A little boy has a puppy and some chickens. He asks his mum 'Will the chicks grow? Will the puppy grow? Will I grow too?'
He watches the seasons change. The flowers grow, the trees grow, the corn grows in the field, the chicks become chickens and the puppy becomes an adult dog but what about the little boy? As Winter turns to Spring his mother packs his warm clothes into a box.
Spring, Summer, Autumn and then it is Winter again.
"The little boy put on his warm trousers again and looked in the mirror. 'My trousers are too tight. The legs are too short.' .. 'My coat is too tight. The sleeves are too short."
I'm sure you know what has happened.
I picked this book up from our local charity bookfair today (it only cost $2). It has a dust cover! and under the cover there is a height chart to display for your child. The illustrations by the wonderful Helen Oxenbury are scrumptious. I will gift this book to the mum of a new baby. The new baby will arrive in early May.
From the publisher: A classically beautiful picture book from Helen Oxenbury and Ruth Krauss. Share the universal experience of growing up and discover the rhythms of the seasons in this wonderfully timeless story. A little boy, some chicks and a puppy live on a farm. They see the first signs of spring growing in the fields and the little boy asks his mother if he and the puppy will grow too. Of course you will, she assures him, and as spring turns to summer he sees his dog growing taller and the chicks become chickens. But as the seasons change and everything grows around him, the little boy feels like he has stayed the same. Can he really be growing too?
The text of this book was written by Ruth Krauss in 1947. Later this book was published in 1975 and then in 2007 Helen Oxenbury added her illustrations. I think this book well deserves the label classic.
Companion book:
No comments:
Post a Comment