Iza Trapani

When I was a babysitter, in high school, one of my favorite books to read at bedtime was "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" by Iza Trapani. The additional verses coupled with whimsical illustrations make for a great picture book. Many of Trapani's books have a dust jacket overlay that adds to the cover art. The Itsy Bitsy Spider's dust jacket includes a spider web. At the time, that was Trapani's only book with which I was familiar. Fortunately, that is no longer true.

In college, I had the opportunity to go to the NAEYC conference in New York and presenting and signing was Iza Trapani. There I was able to get several more, including Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and Baa, Baa, Black Sheep. Iza Trapani was an excellent presenter, explaining her methods and connecting to her audience.

More recently, I picked up a few more of Iza Trapani's books at the library. I can see these fitting in well to our kindergarten library curriculum. Last year, we did a unit on nursery rhymes, and many of Iza Trapani's books are extensions of familiar nursery rhymes with inventive verse added on to the original. The ones we have been reading at bedtime these days are "Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone," and "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

Cecelia has enjoyed both, and I'm certain that this year's kindergarteners will too!