LadyD Books: Book Review: Today Is Monday by Eric Carle

Today Is Monday

Product Details

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (August 4, 1997)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0698115635
ISBN-13: 978-0698115637

From Publishers Weekly

Taking his culinary cue from the well-known children's song, Carle dishes up a smorgasbord of creatures and comestibles. Bold spreads feature larger-than-life birds and animals enthusiastically partaking of their favorite foods: a mottled snake sucks up unruly spaghetti strands, while a calico cat roast beef. Though the cumulative rhyme is little more than a grocery list, Carle injects energy and movement with his signature rainbow-like collages. Exotic hues--a turquoise elephant, an emerald fish, a parrot of Technicolor plumage--glow with vitality as if illuminating the animal's inner core. Yet despite their radiance these are down-to-earth animals imbued with the loving clumsiness of a child's artwork. The final spread shows children--also of various skin colors--wolfing down the various foods at a sumptuous banquet, as the featured animals look on from paintings on the wall. The song's music and lyrics bring this feast to a satisfying close. Ages 3-7.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3-- Featuring the artist's familiar bold and colorful style, this song was originally illustrated as a frieze in 1977. Now adapted as a picture book, it is a joyous invitation to "all the hungry children"--shown at a multiethnic banquet at the end of the book--to ". . . Come and eat it up!" Each double-page spread shows a line from the song, with a different animal for each day of the week, eating a different food. Most of the animals are eating a predictable food (a fox with a chicken, a pelican with a fish), but there are some nonsensical scenes (a snake with spaghetti, an elephant eating "zoop"). Overall, the verse has a catchy, cumulative rhythm, but it's the dazzling illustrations--gorgeously displayed with a mastery of design and form--that make this a simple, yet memorable, picture book. --Cyrisse Jaffee, Newton Public Schools, MA

My Thoughts:

This is a cute book that teaches the days of the week with different foods in the form of a story and a song. It also uses different animals and the text is repetitive. This can be used to teach math skills, different animals, and foods. The repetitive text builds memory and can implement body movement.

Today is Monday, today is Monday

Monday, string beans

All you hungry children

Come and eat it up.

String beans, spaghetti, ZOOOOP, roast beef, fresh fish, chicken and ice cream are the delicious fare during the week in this popular children's song. Until Sunday. Then, all the world's children are invited to come together and share in the meal.

Celebrated artist Eric Carle brings new energy and heart to these much-loved verses as lively animals parade across the pages, munching on favorite dishes, and introducing young readers to the names of the days of the week. Both art and song invite children of all ages to join the procession and sing along.