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No, Silly-Willy

In No, Silly-Willy, author Caroline J. Clarke Connelly instantly engages children by having her colorful characters ask humorous questions, like: “Green frog over the log, can a red ant sing?” The metered, rhyming text encourages children to read along, repeating the questions and answers. The format also supports the development of inferencing and prediction skills and the use of expanded sentence forms, while also providing parents, teachers, and speech-language pathologists the opportunity to increase children’s proficiency in asking and answering questions, rhyming, sequencing skills, verb tenses (regular past and irregular past tense verb forms), vocabulary, categorization skills, and color and spatial concepts. The content and thought bubbles activate the social/cognitive skill of “perspective taking” (e.g., the understanding of what characters in stories or others may be feeling or thinking).

No, Silly-Willy’s surprising text and satisfying ending prompts “read it again” requests and lots of giggles. The book provides a fun initial experience that can lead to a lifetime of reading.

An MP3 digital download of the song “No, Silly-Willy” is also available as a perfect addition to the No, Silly-Willy book. Children will love hearing this catchy melody and singing the lyrics.


CD Version – NO, Silly-Willy


Shu Shu’s Secret

Six-year-old Shu Shu is unable to contain her excitement about her happy secret—to find daisies for her mother. She tells her sister her secret plan, and then sets out on her adventure, determined not to tell anyone else.

Surrounded by nature’s rhythmic symphony, she grows frustrated by the animals she meets along the way because they refuse to let her pick their daisies. When she approaches the smart-alecky goat who guards the most beautiful daisies of all, she attempts to outsmart him with a gift of kindness.

Readers of this picture book for children will share in Shu Shu’s delight as she discovers how wonderful it feels to do something nice for someone—even when doing so is more difficult than she ever imagined. The repetition of sounds and comical animal characters add flavor to this simple, yet thoughtful, story.