Chicken Soup With Rice: A Book of Months [Paperback]

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. Chicken Soup with Rice was one of her picks.

Now I should provide some more background. My wife's Mother makes a lengendary chicken soup, which will cure whatever ails you, cheer you up when you're sad, and help you get your homework done faster. We have always received large containers of this wonderful soup for every possible use. It becomes not only something we eat a lot of, but something that we talk about frequently. There is also discussion about how hard the Matzoh balls should be.

Although this book is ostensibly about the months of the year, it also has a theme about what you do with chicken soup with rice in each month. So the poems were just a starting point for us in discussing what else to do with Grandma's chicken soup.

At the same time, I know that my daughter's love of this book also helped her learn the months (and what seasons they are in). Maurice Sendak's illustrations are wonderful and witty, and she enjoyed them very much. I think you and your child will, too.

There's a short 10 line poem for each month with chicken soup with rice in it. In January you eat it while slipping and sliding on the ice. In February, you eat it to celebrate your snowman's birthday. In March, the wind blows open the door so you have to eat the soup off the floor after it spills. In April, you go on a trip and think about chicken soup with rice. In May, you imagine being a robin making the soup in your nest. In June, you put some on your roses to fertilize them. In July, you find a turtle selling it at the bottom of the ocean. In August, you become a cooking pot for the soup. In September, you paddle down a chicken soupy Nile river. In October, you serve it to ghosts, witches, and goblins. In November, you become a whale who spouts hot chicken soup with rice. In December, chicken soup bowls become ornaments on a Christmas tree.

Our daughter would the come up with her own variations. And she would laugh and laugh at every mention of chicken soup with rice. The repetition helped her learn to read the poems. First, she memorized them, and later she learned to read them. This was clearly one of her favorite books for helping her learn to read.

Overcome your stalled thinking that chicken soup with rice isn't good for learning to read!