Lentil by Robert McCloskey is a story about a young boy named Lentil who lives in a small town Alto, Ohio. Lentil can't sing, so he buys a harmonica. It is his harmonica playing that saves the town's near disastrous reception for the great Colonel Carter, the town's most important citizen. I like this story for a few reasons. Lentil didn't just pick up the harmonica and play beautifully the first time. He practiced and practiced and practiced. Another reason I like this book is that Lentil was not a gifted singer no matter how hard he tried, so he found another way to make music. He didn't cry. He didn't lament. Instead he found another way! Be careful! My girls have been known to play odd sounding Legos, I mean, harmonicas after reading this story!
In
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey Mr. and Mrs. Mallard are in search of a home to raise a family. They settle on an island in the Charles River not far from the Public Gardens. Mrs. Mallard creates quite a stir when she takes all eight ducklings, Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack, to meet Mr. Mallard at the Public Gardens. This book can be used to introduce topics like molting, migration, and the life-cycle of birds, but my kids usually prefer to waddle around the house quack, quack, quacking!
One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey is the story of a little girl named Sal with a loose tooth. She has big plans to place it under her pillow and wish for a chocolate ice cream cone. Unfortunately, she literally loses her tooth while digging clams with her father. It just falls out and she can't find it anywhere! With nothing to put under her pillow, she certainly can't wish for a chocolate ice cream cone now! Tooth or no tooth, at Buck's Harbor the storekeeper Mr. Condon gives Sal and her younger sister Jane each an ice cream cone, chocolate for Sal and vanilla for Jane. After reading this story, Mary eagerly anticipated when she would lose her first tooth, too!
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey is the story of two sets of berry pickers! A little girl Sal and her mother go berry picking on Blueberry Hill. Little Bear and her mother go berry picking also. Both the cub and Sal wander off from their mothers and begin following the wrong mother! In the end, the family pairs are reunited! We had a blast kerplunking our big lacing beads into a sandpail after reading this story!
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