One Of My Favorite Children's Books (Emilea Bade)

One of my favorite books when I was growing up was King Bidgood's in the Bathtub. In this story, King Bidgood is in the bathtub and no one can seem to talk him into getting out. Throughout the book the entire court, including characters such as the knight, duke, and queen, try out their own ways to attempt to draw King Bidgood from his bath. In the end the page is the one to solve the problem and get King Bidgood out of the bathtub, I encourage you to read this story to discover what his solution was!
When I was growing up this was one of my favorite books that my mother read to me, and she will tell you that she had to read it quite often. I really enjoyed the storyline of the book, because hearing all of the character's solutions to the problem was entertaining. Beyond the storyline, however, I was also intrigued by the illustrations. The pictures in the book are from the Renaissance time period and they are extremely detailed with an interesting color scheme. The illustrations even have a dark Renaissance feel to them making you feel like you are there in that particular time period. The pictures were a large part of what made this book interesting to me and I never got tired of looking at them while my mom read me the story.
The story line of this book would be great to use in the lower grades because it promotes problem solving through a story. The students can see how all of the different members of the court had different ways of approaching the same problem. They can also see how when one solution doesn't work instead of giving up the court members came up with new ideas to try. Another skill this story portrays is working together because all of the court member's ideas were needed to solve the problem. The book can also be beneficial in the higher grades if students are learning about the Renaissance time period because the illustrations are very telling of the time period. Not only could this be helpful in history it could also be helpful if you are talking about the Renaissance time period in art. Because of all of these connections, this book would be beneficial for teachers to have because it can serve many purposes in the classroom.

This book can be purchased at: http://www.amazon.com/King-Bidgoods-Bathtub-Musical-Caldecott/dp/0152055789/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252973261&sr=8-1