Creak! Said the Bed by Phillis Root

Today my mom and I spent time in my classroom sorting through my classroom library baskets as she gathered some ideas for her own library (she works with K-3 students as a reading support teacher). We spent some time in the basket that I will be reading from often at the beginning of the year: Books with Repeating Words. Books like, Hello Day by Anita Lobel, Hurry! Hurry! by Eve Bunting, Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox are a few titles that live in this basket. This summer I found I Can Help as well as Creak! Said the Bed that I will also read aloud again and again and add to this basket.

Creak! Said the Bed is the story of a family sleeping cozily through the night each in their own beds, until...Evie gets scared, Ivy gets cold, Mo says his room is spooky and Fred the dog comes runnning after the thunder begins. Each time one of the kids comes knocking, Poppa said, Snore, and Momma said, Sure! There's plenty of room for you in the bed." So Ivy plopped in. CREAK, said the bed. With all those kids in the bed, the creak turns into CRACK as Fred jumps into bed. Don't worry, they sleep right through it.

I loved the pictures in this story. It is fun to see how the illustrator finds a place for each new character that enters the bed...Evie is tucked under Poppa's head like a pillow, Ivy sleeps curled up in a ball on top of Momma's head, Mo flops over Poppa's head and Fred finds the only spot left at the end of the bed. I am also thinking kids will connect to times they have jumped into bed with their parent (s). I am anxious to see if this book is loved as much as some others in this basket. (I have to say seeing if kids choose this to read during books in the morning and workshop is half the fun of finding and reading a new book!)