Iza Trapani

Take a ride with a magical little teapot as he unfolds the world to the young boy and girl whose home he shares. The children delight in the adventure awaiting them, from flying kites in China, to fox hunting in England, to flying with aliens in outer space.

We made a special trip to Munro's (my local bookstore in Victoria, BC, is owned by Alice Munro's ex-husband, do you guys know that about Victoria, LibraryThing? It's beautiful in there) to get this book because Emmett was demanding an Itsy Bitsy Spider book to bring together his favourite song and his favourite medium. This one was cute and the extended verses, which I am usually doubtful of, gave us further insight into the spider's life and times, and I liked it on the whole for its show more spider's eye perspective but then we left it on the bus and now it's gone:( But my kid has lots of other books and a roof over his head, don't cry for us! show less

The Itsy Bitsy Spider puts into book form the classic children's song of the same name; however, it features far more verses that we typically sing with children. Children will gravitate towards this book because of the familiarity of the beginning and then will get sucked in seeing where the rest of it goes. The rhyming structure is always appealing to young children, as well as the various antics of the eponymous spider. The illustrations are delicate and delightful, with an interesting show more shiny glaze (I wish the process were described in the book's ancillary materials so I could better articulate it) overlaying parts of the illustrations. This book is great to share with preschoolers especially, although younger elementary school-aged children and those toddlers with longer attention spans may also enjoy it as well. show less

Begins with the well known nursery rhyme. What follows is a mess. Every one of the animals in the town come to the sheep asking her for something. She doesn't have what they need and kindly tells them so. Apparently the animals are offended and join together to confront the sheep. They call her unkind, "mean," and complain that she knits all day. The illustration for this page is complete with all of the animals in a posture of righteous indignation. All is well when the the sheep shows them show more the beautiful things she has been knitting them. Then they back off, because she has finally given them something. Sure in the end they all promise to share when they have something special to give, but what about being angry when someone has nothing to give? Is it right to expect others to give what they don't have simply because we ask? show less