Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Most RecomMended 2 - Stripey the Caterpillar

Perhaps you remember How Are You Peeling
the most mended book in my house?
Today's book is almost that mended.
Stripey the Caterpillar is a colorful book with a caterpillar
finger puppet who travels through the pages 
before becoming the center part of a fold-out butterfly poster.
Not surprisingly, Stripey soon became separated from the
book. And the poster became torn and taped and torn again.
But, what a favorite! My boy still likes to curl up in a
blanket ("I'm in a chrysalis!") and then become a butterfly.
A powerful if oft-used metaphor for children, especially ours.
The story starts with Stripey feeling a bit sick.
"Not terrible, just a bit sick.
Maybe a different colored flower will help,
Stripey thought. So off he went."
And so he goes through the book, with 
red flower giving way to blue, to yellow,
to little white flowers, until he takes a nap
and feels completely better as a butterfly.
The flowers pop-up in a mild way,
the language is clear, and the words are large.
Most importantly, the puppet is fuzzy and wiggly.
If you can handle the repeated readings (and tapings, 
unless your child is far more careful than mine) 
this is a winning read aloud by Katie George.
I have another much mended book in mind to
recommend, but so far I've only found pieces of
it on the floor .  .  .
-Spectrum Mom


No comments:

Post a Comment