neck. We all know that yawns are contagious, so soon, all of Van Vleck’s friends are yawning too, which spreads from creature to … Continue reading →

Dr. Seuss Series: I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! And other stories

Our first Dr. Seuss selection is “I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today!” A small Cat in the Hat sets out one fine morning, feeling proud of himself and proclaiming that he can lick thirty tigers. What he doesn’t know is that thirty tigers are waiting for him just over the ridge, causing him to rethink his bravado. First he asks the curly-haired tiger to step out of line, bringing him down to twenty-nine, and then he eliminates the first group, leaving a mere twenty-two. Anyone should be able to lick twenty-two tigers, right? Okay, maybe not . . . how … Continue reading →

Dr. Seuss Series: Daisy-Head Maysie

“Daisy-Head Maysie,” published in 1997, was one of Dr. Seuss’s later offerings to the world of children’s picture books, and is unusual in that the main character is a human child as opposed to a Seussy creature of some kind. There are actually no creatures in the book at all, with the exception of the Cat in the Hat, who is the narrator. And I don’t know if he counts as a creature – he is a cat, after all, and cats are rather common. As we start our story, we meet Maysie, who is studiously reading a book in … Continue reading →