A Sick Day fo4 Amos McGee - book review

"My books are like water; those of the great geniuses are wine. (Fortunately) everyone drinks water.
                                                                       ~Mark Twain


Title:  A Sick Day for Amos McGee
Author:  Philip C. Stead
Illustrator: Erin E. Stead
Ages:  2-6

This book is destined to become a classic and so worthy of highlighting to you today.

"Each morning it's the same. Amos McGee gets out of bed, puts on his uniform, and goes to his job as a zookeeper in the City Zoo.  Amos takes his job very seriously.  He always makes sure to play chess with the elephant, run races with the tortoise, sit quietly with the penguin, blow the rhino's runny nose, and tell stories to the owl at dusk.  The animals, bereft of his presence, decide something must be done. So they pick themselves up and take a bus of all things to Amos's house to keep HIM company for a change.  And after everyone helps him out, Amos reads them all a story and each one of them tucks in for the night.  Erin Stead's elegant woodblock prints, breathtaking in their delicacy, contribute to the story's tranquility and draw you into the story even more.  You can see the grain of the woodblocks themselves, Amos's handsome peacock feather coverlet and the facial expressions are so impressive as they bring out the character's personalities exquisitely.  The colour pallet is soft flat colours with a few splashes of red (especially the red socks on the penquin on the cover is a giggle). The story is loving and gentle and is a true tribute to loyalty and is a celebration of friendship. This book was voted Best Children's Book of the Year and was winner of 2011 Caldecott Medal.

About the Author:

PHILIP C. STEAD is the author of the Caldecott Medal winning A Sick Day for Amos McGee, also named a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2010 and aPublishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of 2010, illustrated by his wife, Erin E. Stead (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, 2010).  Philip, also an artist, both wrote and illustrated his debut Creamed Tuna Fish and Peas on Toast(Roaring Brook Press, 2009), which was applauded by School Library Journal for “its wry humor and illustrations worthy of a Roald Dahl creation.”  Philip lives with Erin in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Book Review Rating:   9  (Close to perfection!)

Read on and read always!