Not Last Night, But the Night Before in THE PIT

I discovered this one on the new book table at my local library, Not Last Night, But the Night Before by Colin McNaughton, and I've been reading it to everybody, pre school through fifth grade, and it's been fun.

Each page starts of with "Not last night, but the night before" and then someone is knocking at the door. Each time it's a fairy tale or nursery rhyme character. One time it's three little pigs, another time it's Goldilocks, or Little Bo Peep, or Little Miss Muffet. Each time the door is opened, the characters come in, knock the story teller down and take their gifts upstairs.

When the knocks on the door end, the narrator goes upstairs where all of the characters sing:

Happy Birthday to you
Squashed tomatoes and stew
Bread and butter in the gutter
Happy Birthday to you

I still laugh every time I sing it, the kids laugh too. It's just plain silly fun. Another fun feature to the book is guessing who will come with the character at the door. For example, the big bad wolf comes with the three little pigs, the three bears come with Goldilocks, and a big fat spider squishes the narrator with Little Miss Muffet.

The illustrations by Emma Chichester Clark are bright and fun and make the reader feel like they are at a party with all of their favorite characters.

What the Heck's a Hinky Pink?

It's a great new book by Megan McDonald and illustrated by Brian Floca, that's what! Or I guess I should say it's an old tale retold by Megan McDonald. Either way, it's a lot of fun and kids will enjoy it. Unfortunately it's too long to share in THE PIT, but classrooms doing fairy tale studies would find it very useful.

Anabel, not Anabella, is a very talented and speedy seamstress who dreams of sewing a beautiful ball gown for a princess. As in all fairy tales, she gets her wish and is whisked off to the castle where she is locked in a tower room, (Is this classic or what!?) and told to create a beautiful gown in one week! Of course the room is filled with all of the most wonderful material and lace, everything Anabel dreamed of sewing with. When she goes to bed, she is bitten or pinched in a most awful way. All of her covers are stolen and she is unable to sleep. Of course the next day her sewing is atrocious and she is unable to concentrate.

Another servant does some investigating and finds that Anabel is being tortured by a Hinky Pink and she will need to make it a bed to sleep in before it will leave her alone. Anabel goes through several beds and the Hinky Pink is never happy.

Too high and too hard; Too high and too hard!
or
Too dark and too deep; Too dark and too deep!
according to the Hinky Pink

Finally Anabel satisfies the Hinky Pink's sleeping needs, completes the gown, and they all live happily ever after, as they should in a good fairy tale!

Brian Floca's illustrations complete this story and give the book a classic look. In his notes at the end he spotlights actual Italian buildings he features in his artwork, and the Hinky Pink is shown no bigger than a push pin. Very entertaining and complimentary to Megan McDonald's retelling.