Total Pageviews

Friday, June 1, 2012

Split! Splat! Written by Amy Gibson and illustrated by Steve Bjorkman. Scholastic, 2012. $18.99 ages 2 and up

"I sing a little mud song,
a puddle song,
a muddle song,
a no-shoes, toes-ooze,
slip - slap - and - thud - song."

I can hear the thunder rumbling. It's been a very dry spring, after a equally mild winter. The grass is looking like it could use one of those day long, earth-renewing downpours. It smells wonderful at the window right now.

Reading this book as the rain falls gives even an older retired woman the urge to get out there and get muddy and wet. I will try to quell it!

Poerty is meant to be read aloud as you know and this is the perfect rain song to be reading at this moment. Its bouncy rhythms and inventive words beg to be shared with eager listerners and lovers of muddy walks, and bright umbrellas. Before long the raincoats, rain hats, umbrellas - even boots are dispensed with and the games are on!

The welcome rain falls on bare heads, bare toes and stretched-out, water-guzzling tongues. No amount of dirt and mud deters them from their play, and only when the sun returns to shine brightly upon them do they consider themselves done with that fun:

"I sing a little sun song,
a fun song,
a run song,

a clouds-gone,
green-lawn,
raining-is-all-done-song."

Now, it's dirt stained clothes and dirty footprints all the way to the bath for the exuberant mud puddler and her trusty canine companion. 

Steve Bjorkman uses colorful, movement-filled watercolor artwork to show us the heaps of fun that the young lady, her dog and her friends have while celebrating the excitement of a rain shower
The warmth of the colors, the delighted expressions, the joy shown while they explore rain and its many delights will have young readers just waiting for the next rainy day to have the kind of fun that these children have. It's a 'swishy swash wish wash" day!

No comments:

Post a Comment