Published Reviews

Today Is Monday

• “With exuberant childlike energy, Eric Carle has created an irresistible menagerie to tell the story of the long-loved children’s rhyme introducing the days of the week. Even the youngest child (ages 3-7) will delight in the rhythmic text and vibrant illustrations that make illustrated in full color by Eric Carle, Today is Monday sure to be a favorite at bedtime, storytime—anytime!”

  - The Children’s Bookwatch, March 1993

• “Taking his culinary cue from the well-known children’s song, Carle dishes up a smorgasbord of creatures and comestibles. Bold spreads feature larger-than-life birds and animals enthusiastically partaking of their favorite foods: a mottled snake sucks up unruly spaghetti strands, while a calico cat lays a protective paw on Thursday’s roast beef. Though the cumulative rhyme is little more than a grocery list, Carle injects energy and movement with his signature rainbow-like collages. Exotic hues—a turquoise elephant, an emerald fish, a parrot of Technicolor plumage—glow with vitality as if illuminating the animal’s inner core. Yet despite their radiance these are down-to-earth animals imbued with the loving clumsiness of a child’s artwork. The final spread shows children—also of various skin colors—wolfing down the various foods at a sumptuous banquet, as the featured animals look on from paintings on the wall. The song’s music and lyrics bring this feast to a satisfying close. Ages 3-7.”

  - Publishers Weekly, January 25, 1993

• “Carle’s illustrations for this catchy, lighthearted cumulative song (“...today is Tuesday, Tuesday spaghetti, Monday string beans, All you hungry children Come and eat it up”) originally appeared in 1977 as a frieze; they are even more welcome in this attractive book showing a porcupine eating string beans, an elephant slopping up Wednesday’s “ZOOOOP,” a cat snitching Thursday’s roast beef, and so on. Rendered in Carle’s trademark luminescent tissue-paper collage, the glowing animals are handsomely set off by the expansive white ground. A concluding scene with seven children sharing a meal makes a satisfying finale. Music included, but the song isn’t sourced. (3-8)”

  - Kirkus, January 1, 1993

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