The pelican can! by Toni Yuly

In 1910, Dixon Lanier Merritt wrote a rhyme that endures to this day as a favourite of little ones who want to legitimately say "naughty words"...

A wonderful bird is the Pelican.
His beak can hold more than his belly can.
He can hold in his beak
Enough food for a week!
But I'll be darned if I know how the hellican?

And in this enchanting book, when Pelican knows it is time to feed the nestlings, creator Toni Yuly asks simple questions about the process and answers them with an equally simple repetitive answer that will appeal to little ones' love of word play ...

Who can see its time to eat?
The pelican can. The pelican can.

Against the solid-colour sunset backgrounds, the pelican is silhouetted as it goes about looking for the evening meal, and these images make it easy for the young reader not only to anticipate the text of the question, but join in enthusiastically with the answer.

Pelicans are found all over Australia, even far inland wherever there is a water source, and there would be few young readers who do not meet Mr Percival, Mr Proud and Mr Ponder from the classic Storm Boy, by Colin Thiele, or even Pannikin & Pinta, also by Thiele, in their reading journeys, so this one, which has all the elements that help develop concepts about print and allow our youngest to believe they can be readers, is the ideal starting point to learning about how and why their 'beaks can hold more than their belly can'.

Themes: Pelicans, Humour.

Barbara Braxton