Can I Sit in the Middle?

PreS-Gr 2–Anyone who’s ever tried to assemble a group for story hour knows that getting everyone ready and settled can be a challenge. This story proves it in one delectable scene after another. The book opens with a white child seated upon a sofa with a book. A hamster enters the room and receives an invitation to listen to the book. Happy for the invitation, the hamster declares that others will want to join as well. In come a zebra, cat, and lion to sit and listen, too. As the story progresses, more and more animals are welcomed, while the sofa fills up to capacity and beyond. The tipping point occurs when in lumbers a rhino. “Has anyone seen my slippers?” While searching for the lost slippers, the rhino lifts up the sofa and everyone tumbles to the floor—and that’s where the story is read aloud. Illustrations appear to be digitally rendered in bold colors that fill the entire page. Flexibility, the fun of reading aloud, and enjoyment of the company of others seem to be the messages of this humorous book.