Picturebook Review: Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Spoon, written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Scott Magoon, is a charming story about a young spoon that thinks everyone else has life better than him, the knife gets to cut and spread, the fork gets to do so many things, and chopsticks are just so neat. Meanwhile his friends think that spoon has it pretty good too. He gets to be silly, measure things, dive into ice cream, and all sorts of other fun things. After his mother tucks him in, and reminds him of the neat things spoons can do, he cannot fall asleep and snuggles in with his parents and gets ready for sweet dreams.

Spoon is a charming story that kids, and adults, can relate to. Everyone has moments when they think the grass is greener elsewhere, or the life is better in another section of the utensil drawer. Some cute little jokes are peppered through the story, like Spoon mentioning that the fork does not go 'stir crazy' and part of the spoon's family history when his great grandmother ran off with a dish. The illustrations are perfect and add some additional humor and emotion to the utensil characters.

I highly recommend Spoon, and think that it will entertain and open the way to discussions about jealousy and appreciating how special everyone is. I enjoyed this book so much that I am planning on checking out the author's other books, particularly Little Pea and Chopsticks.