Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox

Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox, illustrated by

Rating: 5 shining stars

I'm not sure how I forgot to review this book.  I know that I shouldn't give every book a five star rating...shouldn't I mix in some 2s and 3s to somehow gain credibility because I hold the ability to sneer at a book?  I just can't!  There are way too many incredible ones to waste time on the not-so-great ones (which are still probably special to someone else).

Anyway, this is one book that we don't own but Lorelei and Ben have both found it on their own in the library, so we check it out at least once a month in the board book or hardcover edition.

I started off this venture with Mem Fox's Reading Magic, a book for adults/parents/caregivers/teachers that explains how reading aloud to the little ones in your life can really change their world.  I inhaled the book as if it was my favorite flavor of Ben & Jerry's (Phish Food if you must know) and immediately got myself a library card and started checking out the books on her list at the end of the book.  The connection with Reading Magic and Where is the Green Sheep? is the illustrator: Judy Horacek.  (To read more about the connection and the origin of the idea behind the book, check it out here.)

The text is silly and simple but works wonderfully.  Judy Horacek just takes the text a notch above with her silly but simple drawings illustrating opposites--sheep doing everything, from shooting themselves out of cannons, acting as a one-sheep-band, basking in the sun, singing in the rain, and taking a bubble bath.  Throughout the whole book, the text asks the reader "Where is the green sheep?  Where is that green sheep?"  It's like a kid's first suspense novel!  And, amazingly, it works on the fourth or tenth or twentieth read as well! 

The best page is near the end, where you turn the page and suddenly you see dozens of sheep doing everything--parachuting, crying, singing wildly, having a tea party, eating birthday cake, doing a cheerleader-type pyramid, snorkeling, and a bunch of other things I'm surprised I can't remember.  Lorelei (through her eloquent little sentences) and Ben (through grunts and rude pointing) insist I describe what each sheep is doing on these two fun pages.

Of course I won't tell you where the green sheep is.  Go find out for yourself!