With nothing less than his usual fiery, brilliant illustrations, Eric Carle breathes new life into this well-known children's song, treating the reader to a mouth-watering collage of culinary delights, spirited animals, and culturally diverse children. An IRA-CBC Children's Choice Book.

Reviews

PreS-Gr 3-- Featuring the artist's familiar bold and colorful style, this song was originally illustrated as a frieze in 1977. Now adapted as a picture book, it is a joyous invitation to ``all the hungry children''--shown at a multiethnic banquet at the end of the book--to ``. . . Come and eat it up!'' Each double-page spread shows a line from the song, with a different animal for each day of the week, eating a different food. Most of the animals are eating a predictable food (a fox with a chicken, a pelican with a fish), but there are some nonsensical scenes (a snake with spaghetti, an elephant eating ``zoop''). Overall, the verse has a catchy, cumulative rhythm, but it's the dazzling illustrations--gorgeously displayed with a mastery of design and form--that make this a simple, yet memorable, picture book. --Cyrisse Jaffee, Newton Public Schools, MA

Another song worth singing, Eric Carle's Today Is Monday, begins with string beans on Monday and spaghetti on Tuesday. Different animals eat their way through the week, teaching the names of the days as they go. Music and lyrics included. ( Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.