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Review by Alice Cary
If you want to give a child a book to be cherished all year long, "A Year Full of Stories" is the perfect choice. Subtitled "366 Days of Story and Rhyme" (with an extra entry for February 28), this collection contains a short story or poem for each and every day of the year.
This isn't a new concept; I had such a book as a child. But it's a fun one, a ritual that will quickly become part of a child's bedtime routine, as it certainly has in our house. One evening when I chose another book instead, my four-year-old grabbed "A Year Full of Stories" and announced he wanted to read this one first, adding "These are good stories!"
We rarely limit ourselves to the story of the day; we dip into others as well, usually reading at least two or three selections each night. At the end of each, Will asks, "Was that a short one?," which means he hopes there's time for more. There usually is, since the stories are short, about 200 to 300 words, and many of the poems are only a few lines long.
Although artist Selina Young is truly young herself (born in 1971), she is obviously accomplished. Many of the longer stories have enough text to fill a picture book, and she does a superb job of representing the entire story in just one or two pictures. Her bright, humorous illustrations lure readers to each page.
Often my son simply leafs through the book until an illustration catches his eyes. Plenty do, such as Fergus the Tractor, a dinosaur giving a spelling lesson to another dinosaur, or a Fourth of July parade featuring prancing pigs, a dump truck full of balloons and a fire engine.
Humor abounds, not just in the illustrations but with titles such as "Princess Bossy Boots," "Fantastic Gymnastic," "Mrs. Jolly's Wrapping Robot," "Spotted Shingly Shangly Beasts" or "Thing-a-Ma-Bob and the Blob of Blubber."
Georgie Adams' upbeat, action-filled tales cover topics that appeal to both preschool boys and girls -- subjects such as animals, cars and trucks, cakes and feasts, holidays. (One unfortunate omission: while Christmas is mentioned on several December days, I saw no references to Hanukkah.)
The publisher says the book is intended for readers ages two through six, but my hunch is that three through seven may be more accurate. A good many two-year-olds may start to wiggle through some of the stories, short though they are. At the other end of the spectrum, I bet beginning readers would enjoy reading each night's entry on their own.
Alice Cary is an author and reviewer in Groton, Massachusetts.
©1997, ProMotion, inc.
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