An easy way for me to get a “yay” from the boys is to pick out The Maggie B. as their bedtime story. A little girl begins the book by wishing on a star:
North Star, star of the sea,
I wish for a ship
Named after me,
To sail for a day
Alone and free,
With someone nice
For company.
When she wakes up, she finds that she is “in the cabin of her own ship” and spends the day joyfully taking care of the ship and her “dear baby” brother (the nice company). This book is always a favorite. Both the words and the pictures are scrumptious and story is a perfect mix of the fantastic and the matter-of-fact. (My youngest also enjoys the counting rhyme that ends with a nibbled little finger.) I was lucky to find this book through raves on other sites (one look at the pictures and I was hooked) where the word that came up over and over to describe it was “cozy.” I completely agree; we love ending the night snuggled up with The Maggie B.
Author: Irene Haas
Illustrator: Irene Haas