The Baby Beebee Bird

It usually takes my son a while to adjust to a new book. He listens intently during the first reading, and by the third or fourth reading he falls in love with it.

But there's also the rare book that's an instant hit, that he likes immediately and can't ever get enough of. Books like Knuffle Bunny, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Bears in the Night fall into this category.

We found another amazing book last night that was an immediate success: The Baby Beebee Bird. My son shouted along with it from the very first page. What makes this book so great? It's funny, it has wonderful illustrations and a clever story, but most of all, it's incredibly interactive.

The plot is fairly simple... a baby beebee bird just moved into the zoo and he keeps all the other animals awake at night with his incessant singing of "Bee bee bobbi bobbi." The animals are, displeased, to say the least. By means of revenge, they sing "Bee bee bobbi bobbi" all during the day until the bird gets the message. The song is repeated on virtually every page, and is unbelievably fun for kids (and adults) to sing along with.

The Baby Beebee Bird by Diane Redfield Massie was originally published in 1963. The version that I'm referring to is a re-make of the original and was published in 2000 with new pictures by the amazing Steven Kellogg.

This is an immediately addicting book... if you have a 2 to 5 year old, give it a try. It's also a great book to read to groups... the librarian who recommended it to me said it was one of her favorite books to use for preschool storytimes.

If you read more than one book right before bedtime (like we do), I'd make this the first book of the evening. It's more of a rile-you-up and get-out-all-your-excitement book then a calming last-book-before-bed.

Once you read it, though, get ready to hear "Bee bee bobbi bobbi" over and over and over. And over. And that's just from your spouse. Your kids will say it even more.