Sunday, October 31, 2010

MEM FOX and JAN THOMAS: WHAT COULD BE BETTER?

I LOVE Mem Fox. And I LOVE Jan Thomas.  Two of my very favorite authors for young children. and it is the best thing ever that Mem Fox and Jan Thomas created LET'S COUNT GOATS! together!  Really, it is like a match made in heaven!  Whoever thought of this idea is truly brilliant.

If you love WHERE IS THE GREEN SHEEP (and, really, who doesn't) and if you love WHAT WILL FAT CAT SIT ON (again, who doesn't?), you will double-love LET'S COUNT GOATS! I promise.

The pattern is similar to the one in WHERE IS THE GREEN SHEEP. The book begins, "Here we see a mountain goat frisking in the sun."  and is followed by a rhyme on the next page.  Each page gives us new goats.  There are goats terrified by thunder and goats huddled in the snow.

I like so much about this book. First of all, the rhyme and rhythm is quite fun. You want to read it again and again. Kids will love to count these goats which is fun. The illustrations are brilliant, as is always the case with Thomas.  Just as Mo Willems draws characters that his readers can draw, so does Jan Thomas. The simple line and colorful pages make for a perfect match to Mem Fox's words.

I am not a big fan of goats. But these goats, I love. From the cover illustration, I loved them.  Kids will want to be part of their fun too. They are fun goats.

A must have book for everyone.  I am sure once I put this in the library, I will never see it again. (And I am pretty sure Bill will want to add this to his "Picks for the PIT". I am sure of it.

4 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for posting about this book. I have several Mem Fox books and plan on doing an author study later this school year for my kindergartners. I may have to do a Jan Thomas study too, starting with this book!

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  2. Anonymous6:22 PM

    I'm going to see if my school has this. I love What Will Fat Cat Sit On, and I love goats, so this looks like a winner!

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  3. I found this book last weekend, and couldn't agree with your post more! It's perfect for everyone and what a great combo who made it.

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  4. My class is going crazy over Jan Thomas books. I'm so excited to share this new one with them. Of course, I'm always a fan of Mem Fox so I don't think we can go wrong with this one.

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