Day: October 12, 2021

Interrupting Chicken: Cookies for Breakfast by David Ezra Stein

| Tasha
Cover image for Interrupting Chicken: Cookies for Breakfast.

Interrupting Chicken: Cookies for Breakfast by David Ezra Stein (9781536207781)

Little red chicken got up early on Saturday and brought his Papa breakfast in bed. Cookies for breakfast! But Papa doesn’t want either of them having cookies for breakfast and just wants to sleep a little longer. He agrees to read a book together though. Little red chicken picked out a book of nursery rhymes. There Was an Old Woman started out normally enough, but soon Little red chicken has turned it into a tale of shared cookies in a shoe. Jack and his candlestick and Hickory Dickory Dock all get changed too and now include cookies. Papa is starting to get a headache, so Little red chicken writes him a rhyme of his own which features cookies, of course. Now it is Papa’s turn to be hungry, and the two of them agree on a different treat for breakfast, cake! Pancakes.

This third book in the Interrupting Chicken series is another winner. In this book, Little red chicken interrupts regularly to continue to ask for cookies for breakfast. His sleepy and patient father goes along as best he can while also insisting that neither of them would have cookies for breakfast. The interruptions are great fun, transforming classic nursery rhymes into delicious humor. The relationship between the two characters is also a pleasure with their back and forth dialogue being just as joyous as the silly rhymes.

The art by Stein contrasts highly saturated and deeply colored images of the chickens with light pastel vintage nursery rhymes shown in a book. Those in turn get changed with some clever erasing and crayons that add yet another layer to the stories.

Another winner in a charming series. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Candlewick.

Everybody in the Red Brick Building by Anne Wynter

| Tasha
Cover image for Everybody in the Red Brick Building.

Everybody in the Red Brick Building by Anne Wynter, illustrated by Oge Mora (9780062865762)

Everybody in the red brick building was sleeping until Baby Izzie howled in her crib. That set off a chain reaction that got lots of people in the building awake. Rayhan tried to quietly check on his parrot, who shouted to Wake up! The boys sleeping outside got into a game of flashlight tag. Natalia set off her light-up rocket. And the noise kept growing with a car alarm too. Then quiet returned with the street sweeper going by, acorns plonking down, windchimes, and Izzie getting snuggles. Finally, everyone in the red brick building was asleep – again.

Wynter takes a classic children’s story structure and brings the noises to a full cacophony before returning the building steadily to quiet again. The book is a great mixture of wildness in the middle of the night and then quieting to fall asleep, making it a great book to get restless children to bed. The text is filled with repeating loud noises that children will enjoy joining in to help make them even louder. As the book quiets down, the sounds become soft and gentle while staying just as enjoyable as before.

Mora’s illustrations are done in colorful paper collage that show the diverse community that lives in the red brick building together. The colors take the deep blue of night to the orange warmth of indoors to teals, lavenders, and yellows. The colors are engaging, making each page turn a new room of its own. The illustrations are just as dynamic as the book, and that is certainly saying something!

A great read-aloud bedtime book. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Balzer +Bray.