Simon’s New Bed
Simon is having a wonderful day. His humans have given him a new, red dog bed and he can’t remember the last time he was so excited. He goes for a walk, gets a quick drink from the toilet, and is ready to try out his beautiful new bed. However, a startled Simon discovers that his family’s Siamese cat, Miss Adora Belle has settled herself into Simon’s bed and won’t get out. Simon tries everything to get her to move—politely asking, howling, barking, and dragging the bed with the perfectly balanced Miss Adora Belle through the house and the yard. Simon even sits on her purple cat bed to try to make her see reason. Nothing works until finally Simon decides that his only option is to share his bed with Miss Adora Belle. Children will laugh out loud at the story and illustrations in this tale of compromise.
Pennsylvania Center for the Book Awards
Book Activities & Discussion Ideas
Before reading, show the children the red end pages of the book. Ask the children to think about the significance of the red end pages—Simon’s new bed is red! On the second page of text, read the words about Simon going for a walk. Ask the children what they see on the bed. (A cat.) Say to the children, I wonder if we can predict what’s going to happen next? After children make their predictions, turn to the title page showing the cat, Adora Belle, putting her paw on Simon’s new bed. Read the story with expression, stopping to talk about some of the vocabulary that may need to be explained, such as “rehydrated.”
Read the book aloud, taking time to enjoy the humor of the story and don’t forget to notice the wonderful expressions on Simon’s and Adora Belle’s faces. Point out that this particular storybook has some characteristics that make an adult’s input significant:
- It is important to look over the pages preceding the title page in a children’s book. There are often clues about the story in those pages or additional information to share with children. In this book, it is especially important as those four pages contain important parts of the story.
- There are some expressions used in this story that entertain adults, but may need to be explained to children—encourage families to find and explain expressions, such as “He quickly rehydrated” and “you have to pick your battles.”