Mary Had a Little Lamp

Lechner, Jack. Mary had a little lamp. 2008. Ill. by Bob Staake. New York: Bloomsbury.

This is a short little spoof on Mary Had a Little Lamb. In this book, Mary takes her bendy, gooseneck lamp everywhere. The basis for this book does not sound particularly inspiring, but yet, it works and it's charming. "She loved its quiet company -- It never picked a fight. She loved its neck, she loved its cord, And most of all, its light." It's also quite amusing,
"She took it to the movies And her cousin Debbie's wedding. She took it out for Chinese food. She even took it sledding." There is a surprise ending that should give kids a big laugh.

The illustrations are also great - humorous, geometric, angular and brightly colored. I checked the front papers to read about the artwork. Unbelievably, it was "created digitally in Adobe Photoshop using nothing more than a mouse, some imagination, and a reasonable amount of coffee." Impressive!

Great fun for storytime!