Waiting
Waiting isn’t always easy, but it’s more enjoyable with friends. Five toys are on a windowsill: an owl waiting for the moon, a pig with an umbrella waiting for the rain, a bear with a kite waiting for the wind, a puppy on a sled waiting for the snow, and a rabbit with an accordion body who just likes to look out the window and wait. As time passes, the moon comes up, the rain comes down, the wind blows, and the snow falls, making each toy happy. The rabbit is always happy just looking out the window. The toys see wonderful things in each season and sometimes experience surprises. The act of waiting is celebrated as joyful anticipation in this gentle story done in soft brown ink, watercolors, and colored pencils.
Pennsylvania Center for the Book Awards
Book Activities & Discussion Ideas
The clear pictures and simple story make this a great book for encouraging attention to details. Help children focus on details as you read the story. Then after reading, ask recall questions. Who is waiting? What might they be thinking about or waiting for? Who was waiting for rain? Can you remember all five of the toys? What gifts were left for them? Children might even enjoy being the questioners and testing one another’s recall. Congratulate children on their fantastic memories.
Facilitate a guided game that develops from animals, toys, or objects that the children own. In the book we have the four and then five friends. Pick four friends from the children’s rooms (with the children in the lead), line them up, and ask the children to imagine what each friend is thinking about, what they are waiting for, and what they do during the day when no one is home?