"A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood." So begins Julia Donaldson's The Gruffalo. It is a line that we in our house randomly repeat throughout our day because the book has become such a part of our lives. The line is right up there with Madeline's "In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines." (The Madeline phrase is so ubiquitous even my husband references it.)

As you can see from the picture, Clare recently decided to pay tribute to The Gruffalo by drawing a picture of the monster, so I thought it was time that I pay tribute to the book myself. It was our dear friend Nicole who discovered The Gruffalo for us. She found the movie version of The Gruffalo at the library along with the book The Gruffalo's Child. The girls were immediately entranced and we soon located a copy of the original book which became a favorite bedtime story. As a guest reader in Meg's preschool class last year, I shared the book and the teachers were so taken with the story it is now part of the regular book rotation at their preschool. The Gruffalo has also become one of our go-to birthday gifts for the numerous preschool birthday parties we attend. 

The Gruffalo tells a story of a mouse who outsmarts a series of predators by saying he is meeting the Gruffalo--a supposedly imaginary monster of whom the mouse gives fantastically terrible descriptions. As each predator leaves, the mouse mocks, "Silly old [fill in predator]! Doesn't he know? There's no such thing as a gruffalo." But to the mouse's surprise, he soon encounters a Gruffalo, who meets every aspect of the description the mouse has given. When the Gruffalo threatens to eat the mouse, the mouse responds, "I'm the scariest creature in this deep dark wood." The incredulous Gruffalo follows the mouse through the wood as the mouse makes the Gruffalo believe that the mouse (and not the Gruffalo himself) is scaring each of the predators. The book ends with the wonderfully peaceful lines, "All was quiet in the deep dark wood. The mouse found a nut and the nut was good."

I'm not completely sure what makes this book so endearing. Certainly the rhyme and rhythm of the words are superb. Clare, in particular, loves rhyme (I call her my little Dr. Seuss) and that is certainly part of the attraction for her. The language is so rhythmic that both the reader and listener can easily recite the story after reading it regularly for a brief time. When I read the book to Meg's class last year, she recited it word for word right along with me. The story is also just funny and is written with those fantastic British turns of phrase that make things sound even funnier. Then there are the illustrations. The colors are vibrant and the characters are drawn with fabulous expressions. If you haven't read this book, go read it now and share it with every child you know. 

Clare takes great comfort in books. You can barely make her out in the picture to the left, but this is a typical scene: Clare snuggled under a blanket asleep with a pile of books on top of her. This past weekend, she began running a slight fever (quite unusual for her). Her solution to "being sick" was to pile fifteen books on top of my bed, situate herself in the midst of all the pillows and allow my husband and me to take turns reading to her. 

Clare only goes to preschool two days a week, so on the mornings when Meg is at school but Clare is not, we often find ourselves at the library. On Mondays we might go to the Shirlington branch of the Arlington County library just to read books and check out a few for home. On Wednesdays and Fridays we go to the Central Library for storytime. 

The storytimes at Arlington County Public Library are superb. We have tried numerous storytimes at various bookstores, but few come close to the excellent library presentations. The librarians use music, rhymes and even flannelgraphs to keep the children focused on the book theme of the day. Clare, who can be painfully shy at times, has come alive in these sessions. When we first began attending storytime, she would sit in my lap and rarely participate in any way. Now she sits on her own carpet square, sings along with the songs, attempts any actions that accompany the rhymes and songs, and never hesitates to yell out a response to the librarian's questions. I now watch her from the side of the room (where I attend to Baby Anne) and feel proud of each tiny step of independence she takes. 

I hope these storytimes will remain special to Clare for a long time. Meg has already deemed storytime for babies and refuses to go no matter how much we try to explain that there are different storytimes for each age group. I hope Clare won't be influenced by that. Periodically Clare will say, "I wish I lived in the Hundred Acre Wood." She very much wants to turn our back patio into Mr. McGregor's garden. In the library she visits all her favorite books: Madeline and the Cats of Rome and the McDuff books. Books are a comfort to her sensitive little soul and I hope they remain a comfort throughout her life.