A New Sippy Cup Salute

Here at the Quill and Crayon, I love children’s books, as you all well may know. So one of my New Year’s Resolutions, besides contributing to this blog more, is to bring about more discussion of children’s books. So let’s start with our newest Sippy Cup Salute. This is a review of a board book/ picture book that Little Scribe currently adores and an analysis of why it works, which should be of help to picture book writers.

Little Scribe is raising his sippy cup this month to BLUE HAT, GREEN HAT by Sandra Boynton.

My husband and I consider this the first book Little Scribe has ever “read” all by himself. Just a few days ago on his potty (maybe I should call this book a “Potty Salute” and have Little Scribe raise a slip of toilet paper in the air!) Little Scribe proceeded to read BLUE HAT, GREEN HAT out loud, pointing to the words and pictures, and never missing a beat. We couldn’t be more thrilled! Yes, we realize that most of the text is memorized, But just watching him say the exact words in the text and pointing to them as he says them makes us so proud of him. At his age, he is showing amazing pre-reading skills. He reads this way with many books, actually, but this is the only book where he can say the words exactly. The other books are paraphrased, which is still good but not as impressive when you see him read BLUE HAT, GREEN HAT.

BLUE HAT, GREEN HAT is a board book with spare text that shows a group of animals getting dressed, except that a quirky turkey keeps putting his clothes on the wrong part of his body. My son rolled with laughter the first time we read it a couple of months ago. Every time turkey is shown dressing wrong, the text says, “Oops!” The book teaches not only parts of clothing, but also colors, which Little Scribe also knows by heart now as well, probably with the help of this book.

The text is simple, repetitive, and funny—a perfect combination for a toddler/preschooler. And everyone loves Sandra Boynton’s simple cartoon illustrations.

If you’ve never read Sandra Boynton, check out this and other favorites of Little Scribe’s, including DOGGIES (another book he has almost memorized), SNUGGLE PUPPY, TIME FOR BED, and BIRTHDAY MONSTERS. Unfortunately, we’ve never quite gotten into BUT NOT THE HIPPOPOTUMUS very much, as it’s kind of a confusing book about a hippo that is too shy to join his animal peers with their activities. Good premise, but confusing execution.

Here’s to BLUE HAT, GREEN HAT, and may you never go out of the house with your socks on top of your head! Oops!