Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months

I used this book in a recent story time, and had to write it up here, because it is such a good book and teaching tool.

Author / Illustrator: Maurice Sendak
Publisher: Harper & Row (1962)
Series: The Nutshell Library
Prices: Hardcover - $12.99, Paperback - $6.99
Reading level: 4 to 8 years old
Interest level: Lower Grades
Physical Characteristics: 4.2 x 5.9 inches, 32 pages 
ISBN: 006443253X
Genres: Children’s Picture Book, Children’s Poetry

Subjects:
Months and Seasons
Concepts – Juvenile Fiction
Humorous Stories
Books in Rhyme

Annotation: Travel through the months of a year with a little boy and his beloved chicken soup and rice.

Evaluation:
I love Carole King and Maurice Sendak and the combination of the two of them is amazing.  This book is so much fun to read alone or to look at while listening to Ms. King’s version of the story.  It gives kids a clear understanding of the months of the year and of the seasons, all while enjoying a wonderful silly story with great illustrations.  Mr. Sendak’s use of frames around the names of the month seem as though you are flipping through a calendar of the narrator’s year.  This is such an enjoyable and informative book.

PS - In the Carole King song, I shout along every time she say ‘WHALE’ in November.

Similar Titles or Authors:
Pierre: A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters by Maurice Sendak
Really Rosie (CD) Lyrics by Maurice Sendak, Music by Carole King

Websites:
http://www.harpercollins.com/9780064432535/chicken-soup-with-rice

Awards & Recognition:
Chicken Soup with Rice received no individual awards, but Mr. Sendak received:

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, a lifetime achievement award from  the American Library Association in 1983
The National Medal of Arts in 1996


Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, an international prize for children's literature established by the Swedish government. in 2003

Professional Reviews:
LibraryJournal

Time

New YorkTimes




All images (c) Maurice Sendak