Books of the Day: Cumulative Books

The Napping House
Author:  Audrey Wood
Illustrator:  Don Wood
Harcourt (1984)

The Deep Blue Sea:  A Book of Colors
Author:  Audrey Wood
Illustrator:  Bruce Wood
The Blue Sky Press (2005)

Mirette and I are a great fans of cumulative songs and books (songs that keep adding items until you end up with a long list).  Or, um, maybe I'm the big fan and she just deals with me.   Regardless, building songs are great for long car rides and can be pretty hilarious.  Here are the two that we sing most often (but we make up our own verses):

Rattlin Bog:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTSO-edqI_0


When I First Came to This Land:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgCN1lZbiNE

Apparently, Audrey Wood shares our love of cumulative stories because both our selections are written by her.  (Admittedly, I didn't notice this until I sat down to write this piece). 

The Napping House, with soft flowing pictures by hubby Don Wood, features a grandma who is asleep on the bed with a pile up of various living beings on top of her--"a slumbering mouse on a snoozing cat on a dozing dog on a dreaming child on a snoring granny on a cozy bed in a napping house where everyone is sleeping".   It's sweet, joyous, funny and lots of fun to read aloud.

The Deep Blue Sea:  A Book of Colors is illustrated by her son  Bruce.  The illustrations are bright, sharp and colorful--as different from Don's soft pastels as can be.   In this cumulative book there's" a purple parrot on a brown nut on a green tree on a red rock in the middle of the deep blue sea."

Interestingly, both of these great reads end with a rainbow!

The Audrey Wood website: http://www.audreywood.com/ offers such a vast of information that it will be hard to sum up in this blog posting (they have a  blog http://www.audreywoodauthor.com/, activity pages, interviews, book reviews, bios, teacher pages etc.). 

The whole family is very interesting.  Audrey's dad, grandfather and great-grandfather were all artists.  (she broke the mold by being the first woman--yipee!).  Her dad worked at a circus re-painting murals and the family also lived in Mexico for a brief period.  Don grew up on a farm and his parents did not want him to persue art as a career.  They now live in Santa Barbara enjoying many outdoor activities.  Bruce was the model for many of his parents books like Quick as a Cricket which we have and love and King Bidgood's in the Bathtub which we take out from the library and love.   He studied drama, computer art, and loves to surf.

The Napping House was written because Bruce had a hard time napping (sounds familiar!), so Audrey would take him to grandma's house where he would promptly fall asleep. The house soon earned the nickname The Napping House.  Audrey's sister Jennifer wrote a song to go with the book and newer editions come with the cd.   This is the only recording I can find (not a very good one): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cRP02zqAvg

Here's a video of a woman doing The Napping House with yoga poses (I love that idea!):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsvlR5qrCyE