A Perfect Day
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Today is a perfect day for Cat, Dog, Chickadee, and Squirrel.
Cat is lounging among the daffodils. Dog is sitting in the wading pool, deep in the cool water. Chickadee is eating fresh seed from the birdfeeder. Squirrel is munching on his very own corncob. Today is a perfect day in Bert's backyard.
Until Bear comes along, that is. Bear crushes the daffodils, drinks the pool water, and happily gobbles up the birdseed and corncob.
Today was a perfect day for Cat, Dog, Chickadee, and Squirrel. Now, it's just a perfect day for Bear.
Lane Smith uses perfect pacing and vibrant illustrations to emphasize the power of perspective in this hilarious picture book about the goings-on in Bert's backyard.
This book has Common Core connections.
An NPR Best Book of 2017
A 2018 ALSC Notable Children's Book
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Smith (There Is a Tribe of Kids) takes readers to a house in the countryside in a neatly constructed story that reveals how simple pleasures create a "perfect day" for several animals. Cat couldn't be happier sitting in a bed of daffodils, Dog rests in a cool wading pool, and a boy named Bert ensures that Chickadee and Squirrel have something to eat. Smith's artwork is a riot of color and texture forceful brushstrokes evoke animal fur, and gestural flowers create blasts of color in the landscape. Then a hulking bear shows up, and Smith uses repetition to cleverly recast the calm declarations of the first half of the book ("It was a perfect day for Cat") as Bear steals Squirrel's corncob, devours Chickadee's birdseed, dumps Dog's pool over himself, and makes giddy flower angels in the daffodils ("It was a perfect day for Cat"). Bear is more galoot than menace, though Smith does conclude with Bert and the other animals bidding a hasty retreat. Perfect, readers will understand, is very much in the eye of the beholder. Ages 4 8.
