Today is a big day!
Our little boy is graduating from college!
One moment he was running around the house in nothing but a diaper singing “Oklahoma” at the top of his 21-month-old voice (yes, I have video footage but I think I’ve embarrassed him enough just by mentioning this 🙂 ), the next he’s a smart, kind, funny, lovable, handsome 21-year-old young man (nope, not at all biased 🙂 ) setting off into the world.
So I though I’d celebrate the day by sharing one of his favorite picture books – possibly THE favorite of all time for him 🙂
I hope you’ll enjoy it too!
Title: the Giant Jam Sandwich
Written & Illustrated By: John Vernon Lord (with verses by Janet Burroway)
HMH Books For Young Readers, April 1987, fiction
Suitable For Ages: 4-8
Themes/Topics: humor/nonsense, teamwork, creative thinking/ingenuity
Opening: “One hot summer in Itching Down,
Four million wasps flew into town.
They drove the picnickers away,
They chased the farmers from the hay,
They stung Lord Swell on his fat bald pate,
They dived and hummed and buzzed and ate…”
Brief Synopsis: When four million wasps come to Itching Down, the villagers must figure out how to get them to leave.
Links To Resources: what kind of pests might come to your town or village? what would you do to outwit them? draw a picture of your plan and/or write a poem or a story about how you would defeat the pests!
Why I Like This Book: It is impossible not to love a book where 4 million wasps come to town and the obvious solution is a giant jam sandwich 🙂 I love that no one thinks of anything violent – they think, what do wasps love? Strawberry jam, of course! So let’s make bread that requires a scaffold to slice, tractors and horses to pull, and helicopters to drop. The nonsensical, fun plan – exactly the kind of thing a child might think up and find perfectly reasonable! – makes for a most entertaining read. As I can attest. Since I think I read about 4 million times 🙂
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 🙂
For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.
PPBF folks, please add your titles and post-specific links (and any other info you feel like filling out 🙂 ) to the form below so we can all come see what fabulous picture books you’ve chosen to share this week!
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! 🙂
Susanna Leonard Hill 
Susanna, what a great story, both the one you featured and the times spent reading it. I need to look at it again. It’s been years..
Oh my goodness now I know what to do when I have some annoying wasps come around. Hehehe…. The illustrations are gorgeous, Susanna. And congrats to your son. (He looks so like his mum, very cute)
I remember reading this book to my kids! we loved it. Congrats on the college thing.
What a great way to honor your son with his favorite picture book! Congratulations to your son! I wished I had known about it when my daughter was young! I love this humorous story.
Congrats to you, your son & family! Jam Sandwich sounds like just the silly book to drive any pests away. Enjoy the day!
What a fun story. Congratulations to your son!
Oh my goodness! Congratulations, dear Susanna…what an important milestone for your family!
And I love this story…it would make a great mentor text for a rhyming pb….maybe it will help me polish mine..I will definitely have to get a copy. 🙂
I will have to find this fun book and find out how they got rid of all the pesky wasps! Congratulations on your son’s graduation. Those special days are always a mix of pride at what amazing young adults they’ve become and wistfulness for those “toddler” years that went by too soon.
Susanna, congrats to you and your son! And I love the humor and outrageousness of your PPBF choice.
LOL, Susanna! I was Ado Annie in my school production of Oklahoma. I still sing those songs in the shower (windows closed, I promise!) Congratulations to your family. We have one coming up in August. They grow up fast.
Sure is a fun book. Congratulations to John, and to you for having seen him though it all with tenderness and love and maybe a few wrinkles too!
Teaching your child show tunes before he is two? You are a very good mother. As for me, I turned my son into a Warner Brothers cartoon scholar.
But a book about four million wasps?! I think I might pass on this one. 😉
That boy looks young to be graduating. He must flat-out be a genius. Wait. What? Congratulations, little boy! You’re brilliant!
Love and licks,
Cupcake
Congrats on your graduate, an exciting time for your family indeed! Best wishes as you all transition into a new chapter in your book of life!
I know that wonderful feeling, when your ‘baby’ graduates from college. He’s a man, and he’s ready to tackle the world. Congrats to all of you!
I’m off to get the giant jam sandwich from my library – sounds perfect for my grand kids!
Congratulations on all your babies growing up!