cock-a-doodle-hooooooo!

Author: Mick Manning

Illustrator: Brita Granstrom

For Ages: 4 and above

No. of Pages: 32

Publisher: Little Tiger Press, London

Year: 2007

ISBN: 978-1-56148-568-0

Put an owl into a hen-house and what do you get? An unbelievably bold story and an unlikely hero.

So, one stormy night, an owl walks into a hen-house and thus starts a comedy of errors finally ending in the hens accepting him as their very own special cockerel.

This is a fun story for little ones. :-)

Excerpt

Owl got cross. He’d had enough.

He was hungry and he was fed up with the silly hens. So he said, “I’m an owl, not a fowl! Owls aren't hens. We hoot in the moonlight. We don’t peck corn, we catch … we catch …”

“Rats!” squawked a hen, peering into the hen house. 

Madeline and her dog

Author: John Bemelmans Marciano

Illustrator: JT Morrow

For Ages: 3 and above

No. of Pages: 32

Publisher: Puffin Young Readers, New York

Year: 2011

ISBN: 978-0-60623-128-2

Television series: Madeline

A short and sweet story of Madeline and her pup Genevieve. Genevieve thinks nothing of poking her head into a garbage bin or fishing in the river. However, Miss Clavel thinks the pup needs a bath.

John Marciano’s (Madeline's creator, Ludwig Marciano's grandson) rhyming prose is reminiscent of the original Madeline books, making her an endearing friend for little children all over the world.

Excerpt

Genevieve gets her dearest wish. 

From the river, she pulls a fish!

“Pee-Yew!” say the people all around.

“That is one dirty, stinky hound!”

Miss Clavel says, “We must go right away

and wash this dog without delay!”


Other Madeline titles 

• A Madeline Treasury
• Madeline's Christmas
• Madeline's Rescue
• Madeline's Tea Party
• Madeline says Merci: The Always-Be-Polite Book
• Madeline Loves Animals
• Madeline at the White House
• Mad about Madeline: The Complete Tales

I Love You, Blue Kangaroo!

Author and Illustrator: Emma Chichester Clark

For Ages: 4 and above

No. of Pages: 15

Publisher: Picture Lions, London

Year: 2000

ISBN: 978-0-44041-549-7

Meet Lily and her favorite toy, Blue Kangaroo. Thanks to a series of gifts leading up to her birthday, Lily ends up sharing her bed with Tiny Teddy, Long-Eared Owl, Wiggly Green Crocodile and others. 

Poor Kangaroo feels a mite lonely and unhappy. He finds a warm, cozy bed with Lily’s baby brother. 

However, Lily remembers her favorite and trades all her toys with her brother for the Blue Kangaroo. 

Excerpt

“Goo goo, boo gangaloo!” gurgled the baby as he squeezed Blue Kangaroo tightly in his tiny little pink fists.

The next day, Lily looked everywhere for Blue Kangaroo.

“Goo goo, boo gangaloo!” cooed the baby.

“Mine!” cried the baby.

“No!” shouted Lily. 

The Terrible Greedy Fossifoo

Author and Illustrator: Charles Fuge

For Ages: 4 and above

No. of Pages: 30

Publisher: Simon and Schuster, London

Year: 2009

ISBN: 978-1-41691-037-4

Meet the brightly colored and contented creatures of the Great Green Forest who lived happily until “the terrible greedy Fossifoo arrived!”

This story about greed, repentance and propitiation ought to go well with children besides introducing them to the concept of sharing and caring for the world around them.   

I loved how Fuge uses colors to demonstrate the ravages of greed as the palette gently but inexorably moves from lush, vibrant greens to bare, lifeless browns.

Though, I must say, the name Fossifoo reminds me a lot of ‘fossil fuels’.

Excerpt

“What have I done?” whispered the Fossifoo, and he started to cry.

He cried and cried and cried until he had no tears left to cry. If only he had taken care of the beautiful forest.

Then he noticed it – beneath his feet, watered by all the tears, a tiny seed had sprouted.  

Dawdle Duckling

Author: Toni Buzzeo

Illustrator: Margaret Spengler

For Ages: 2 and above

No. of Pages: 32

Publisher: Puffin Books, USA

Year: 2005

ISBN: 978-014240-277-1

It’s an idyllic life – Mama Duck paddling away (sporting a smart hat tied down with a purple sash!) and three little ducklings swimming behind. But wait, there’s a fourth little duckling that “dawdles and dreams, preens and plays, splashes and spins.”

Almost, every family has a dawdle duckling. It seemed a little extreme that I used this colorful, rhyming book to alert our family's dawdler but then there are worse things than crocodiles out there in the real world.  

Excerpt

Past the marsh with the cattails waving, one Mama Duck paddles and quacks.

One, two, three ducklings swim behind, but the fourth little duckling dawdles and dreams, preens and plays, splashes and spins, dunks and dips.

“Quack! Catch up!” says Mama Duck.

Dawdle Duckling nibbles a tasty fly.

“NO! Quack! Quack! I won’t catch up!”