This month the Giggle Book Award goes to Let’s Play In The Forest While The Wolf Is Not Around by Claudia Rueda, a fun illustration of a traditional French and Spanish children’s play song. The book turns the song into a very cute story about a young wolf who is getting ready for school while his friends play in the forest outside his house.
After the second reading, the children in my life had the words mostly memorized, so each person selects a part and we ‘read’ (perform?) it together. For example:
Amazon.com
Me: Let’s play int he forest while the wolf is not around.
Child: Wolf are you there?
Both: I’m putting on my underpants!
As you can imagine, the mere mention of underpants inspires laughter. Yet, this book’s real appeal is the ability to participate in the reading. While the kids are speaking their lines from memory, they are also pointing out the text being read, (i.e., this is my part and that is your part) so it’s also an excellent learning tool.
Another quote:
“Wolf, are you there?”
“Yes, and I am very hungry! And I am going to eat…Pancakes! My favorite!”
