by Barney Saltzberg is about a young pig getting ready for school. As you read the text of the story one would listen and think it's a typical conversation between a child and mother. The mother is asking various questions to guide the pig in getting ready for his day. "Are you up?, Did you make your bed?, Are your clothes on?" are a few examples. Cornelius P. Mud always replies, "YES!" The children were able to participate in a shared reading easily with this response.
However, as the reader reads the bright acrylic and pencil illustrations they discover Cornelius P. Mud is not quite getting ready for school in the traditional sense. When he is up, he is flying in his room because a bunch of balloons are tied to his feet. He made his bed but he made it to look like an elephant that he is riding. His clothes are on but they are on his fishbowl and not his body. My kindergarteners just giggled after a couple of readings when we could focus and discuss the illustrations with more depth. This was a perfect book for discussing the importance of reading the pictures to support our comprehension.
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