Happy to Ben!

Last week was one full of illness and disappointments but we made it to this week, largely thanks to a successful library visit last Tuesday followed by a quick trip to Bunnings (this is relevant, believe me - all will be revealed). So far we've only managed to read a few of our borrowings because we are stuck on book 3 - the most popular so far by a country mile - The Birthday Box.

The Birthday Box is about a boy, dressed in nothing but a nappy, who gets a box for his birthday. There is a puppy in the box, which the little boy is happy about, but it is the box that he is truly thrilled to receive. He takes the puppy on adventures through the skies and across the sea in his new box. He turns it into a robot costume and then kits it out with some pillows and a blanket. The story ends with the little boy settling into the box for a nap with his puppy, saying how lucky he is to have been given a box.

This is book has everything that Benji is into: birthdays, birthday cake, the "Happy Birthday to You"* song and boxes. It was during our Bunnings trip that I grabbed a Benji-sized box at the checkout and loaded our stuff into it. Before we even sat down to read this book Ben was all over - and in - the Bunnings box. We have since read The Birthday Box many times and it's now no.1 toy...

*Benji has taken the liberty of shortening "Happy Birthday to You" to "Happy to Ben". It is just wonderful to overhear him singing "Happy to Ben" to himself.

The Birthday Box is by Leslie Patricelli