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A Good Day

A day starts out badly for four creatures--a bird loses her favorite tail feather, a dog’s leash gets tangled, a fox can’t find his mother, and a squirrel drops her nut. “But then . . . ” Henkes’s swift, finely paced text belabors nothing. Instead, there is a simply stated turn of events. The bird that lost its tail feather discovers it can fly; the fox that lost his mother turns around and finds her, and so on. It turns into a good day for each animal, and for a little girl who finds a lovely yellow feather in her yard. “Mama! What a good day!” Kevin Henkes’s pleasing story seems uncomplicated, but it has sophisticated ideas at its core for those who ponder the turn of events more deeply: frame of mind and point of view. Inviting watercolor and brown-ink illustrations on matte paper, another visual departure for this author/illustrator, complement the story’s buoyant feel. Highly Commended, 2008 Charlotte Zolotow Award ©2008 Cooperative Children's Book Center

Illustrated by Kevin Henkes

Wisconsin author, Wisconsin illustrator

Kevin Henkes grew up in Racine. He attended UW-Madison and lives in Madison.

CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 2-6
Age Range: Babies/Toddlers (birth – 3) PreK-Early Elementary (Ages 4-7)
Format: Picture book
Subjects: Animals (Fiction) Perspective/Point of View

Publishers: Greenwillow, HarperCollins
Publish Year: 2007
Pages: 24
ISBN: 006114018X

CCBC Location: Picture Book, Henkes

A Good Day