July '10 Book of the Month

Introducing Planet Silas' July '10 Book of the Month:

Little Rabbit and the Meanest Mother on Earth by Kate Klise ; illustrated by M. Sarah Klise.

Upset that his mother will not let him go out until he cleans his playroom, Little Rabbit sneaks away to join the circus and sells tickets by promising the audience a view of The Meanest Mother on Earth.

A few weeks back, I noticed this title on the new shelf in Kitsap Regional Library's Bookmobile. I think I may have gasped in excitement. Imagine, another Little Rabbit book by the same sister team that created Shall I Knit You a Hat: A Christmas Yarn.

"Silas," I said, "We have hit the new picture-book jackpot." I was not wrong.

This book has been a huge hit with the whole family. We've read it so many times that Silas now acts out parts of the book. He pulls out chairs to create a ticket booth and pretends to sell us tickets to see the Meanest Mother on Earth. "She has two heads" he'll yell "And green teeth!"

The other day, Silas decided to take his circus act beyond the house. He set up his ticket booth on the front porch and in his very loudest outside voice beckoned the whole neighborhood to "Come see the Meanest Mother on Earth!" This he repeated over and over again, until we calmly explained to him that other people might not understand what he's talking about, in the outside chance that they haven't read the book. Still, a book that can invoke this level of pretend play and all out fun has my vote. I can only hope that more Little Rabbit books are in the works.

By the end of the story, Little Rabbit no longer thinks his mom is so very mean, and I trust Silas doesn't either. I know that I myself have come to the same conclusion as Mother Rabbit "I'm not the meanest mother on earth...I'm the luckiest."