Good Thing You're Not an Octopus!

Kindergartners laughed and laughed at the animal exchanges made in this simple story of a boy balking at his daily tasks. As each new chore is presented- dressing, riding in the car, eating lunch, taking a nap, bathing, brushing his teeth- ridiculous replacements are suggested. How would an octopus put on his pants? How would a shark brush his teeth? The five and six year olds enjoyed the repeating line, "It's a good thing you're not an...," and couldn't wait to guess the outcome. They complimented the clear and bright watercolors pictures, and admired the decorated end pages that signal the start of this very funny book.

A huge hit at our house! My 4 year old was able to "read" it by herself after listening just a couple of times. Beautifully illustrated, the pictures lead prereaders through the story and give them a huge sense of accomplishment.

As the first page of this delightful new picture book states: "You don't like to get dressed in the morning? It's a good thing you're not an octopus. If you were an octopus you'd have eight legs to put in your pants." Julie Markes has taken some of those time consuming tasks, little ones are learning to do and written a wise and humorous book that will make them glad they're humans. Imagine if you were a caterpillar with sixteen feet and had to put on your shoes everyday, or a shark with 200 teeth to brush before bed. And, for those who hate naps, it's a good thing you're not a bear who has to take a really long nap, for the entire winter. With her easy to read, repetitive text and Maggie Smith's colorful, detailed and expressive artwork, children will be able to "help" you read this engaging book in no time. Good Thing You're Not an Octopus makes a wonderful addition to all home libraries and is a story pre-schoolers will want to read and share again and again.

I read this to my four-yr-old daughter tonight for the first time and guess what -- we had to read it another thre times over, until she could say along with me: Good thing you're not a ...shark/bird etc. She loves acting everything out too, eg when the story reads, "Good thing you're not a bird," she makes me be the Mommy bird and she's the baby bird, and I have to come along and feed her worms for lunch...mmmm yummy! This is an excellent book for reading together and interacting. Highly recommended.

This is a great book for any parent who has struggled to get their young child ready in the morning. Ms. Markes cleverly compares children and animals engaging in the same activities such a dressing and eating. My son and I particularly enjoyed the caterpillar putting on shoes. It made his task of putting on only two shoes seem a lot easier. As a teacher I highly recommend this book for early readers. The text is simple and repetitive and the pictures are colorful and engaging. Ms. Smith's illustrations show the child as a master of the task at hand. As my son would say, " I can do that! It's easy."