U is for Umbrella

Not very original, I know, but we were out shopping over the weekend and we saw a couple of really cute umbrellas, which I can’t seem to find on-line to show you. There’s also rain in the forecast, so I should make sure I have an umbrella in the car. I wish I had one of these, they’re both cute.

sky umbrellabookumbrella

As I was looking through the books in the house thinking of U, I came across one we used to read a lot when Amber was younger, The Umbrella by Jan Brett and it doesn’t look like I’ve ever talked about it here. The umbrella in the title is made from banana leaves.

the umbrella

Title: The Umbrella

Author: Jan Brett

Category: Childrens – Animal Stories

Published: September 8, 2004

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Add: Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository | IndieBound

A walk through the Costa Rican cloud forest provides a wonderfully lush setting for Jan Brett’s beloved animal illustrations. When Carlos drops his umbrella to climb a tree for a better view of the animals, they all cram into the banana-leaf umbrella as it floats by–from the little tree frog to the baby tapir to the big jaguar and more. It gets so crowded in the umbrella that there isn’t even enough room for a little hummingbird! So over the umbrella tumbles, everyone falls out, and poor Carlos comes back wondering why he didn’t see any animals all day.

This is a great book for early elementary kids. It introduces a variety of cloud forest animals, one of whom speaks bits of Spanish, and the repetition of all the animals jumping into the umbrella in turn, making it more and more crowded is fun. The illustrations are gorgeous, vibrant and detailed. It feels like the forest, lush, tropical, over-flowing. It would be a wonderful addition to any child’s library.

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