The Red Lemon by Bob Staake

About 3 years ago, while looking for a few interesting children's books to check out from the local library, I ran across The Red Lemon by Bob Staake. More than anything, the illustrations caught my eye. I checked it out, took it home, read it to the children, and it was an instant hit! Three years later, it's a family favorite.



This morning, I read it again. I've got most of it memorized - from the sing-song rhymes to the beautiful pictures. We even have a special way of reading some of the lines and the children know all of those parts by heart.

After the thousandth or so reading this morning, I decided to do some research: Are there more books by the author? What else has he done? Does he have a website?

Yes! There are more books:

The Donut Chef (written and illustrated; published last month)
Mary Had a Little Lamp (illustrations)
This is NOT a Pumpkin (written and illustrated)
Little Golden Picture Dictionary (illustrated) [We have this one, too!]

And even more!

I also found Bob Staake's website. Available on the site is a link to print a cute cut-out house which is Staake's studio. Here's what the finished product will look like:


I also found Staake's email address and dropped him a quick line to say, "Thanks for writing such a great book." You know what? Within 20 minutes, he wrote back. Neat!

At the end of every year, I buy 10-15 copies of a book to give as presents the following year. I've decided our 2009 gift book will be The Red Lemon!


Edited to add: Richard and I were further exploring The Red Lemon site I linked above. There are games, views of the book, and red lemon recipes at the website. DH made red lemonade: