Is There Room on the Feather Bed? - Hardcover

Gray, Libba Moore

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0531330133 ISBN 13: 9780531330135

Publisher: Orchard Books, 1997

Synopsis

A spirited cumulative tale follows what happens when the rains come and, one by one, several colorful animals enter the home of a wee fat woman and her wee fat husband and pile up on their feather bed, until a skunk joins the party.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

An old-fashioned treat--wacky art from Westcott paired with a reassuring and delightful cumulative text by Gray (Little Lil and the Swing-Singing Sax, 1996, etc.) that grows funnier with each reading. A ``wee fat man and a wee fat woman'' live in a ``teeny, tiny house at the bottom of a great green hill.'' Their extended family includes eight animals: a goose, a duck, a sheep, a hen, a pig, a dog, a cow, and a cat. A plump skunk tries to join in, but the animals keep their distance. When a rainstorm blows up one night, animal after animal, two by two, beg admittance to the house: ``Honk honk honk,/Quack quack quack,/the rain is pouring/on our feathered backs.'' The woman is welcoming: ``Why, bless your hearts,/such a noise, such a fuss./There's room on the feather bed/for all of us.'' The pages become more crowded with hilarious, eye-popping details until the moment when the skunk is admitted to the bed by the drowsy hostess. The result is satisfyingly predictable, making the book a lesson in tolerance disguised as a potential story-hour favorite. (Picture book. 2-6) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Booklist:

Ages 2^-6. In the uproarious style of Never Take a Pig to Lunch (1994), Westcott's black-ink line and watercolor illustrations bring bedlam to the bedroom in Gray's cumulative story about the farmyard animals that come knocking at the door on a rainy night. Two by two, the animals come, shivering and wet, to ask to share the warm, dry feather bed of the wee fat woman and her wee fat husband. Each time, the wee fat woman lets them in with a refrain that ends, "There's room on the feather bed for all of us." Kids will love the funny scenes of the animals snuggled in bed, the goose's wing round the man's neck, the fat pink pig hogging the blanket. It gets "a little crowded" when the cow joins them, but they all snuggle down. Then the woman lets the outsider skunk in, and everyone rushes out in horror--until the rain drives them back in to shelter together. Much like a folktale, the rhyming story will make a great read-aloud, a rousing opposite to those bedtime lullabies. Hazel Rochman

About this edition

• Publisher: Orchard Books
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0531330133
• ISBN 13: 9780531330135
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Westcott Nadine Bernard