This book was a lot of fun to read, the artwork is beautiful and the story is sweet. Finn didn't care much for this one, but I really enjoyed it.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A good story about neighbors working together. Nice colorful pictures and a story that flows well.

I am a huge fan of Davide Cali's work and will pick up anything with his name on it. This book did not disappoint. A delightful tale of sharing, friendship, and inclusion; plus it has the most delightful illustrations!

It all starts with a little mouse who wants to fix an omelet, but has no egg. It ends with a cake for all to share!

Naturally, my eyes always land on the illustrations first, and what a delight these were! They appear painted, with obvious brush strokes, that give each scene depth and character. The colors are warm and natural, embracing the adorable woodland characters and their natural habitat.

The story itself is about how one small idea that benefits the originator can blossom into a bigger idea that benefits all who play apart in its creation. While the original goal is to find a neighbor with an egg for the mouse to make an omelet, each neighbor - none of whom seem to have an egg - offers an alternative, so that a cake can be made instead. At the end, there is a quick lesson about the value of an idea being equal to the tangible parts that physically make up the end product. Not a lesson I've seen in a children's book before, but an essential one.

The messages about teamwork and sharing are certainly worthwhile, the story is cute, and the illustrations are stupendous. Lovely book all around.

Mouse wants to bake a cake, but needs an egg, so off he goes to borrow one from Blackbird, who offers flour and suggests dormouse, etc...An assortment of other animals are approached for an egg, with each offering a different ingredient needed for the cake. All the animals join in the parade with their ingredients to search for the egg. Finally found, they go to owl to prepare and bake the cake in owl's oven. Once finished, the cake gets cut into 8 pieces, but there are 9 animals! Mouse is voted out as he didn't contribute any ingredient! What's poor mouse to do?? Illustrations were detailed and fun; easy to follow the animals in their search for cake ingredients. Cute twist of a book on the Little Red Hen!
Cumulative tale for kids 4 and up.

A cute story about the importance of collaboration, working together, friendship and sharing. It is told in the repetition mode adding something each time. My grandchildren and I had fun trying to remember each animal in order as well as what they contributed to the cake. The list of what they needed was pretty complete. Of course, my grandson was concerned that the mouse never got to make the omelette he wanted until we decided that cake tasted better. We were a little worried at the end that the mouse was not going to get a piece of cake, but the animals figured out that he should get one too. The illustrations are simple, childlike watercolors that are painted in a whimsical way. They are vibrant and add much to the story. I recommend this book to primary classrooms, family and school libraries.

I really enjoyed this book. As a storytime provider, I like books that have a lot of sequencing and repetition. Reading this at storytime would be a great way to get children to participate and interact with the story. It also lists a number of animals, and I can imagine that some kids would find it a bit funny to see some of the ingredients the animals have. Not to give away too much information, but I wasn't expecting for mouse to be left out towards the end, I glad that was remedied because it is a teaching moment. The illustrations were also wonderful.

I loved this book and my daughter did too. It is a cute picture book about treating others fairly and sharing. The illustrations were very well done.

Mouse wakes up one morning and craves an omelet but guess what? He needs an egg. Where in the world can he get one? He decides to go to his neighbour Blackbird to borrow one. That seems like a good idea doesn't it? Unfortunately Blackbird doesn't have an egg but he does have some flour and suggests that perhaps instead of making an omlet they could make a cake. That seems like a good idea but they still need that egg.

Together they go to their neighbour, Dormouse, who has butter, but still no egg. On and on they trek going door to door asking their neighbour's help and collecting what they can. Finally they have enough ingredients to bake the cake. Yeah!

Happily they mix it up and pop it into Mrs. Owl's oven then voilà .... it's cake-eating time!

This delightful story of accumulation of diverse animals and their valuable individual contributions is a true celebration of teamwork and community. The watercolour illustrations are bold, full of expression and detail, perfect to capture and ignite a child's imagination. The repetition of the growing list of characters and the phrase "Good morning, neighbor" will have kids fully engaged in the storyline as the story progresses.

The message to take away is if you don't have something you need ask politely for help and share what you have with others. I recommend this book for home, classrooms and libraries.

Good Morning Neighbor by David Cali and Maria Dek is a great picture book with the underlying theme of sharing, cooperation, friendship and doing what is right.
Aesthetically, I loved the use of bold and capitalization or words for visual key importance for the reader. The illustrations matched the text allowing the reader to tell the story with a simple turning of the pages.
Key sub-teaching points:
Sequence, repetition, story building, predication and making a list.

This book was provided to me by NetGalley for a fair and honest review.
5/5 Stars

I thought this book was adorable. I loved the illustrations and the repetition and I think kids would too. Definitely a good choice for my preschool story time group!

A lovely story about the beauty of collaboration, friendship and inclusion. Unique illustrations too! I loved this one.

Good Morning, Neighbor is a bit of a riff on the classic story "Stone Soup". The story begins with Mouse, who would like to make an omelette but is missing the key ingredient of an egg. He approaches his neighbour, Blackbird, to borrow an egg, but it turns out that Blackbird is also egg-less.

Blackbird does have some flour, though, and keenly points out that if the two could find an egg they could make a cake. Together the two approach yet another neighbouring animal, Dormouse, who has butter, but no eggs.

From there both the entourage and ingredient list grow as none of the animals in the neighbourhood seem to keep eggs on hand. In the end they have enough to make quite an elaborate cake, but must decide how to divvy it up among themselves.

This isn't my favourite kind of illustration, but I know it appeals to some who really like the whimsical style. The story itself is well-told and the message about sharing is good.

Thank you to NetGalley and Princeton Architectural Press for providing me with a DRC of this book.

This story had a bit of a Julia Donaldson feel to it, the way it built up and the list of animals involved grew. The illustration is quite different though, it's a bit rougher and looks hand painted. It's still beautiful to me but I felt like my kids couldn't really follow the story based on the pictures. For example; what is the lizard doing on page 20? Pea-shooting raisins?
I found the story a bit too long for the intended audience.

A simple story, heavy on the repetition, that shows a gang of animal friends collaborating to make a cake. But what if you're like the mouse, and don't actually provide any of the ingredients for it? The very young will enjoy the way things build and build, and the moral is a decent one when it arrives.

I love this beautifully illustrated story of a little mouse who wants to make an omelet. He sets out to find an an egg and instead, discovers everything needed to bake a cake — apples, flour, and sugar, but especially, community and friends including a sweet owl, raccoon and hedgehog. Teaches children the importance of asking for what you need and sharing what you have with others. 5/5

Pub Date 04 Sep 2018

Thanks to Princeton Architectural Press and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are fully mine.

#GoodMorningNeighbor #NetGalley

This is a dang adorable books about ideas, sharing, and community. The illustrations are great. The only thing missing is the recipe for the cake! It sounds delicious and I want to make it!

A sweet story about a mouse who set out to make an omelet but needs to borrow an egg. He asks his neighbor for one but instead they set out together to make a cake, asking their neighbors for each ingredient. The story emphasizes the importance of cooperation and teamwork, and demonstrates that everyone has something valuable to add on a team or in society. I really enjoyed the repetition of words and this would make a great read aloud for a kindergarten class. The illustrations are lovely too!

Although this is a new book, to me it read like a classic with the repetition, animal characters, and illustrations. The story starts with mouse, who needs an egg to make an omelette. The mouse has to rely on a neighbor for an egg, who doesn’t have one but offers up a different ingredient to help make a cake if an egg is found. The story sequentially builds as mouse goes to each animal neighbor’s house and acquired an ingredient to help make a cake, and then once the cake is baked, the decision has to be made about how many slices it should be cut into to share it with those involved. This will be a great story to use with my kindergarteners to talk about sequencing and also teamwork, since mouse would have been unable to do it all by itself. I could also see this story being used as a Reader’s Theater with some of my older students. Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!

Great story about team work and how everyone can add something to make something more. Mouse wants to make an omelet, but doesn't have an egg! He asks his neighbor if they have one and they don't, but they do have flour and they decide to make a cake instead. The story continues with more neighbors and lots of repetition. Would be great for small children as a flannel board story too.