Ella has become such an avid little reader. And I have really been enjoying her books since they are almost all I have time for these days. So I thought I would highlight a book I really loved from our most recent trip to the library. My friend
Betsy does all these book reviews that are more on the grown-up end, and I love reading what she thinks of them. I can't promise this will be a series because as you will have noticed, I'm not the most regular blogger at the moment and I refuse to promise to post anything for sure. But maybe there will be more. Anyway, this book is called
Rainy Morning, and it's by Daniel Pinkwater.
I chose this one for Ella because she has lately been soooo afraid of thunderstorms. I thought we would read a few books celebrating rain or just debriefing it a little at least. I thought this would be a book about, "Oh it's a rainy morning so we snuggle under the covers then eat hot oatmeal and put on our galoshes etc etc." And it kind of started out that way.
We are first introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Submarine, who are about to start their third breakfast on a rainy morning when they notice their poor wet cat outside. They invite him in and give him a corn muffin. Then they notice their dog. He comes in and gets a corn muffin too.
Then the silliness starts as they invite their poor wet horse in "just this once" and then some crows, a coyote, chickens, a wildebeast etc.
They really ramp up the outlandishness when Ludwig Van Beethoven is seen outside, dripping wet. "Invite him in. He is my favorite composer" says Mrs. Submarine.
Then after the US Marine Band is spotted in the yard, we get the exchange that sealed this as a favorite book for me, " ' Herr Beethoven, is that the United States Marine Band standing in our yard?' Mrs. Submarine asked. 'Ja, ich glaube,' Beethoven said. 'I'm glad we bought four hundred and fifty pounds of muffin mix,' Mrs. Submarine said. 'Ask them to come in.' " Ach! So silly! I love it. The book ends with this full motley crew simply enjoy in tea and corn muffins in the kitchen until the sun comes out. No resolution other than that.
To me, this felt like a perfect, spur of the moment bedtime story, made up for kids who are calling out things to add. I wouldn't be surprised if that's how it came about. I loved it because it was funny, but also because the was no conflict at all, just warm hospitality. My only complaint with the story was that I was getting really stressed about all these visitors making a mess in the Submarines' house. (May have PTSD from cleaning up after construction in this house). But we never had to deal with that in the book. We just enjoyed the warm cozy kitchen. The party was still going on when we left. Fun book. May I always be as hospitable as the Submarines.
