The Cheese, by Margie Palatini, illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher

Photo from Amazon.com

Review by Sandra Horning

My five year old pulled The Cheese off the new book display at our library a few weeks ago and I’ve read it for bedtime every night since. Clearly, my five year old thinks it is great. The Cheese builds around the last line of the song “The Farmer in the Dell”: and the cheese stands alone.

Down on the farm no one knows why the cheese has to stand alone in the field all day, they just know that’s how the song goes. The rat thinks the cheese looks pretty tasty and decides to take action to join the cheese in the field. Along the way he encounters everyone else from the song: the cat, the dog, the child, the wife, and the farmer. After discussing why the cheese stands alone, each character gets persuaded to join the cheese in the field. Finally they all end up having a picnic with the cheese.

The humorous dialog of why the cheese stands alone brings laughter every time. The pleasing illustrations have lots of details for young children to see. The only drawback to reading this night after night is that my son likes me to end by singing “The Farmer in the Dell” and then the tune gets stuck in my head for the rest of the night! A small price to pay for a book that helps my son get to sleep.

Ages 3-8