Every year at the beginning of school, the kindergarten classes go on the hunt. Sometimes they are looking for the Gingerbread Man, or it might be a search for Corduroy's missing button. This year - it's treasure. The children love the hunt, and in the process they explore the school...office, health center, playground, cafeteria and of course, the library.

It's always a wonder to see those wide-eyed youngsters as they get their first peek at our library and if I'm lucky, the teachers have allowed some time for me to read a story before the little ones return to their rooms. This year I treated them to one of my favorites -- Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley.

We talked about the dedication page which reads: "To my Dad who loves cornflakes," (I might be paraphrasing, but I think I have that right). Then we look for ways that cornflakes appear in the story. One of my favorite scenes is the mouse using a fork to rake up cornflakes and then jumping into the pile. Those clever kinders can always draw a parallel between that scene and raking leaves. They also have no trouble making a similar comparison between the mouse's brown sugar castles and their efforts at the beach or in the sandbox.

The vibrant colors add another delightful layer to the story and the rhyming text provides just the right clues to enable my audience to predict the last line of the story -- which is always fun.


First Books -- 39 days and counting.
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More about Corduroy and its author Don Freeman.