May I Bring A Friend?

Title: May I Bring A Friend?
Author: Beatrice Schenk De Regniers
Illustrated: Beni Montresor
Published: Aladdin Paperbacks
Date: 1964
Summary:One day, a small boy receives a very special invitation-the King and the Queen have invited him to the castle for tea. He accepts, with one question:"May I bring a friend?" The King and Queen said yes, but the friends the boy brings turns out to be somone they never expected!
Age Level: 5-8
Strengths: I like the rhythms of this story. It has a certain pattern where only every other line is rhyming. I also like how the King and Queen invites the little boy during the week, so the reader can review the days of the week. I also like how the pictures are also a pattern. You see, when the King and the Queen invite the little boy, the pages are in black and white. However, when the boy brings his friends (which are animals), the page is filled with color! It's very silly, but at the same time cute.
Concerns: There were some text that stood out a little. For example, after a rhyme, there will be another line that finishes the sentences. Perhaps the author didn't want the reader to be confused, because this is a poem, but it does throw off the tempo a little. Also the only colors used to create the pictures were mainly pink, red, yellow and orange. I wonder why the illustrator decided to use those specific color, and not others.
Comments: This is a cute and funny poems that younger students will love. It's fun to read in school and at home, and the children will love the different surprises when the little boy brings one of his "friends" with him to the castle.