LITTLE PEA
By Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Illustrated by Jen Corace
Chronicle Books, 2005
Category: Picture book
My niece turns two this month, and the kids and I have been selecting her birthday books. Okay, well, I guess I have been selecting her books. Everyone else is supremely busy with school and baseball and T-ball and spring. All of which is fine by me, of course, because picking books is my thing.
I read LITTLE PEA when it first came out, and it has become one of my favorite toddler gift books. It is an irresistible concept … Little Pea must finish his dinner before getting dessert. Mama Pea and Papa Pea insist. (Sound familiar?) Yuck! Blech! Plck! Pleh! Little Pea chokes down his five bites, and is rewarded with his favorite desert. But Rosenthal and Corace have turned the familiar dinner time battle inside out, and the result is a round, green chuckle-fest for all ages. I’d love to tell you more, but I can’t bear to spoil the surprise. Read it for yourself!
The other titles in our birthday pile?
ESTELLE TAKES A BATH, written by Jill Esbaum and illustrated by Mary Newell DePalma, and which I have mentioned before. (I cannot wait to see my brother-in-law’s reaction. Will he giggle? Will he blush?)
A GOOD DAY, written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes. Simple, beautiful, perfect. Sigh.
SCAREDY SQUIRREL, the 2007 Cybils award winner in the picture book category, written and illustrated by Melanie Watt. More giggles.
I’d like to add one more book. Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Bring them on! And quickly, please, because the big day is just around the bend.