Penny and Her Song by Kevin Henkes
Henkes creates another winning little mouse character, this time in a short-chaptered easy reader book. Penny comes home from school with a Song, a song that fills her up and demands to be sung. But the mouse babies are sleeping, and her parents both tell her to be quiet. Singing to herself in the mirror or to her little glass animals is just not the same. When they finally wake up, it’s supper time, and singing at the table is also not allowed. Will Penny forget her song before she has a chance to sing it to an audience? Finally, after supper, Penny sings her song, and then teaches it to the family. Penny’s winsome personality, passionate about her need to perform without becoming pushy (this post brought to you by the letter P), together with the loving family dynamics made the parts of the book add up to more than the simple plot. The language is about the same level as Frog and Toad, the whole book two chapters long. It’s just enough for the emerging reader to feel accomplished without it moving it up to the early chapter book category. My struggling second-grader was able to read it, and my three-year-old carried it around with her and asked for it over and over again. I enjoy Henkes’ work so much that I hate to give it gender limits, but must honestly say that my son, not as interested in music and babies as my daughter, did not appreciate the story as much as she did. The second book, Penny and Her Doll, has even more girl appeal. That makes me sad for my son, but happy to see girly books that aren’t all princesses and Barbies. Those in that audience will likely love it as we did, and those looking for Kevin Henkes books to appeal to both boys and girls could try these picture book titles, a few of my favorites from his extensive catalog:

Kitten’s First Full Moon
Owen
Wemberly Worried