Mary Had a Little Lamb

This story is fun to sing and my kids love the animals that Mary's lamb encounters as she wanders. Good morality tale: lamb leaves home, finds trouble, gets dirty and is cleaned up and loved on by Mary when he's found.

This book is by Iza Trapani. Not much more need be said. Her books are wonderful and my granddaughters like them all! Teaching them the old children's song classics is fun and they ask to have them read over and over. I wonder if they realize the lessons they learn, animals introduced, kindnesses shown and the outstanding art in the pictures. Highly recommend for ages 2 to 6...My older granddaughter who is almost 9 still sneaks up to hear as well.

Don't let the title of this book steer you away from buying it. This is not the sad little poem we remember from our childhood about the lamb following Mary and getting her into trouble.In this version, Mary's little lamb decides to be independent and wander around the farm by himself. He does get into a bit of trouble, but at the end of the day, Mary is there to clean him up and tuck him into bed.The poem is funny, cute, and catchy enough to get your toddler's attention, but the real reason to buy this book is the artwork. Every animal has a wonderful, comical expression on his or her face and there are lots of little details to notice. For instance, there are kitty cats in the background of most of the illustrations that my toddler likes to pick out.The only thing I don't like about this book is that most of the animals - including the lamb - are referred to as "it" rather than "he" or "she." I don't think it's a good idea to refer to living things as "its" to a small child, so when I read this book I insert "he" and "she" where appropriate.

My son loves to read, and he adores this book. I personally love Trapani's books--while they are not always grammatically correct (the only reason why I don't give it a 5 star rating), they are beautifully illustrated and bring to life some of the most well-known nursery rhymes. It will bring a smile to your child's face!