In the words of the Von Trapp children . . .

Actually they're the words of Rodgers and Hammerstein, but no matter. The point is, this is my last post at The Picture Book Project. There are only so many hours in the day, and , in the words of Johnny Mercer, "something's gotta give." That something is The Picture Book Project. I'm going to leave the blog up, but after today there'll be no more active posting. I hope you've enjoyed it!

Early last month, the children read and discussed several books by Don and Audrey Wood. I promised to let you know how the Woods fared in EK and PK Top Book voting. The children read King Bidgood's in the Bathtub, The Napping House, and The Little Mouse, the Red, Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear. The EK kids also read Heckedy Peg, Piggies and Quick as a Cricket. As you can see, The Little Mouse wiped out the competition in PK.

The EK kids had two rounds of voting. Heckedy Peg won in the first round, which meant it went on to compete in the second round.

Heckedy Peg proves that you just can't beat a good old-fashioned-type of fairy tale. It won the second round to become Top Book of the week in EK.

We'll continue to vote for Top Book each week, and the children will even blog about books from time to time, but I'll be writing about that over at the new Hogarth Country Day School website. In the meantime, here's the last Picture Book Project blogging done by a few of the EK and PK kids a couple of weeks ago. They talked about their favorite Don and Audrey Wood books.

Katherine: (Bidgood was her favorite.) I liked the part when they had to go fishing in the bathtub. This was my favorite because I liked all the water.

Skyler: (Bidgood was her favorite.) It was funny when they ate all the food in the bathtub. The king told the boy to clean up all the food in the bathtub. He [the boy] didn't like it. And he [the boy] didn't like the steam. I want to talk about a different book now. It said, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! It was a funny part. And this is a funny part because he's going to pick up a big, giant strawberry. We have strawberries at home! We have strawberry drinks. You have to blend it with strawberries inside. And we make banana drinks at home. It was funny when he was picking the strawberry up, because he was pointing his nose up. That was funny.

Summer: (The Big Hungry Bear was her favorite.) It was about the mouse. He thought the bear was trying to eat the strawberry. He was trying to get the strawberry. He wrapped it with the thing [chains]. He put glasses and nose and a mustache and put the strawberry on a seat, and he did the same thing.

Emelyn: (The Big Hungry Bear was her favorite.) I like it when the mouse putted it in chains 'cause he didn't want the bear to eat it. And I like the other one where he cut it in half so they could share. He shared it with the bear. I want to look at another one. This one [Heckedy Peg] I liked, too. They let the witch in 'cause they gave the witch pipes. She was going to give them a pot of gold. She turned them into food.  I liked the cheese . . . I liked all the things the witch was going to eat. I liked this part. The mommy knows which one wants what. I like this one, too. The mom turned them back into kids. That's what I like.

Eva: (Heckey Peg was her favorite.) A witch came to their house and said, "Let me in! Let me in!" And they wouldn't let her in because their mother said that strangers are not allowed in the house. And then the witch said, "Burn some fire on the twigs to light my pipe." And then they said, "Our mother won't let us touch fire." And then she said, "If you do what I say, then I'll give you this." And then they looked in a bag full of gold and she said, "If you let me in I'll let you have this gold." They let her in, and they burned the fire and lit her pipe, and then she turned them into food. And then she took them to her house. And then the mother arrived and then she called her kids, but they weren't there. So she went all the places the witch went, and up to her house, and then she went to her house and the witch wouldn't let her in because her shoes were too dirty and her socks were too dirty and then her feet were too dirty. And then she said she would cut off her feet but she just hid them under her dress. And then the witch let her in the house and she found all her childs were food and then she know what they wanted and she pointed to all the food and it turned back into their childs. See! I think that's the witch, but it looks more like a man. Oh, it is the witch! And then she ran, and the witch fell off the bridge.

Olivia: (Bidgood was her favorite.) The king wanted to go into the bathtub. The little boy brought the water upstairs and then they [the king and the knight] played in the bathtub. The knight wanted to have a fight. They wanted to have a battle. Then the boy cleaned it all out. Then they ate in the tub. They really did eat in the tub. They made food lambs and food birds and a food swan. Then the boy took it all out. Then they fished in the tub. They fished in the tub after all. See? And then, you know what happened next? The boy cleaned the fish all out and the lily pads. Then they danced in the tub. Dit-ta-dit-ta-dit-too-doo! Then, look at his face because he took the plug out! Then he had to go all out again. The end!

Lindsey: (Big Hungry Bear was her favorite.)The bear will eat the strawberry so the mouse ate it. The bear will run and run and get it because the bear will eat it.

Alexis:(Big Hungry Bear was her favorite.) The big mouse and the strawberry. The mouse runs on the bear. The bear was growling and then the mouse was scared. The mouse was running with the strawberry. Then he shared it in pieces.

Anna: (Big Hungry Bear was her favorite.) The bear run away from the mouse. When it's all tangled up [the strawberry is in chains] he has a key. He hid from his strawberry. He cut a knife from a strawberry. He cut it and eat it and all share it. The candles is blow out and he ran away from the bear.

Luke: (Big Hungry Bear was his favorite.) The bear wants to eat the strawberry. The bear really has sharp claws. The bear was eating the strawberry. The bear ate the mouse. The bear ate the ice cream. I like spider webs. [NOTE: The bear didn't eat the mouse. Don and Audrey Wood's stuff isn't that dark!]