SPOON

Spoon—who is an actual spoon—is worried that the other utensils—Fork, Knife, and Chopsticks—lead much more exciting lives than he does. While author Amy Krouse Rosenthal reads with a measured pace and convincing kid voices, her narration doesn't quite match the cheeky cleverness of her text and Scott Magoon's illustrations. (Spoon sleeps on sugar packet pillows in a compartment in the cutlery drawer, natch.) The silly song at the end of the recording ("Oh Spoon, we’ll have a picnic in June, ice cream in the afternoon, thanks to Uncle Scoop-oop-ee-do"), performed by Jack Sundrud and Rusty Young, is much more in keeping with the playful mood of this charming bedtime story. J.M.D. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2010]