King Bidgood's in the Bathtub

I love books.  Can't get enough of them.  Ask my friends who helped me pack up my books at the end of the year this year--they'll emphatically agree.  I may have a problem, but so far as I know, there are no monthly meetings for this kind of addiction.

Clutter-Free Classroom is having a children's book linky party, asking for us to share a favorite picture book based on ILLUSTRATIONS alone.  I know this might be an unusual pick, but one of my favorites is King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Audrey and Don Wood (the husband and wife team who have written other favorites like The Napping House).  If you aren't familiar with the book, you NEED to check it out!

The basic storyline is simple---King Bidgood is in the bathtub, and he won't get out.  Oh, who knows what to do?  When the people of the court take turns offering alternative activities (like having lunch or going fishing), the king responds with "Today, we 'lunch/fish/dance' in the tub!"  Each of these proclamations is followed by a two page illustration FULL of incredible detail---the fishing scene comes complete with worms, dragonflies, cattails...everything!  The faces of each character are drawn with such expressive detail that it leaves no doubt in the reader's mind JUST.HOW.MUCH each one is enjoying the experience (not).

So how do they get the king out?  The child is the hero (which my kiddos love)---the page boy just simply pulls the stopper out of the bathtub at the end of the day, and the king has to make a quick run for it....Glub, glub, glub!

This is a great book for discussion---and great for oral language development.  It also is a good way to bring in a social studies requirement---the difference between the past and the present (as you see the page refilling the tub with buckets of water). The only thing better than the book is the BIG book version---easier to see the phenomenal details.