Morris Has a Cold

YEARS ago I discovered Bernard Wiseman's wonderful Morris and Boris books on the shelf of a rural elementary school library while searching for good read-alouds for story time. During my years working as an elementary school librarian I spent hundreds of hours doing story time--and these books were ALWAYS a favorite. The two chief characters--Morris the Moose and Boris the Bear--are friends--but Morris is goofy and Boris is grouchy and Morris gets on Boris's nerves pretty regularly. The dialogue is sharp--the jokes genuinely funny. Word play is clever. Kids would ROAR when I read it. We read ALL the Morris and Boris books we could find. Fast forward 10 years. I'm transferred to the high school. Some of the kids I had read to as K-5 graders are IN high school. They STILL talk about their favorite books from story time on occasion, and the Morris and Boris book titles will invariably be mentioned. Fast forward another 5 years. I am asked to start a regular story time with our high school Pre-school Lab class of four year olds. I begin gathering my arsenal of good read alouds and find that not all of the Morris and Boris books are still in print. This is catastrophe! I gather whatever I can find from new and used book venders. The children LOVE arriving for story time and seeing a "NEW" Morris book. Wiseman wrote a number of Morris books. His earlier ones did not include Boris the bear, and we always like the ones that also have Boris the best. My favorites are Morris has a Cold, Halloween with Morris and Boris and Christmas with Morris and Boris. Children like being able to predict the plot and can laugh when Morris doesn't understand very common things about being sick or the holidays. Boris always explains to him--with Morris interrupting to create more funny misunderstandings along the way. I have a goofy "Morris" voice and a gruff "Boris" voice that I have developed over the years just for the books in this series. Back in the day the kids would invariably interrupt me just as I would begin to read to say--"Will you make the noises this week?" "Don't I always make the noises?" I would reply. The children like books with "noises" or voices. These books work VERY well in that respect. A good time will be had by all.

I grew up reading this book. Definitely one of the best children's books of all time. It has hilarious pictures and a cute story.

We found this book in a thrift shop and it has become a favorite of my children. I wish it had been a series. We would love to have heard of further adventures of Morris.