Robert McCloskey is probably best known for his Caldecott Award winning book, Make Way for Ducklings (Does anyone else remember Captain Kangaroo reading Make Way for Ducklings from the Treasure House?) However, my favorite McCloskey book is not the one about the ducklings who made it safely to the Public Garden, as delightful as that journey is, but rather the one about the boy who saved the day because he couldn’t whistle but could play the harmonica, Lentil. Lentil has a hero, Lentil the boy who wanted to make music and so learned to play the harmonica. It has a villain, Old Sneep, who “didn’t like much of anything or anybody.” There’s a big event: Colonel Carter, Alto’s most important citizen, is coming home. And there’s a crisis: the band is sabotaged by Old Sneep and can’t play a note to welcome Colonel Carter home. Lentil, our hero, saves the day, and there’s even a moral to the story: “You never can tell what will happen when you learn to play the harmonica.”

The illustrations are cartoon-ish pencil drawings. The characters have exaggerated and humorous expressions. And everybody lives happily ever after. I’m sure that this picture book will be a favorite at your house if it isn’t already. In fact, I had to stop in the middle of writing this post to read it, once again, to Betsy Bee and Z-baby. Now they’re busy trying to practice their harmonica skills and become experts like Lentil.

Picture Book Preschool is a preschool/kindergarten curriculum which consists of a list of picture books to read aloud for each week of the year and a character trait, a memory verse, and activities, all tied to the theme for the week. You can purchase a downloadable version (pdf file) of Picture Book Preschool by Sherry Early at Biblioguides.