Genre:  Family / Childhood / Growing Up / Travel

Year Published: 1952

Year Read:  2010

Publisher: The Viking Press

“One Morning in Maine” is a Caldecott Honor Book from the great mind of Robert McCloskey and it is about how a young girl named Sal learns about the wonders of growing up after she loses her first baby tooth. “One Morning in Maine” is a truly inspiring story about growing up that many children will easily love.

Robert McCloskey has done an excellent job at both illustrating and writing this book. Robert McCloskey’s illustrations are much more beautiful in this book than in his other books as the characters look so realistic and Sal’s expressions as she realizes that she has a loose tooth are extremely realistic as she expresses shock and pure excitement, like any child who has a loose tooth and they are sometimes scared because they are worried about the pain if their baby tooth comes loose and the pure excitement they exhibit as they see their baby tooth come out. Robert McCloskey’s illustrations are also in black and white, giving this story an old fashioned feeling while also making this book more effective in displaying the characters’ emotions, as the characters expressions are realistic. Robert McCloskey makes this story extremely cute and inspiring a the same time as Sal tries to figure out the meaning of growing up after she looses her tooth and many children will easily relate to Sal’s emotions about her loose tooth as many children have often lose their baby teeth and they usually have feelings of fear and excitement as they fear that they will feel pain when their baby teeth will fall out and feel excitement as they experienced the joys of growing up.

Parents should know that this book might be a tad bit too long for smaller children to handle as the book is about sixty-pages long and parents might want to read the first thirty pages one night and then the next thirty pages the next night so that children would not be easily bored by this book.


“One Morning in Maine” is a fantastic book about the wonders of growing up and will be an instant classic for many children who also experience the wonders of a loose baby tooth. I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since smaller children might become bored with the length of this book.

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

Genre:  Family / Nature / Weather / Poetry / Exploration

Year Published: 1957

Year Read:  2010

Publisher: The Viking Press

When I first read this book as a child, I did not really care for this book since I thought that this book was too boring to sit through. However, when I read this book later on as an adult, I realized that this book was a truly moving book. “Time of Wonder” is a Caldecott Medal award winning book from the great mind of Robert McCloskey and it is about how a family spends their time on the islands enjoying the beauties of the island. “Time of Wonder” may seem a bit too boring for smaller children, but it is truly one of Robert McCloskey’s most beautiful and moving books ever created!

Robert McCloskey has done a great job at making the story extremely dreamy and beautiful as he describes the girls’ adventures on the island in a dreamy and poetic fashion, giving the story a beautiful feeling, the type of feeling you get when you go to a wonderful place. Robert McCloskey’s illustrations are much different in this book than in his other books since the images are actually colored instead of the usual black and white images that he usually uses for most of his books. Robert McCloskey’s illustrations are truly realistic and beautiful as he shows images of the island showing its beauty towards the two girls. The images that stood out the most in this book are the images of the ferns growing and the images of the hurricane coming towards the island. The images with the ferns growing shows the ferns uncurling themselves from the ground, which is truly a beautiful sight and the images of the hurricane coming to the island shows the storm making a strong wind that violently blows at the family’s house and you can see the waves being blown so violently and the family being blown by the wind as the father tries desperately to close the door.



Smaller children might be bored with this book since the beginning is a tad bit too slow and the action does not really come around until the scene of the hurricane coming to the island. Also, the length of this book is much longer than most picture books and many small children might become bored with this book. Parents might want to read one section of the book for the first day and then read the second section of the book the next day so that way children would not become so easily bored.

“Time of Wonder” is a beautiful and enchanting book about enjoying the true beauty of nature that will have many children respecting nature so much more. I would recommend this book to children ages five and up due to the slow beginning.

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

Lentil written by Robert McCloskey is a 4.8 on the Accelerated Reading leveling system. The story is about a young boy who plays the harmonica. The town is excited to welcome their hero home. Everyone except Sneep is getting ready. On the day of the parade, the band is ready to play and welcome the hero. Sneep shows up sucking loudly on a lemon. The band begins to pucker their lips. When the hero arrives, there is silence. Everyone stares at Sneep. Finally, Lentil breaks the silence by playing his harmonica. He saves the day and gets to lead the parade. This story could be used to show there is always a way to solve a problem. It is also a silly example of creativity and persistence. 

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey is a 4.1 on the Accelerated Reading leveling system. The story is a fictitious book about a pair of ducks that live in a pond. When it comes time for their eggs to hatch, they realize that they must move because their pond has too many people and is too dangerous. In their search they are helped by a kind policeman when crossing the street. In the end they find the perfect pond to raise their babies. This could be used for two very different topics. It could be used when a new student joins the class as a read aloud. It could help the new student feel more comfortable. As a teacher, stress that moving is not a bad thing, and a silver lining can always be found. This story could also be used around Earth Day to teach the importance of animals and the environment. Teach the students that just as the policeman, we have to take care of animals and there are many ways to do that. 

One Morning in Maine written by Robert McCloskey is a 4.4 on the Accelerated Reading leveling system. This is a great book about a four person family living in rural Maine. The story follows the day of a little girl. Throughout the story she helps her sister, loses a took, digs for clams, eats ice cream, and even makes a wish  on a spark plug! The story would be a great addition for a unit on diversity. It gives a detailed example of how this child lived each day. Most students may not ever see the things discussed in the book. This book could be used to show students a lifestyle here in the U.S. that they may have never even heard of. The story could be presented as a read aloud for younger students or a center book for older students.