Dedicated Review
By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: April 5, 2013
Where Do the Mondays Go?
By Patricia Sloan
Hardcover: 76 pages
Age Range: 3-12
Publisher: Fast Pencil, Inc. (February 5, 2011)
What to expect: Poetry, Rhyme, Days of the week
The days of the week are the subject of Patricia Sloan’s rhyming poetry picture book, created to introduce children to the days of the week through fact and fiction. The title poses an interesting question: “Where Do the Mondays Go?” And, really, who doesn’t want to know where the days go?
Every day of the week is introduced to readers with a specific formula: a repetitive verse and then a personalized poem that holds the sentiments of each specific day. “Monday: no one particularly likes Mondays … Sunday: day of peace/relaxation.” Each day playfully meets the next with the repeated verse and therefore begins a cyclic game of tag. Sloan’s rhythmic beat, which occasionally changes cadence, is jazzy and enjoyable. The sweetest handoff is from Sunday to Monday: “Then ZIPPETY-ZAP to the ship Cutty Sark. Sunday spots a Monday in the dark!” It is this moment that the titles question is answered—the surprise ending to this book is an intelligent offering that teaches where time begins every day (Greenwich, London). Sloan has used the letters of each day to provide individual attributes and personify the days of the week through her illustrations of the seven Super-Duper Days characters—young and emerging readers will enjoy seeking and or spelling out each character’s special letters that make up the shape of it’s body. Illustrator Daniel Alexander has used both dark and bright colors for the backdrop, giving a sci-fi feel and providing zippety-zap energy to match Sloan’s writing and character creations.
Poetry often leaves readers wondering of it’s meaning—the author’s end note helps make perfect sense of the poem and makes for a solid lead in to a lesson on time. This is an entertaining book for children who are beginning to learn the days of the week and/or those that are ready to be introduced to poetry.
Add this book to your collection: Where Do the Mondays Go?
Accolades: Award Winning Finalist in the ‘Children’s Picture Book: Hardcover Fiction’ category of the 2013 International Book Awards
For more information, visit: www.wheredothemondaysgo.com
Dedicated Reviews allow authors and illustrators to gain prompt visibility for their work. The author of this book paid for this non-biased review. Learn more …
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