Little Miss Muffet's Count-Along Surprise

We first checked this out of the library and it was so wonderful that I requested it by name as a Christmas gift from family. I agree with everything that's been said here--this book is a treasure!

Let me begin by saying they have got the age range wrong. I think any child 5 and under would enjoy this book. (My eldest just turned 5 and she certainly likes it.) The artwork is colorful and pleasant and as you turn the pages the pictures become increasingly dense with added characters and action. Certainly there is enough activity to keep older children occupied. And because of the repetitiveness they might even *read* it themselves. We adore this book. It has humor and warmth and it extends the old short rhyme with an even better story. In this version, Little Miss Muffett's spider doesn't chase her away, instead he asks her to stay. Then come lemurs with streamers, magpies with bowties, foxes with boxes, pussycats with partyhats, poodles with oodles of noodles, bears with chairs, puffins with muffins, gibbons with ribbons and crocodiles with 10 greedy smiles. But to what end? Surprise! It's a birthday party. There is so much to this book. It teaches counting and rhyming. It introduces animals that are not typical in young children's' reading: puffins, lemurs and gibbons. For my children, it elicited in them the desire to memorize the poem (it was so much fun). To me this indicates that they are learning to love literature and reading. I think it would make a great birthday gift, but don't buy it just for that. Think of all that your child could learn.

...I have seen quite a few books cross my children's hands. Little Miss Muffet's Count Along Surprise was an immediate hit with all. They read it and reread it aloud to each other constantly. The imaginative words are cleverly knit together and flow with an ingenious rhythm almost completely absent in much of modern children's monosyllabic literature. It is a PLEASURE to hear--even over and over.The illustrations are imaginative and full of vibrant color and action. They ably embrace the counting element of the book but more importantly, I think, they appeal to children's taste for inventive combinations of related bits of information: "Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey, when along came three magpies with taffeta bow-ties and silk vests of very pale grey." Or, "Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey, when along came nine gibbons with balloons tied with ribbons and bananas arranged on a tray."...

This book was a huge surprise: it has everything in it a great children's book must have. The elements found in this book include:1. Counting. My son greatly enjoys how the numbers of Miss Muffet's visitors keep growing.2. Rhyming. One thing that really grabs my son's attention is rhyming. The rhyming in this book is very clever and definitely rivals Dr. Seuss's best works.3. Rhythm. This book is easy to read quickly. Not that the book is short, but that the words flow extremely well. As a result, even an 18 month old doesn't have time for attention to wander.4. Color. The illustrations are full of color and wonderfully illustrate the story. Looking at the pictures is as much fun as reading the story.5. Story. The story is interesting! My son is excited by each page every time we read the book.This book, on it's first reading, became one of my son's favorites. I even look forward to reading it!