Queen Vernita's Visitors
Dawn Menge
Illustrator: Bobbi Switzer
Outskirts Press

Order from Amazon

Dawn Menge - „Queen Vernita’s Visitors“ opens with a clarification that Vernita is the sovereign of Oceaneer a most grandiose world. Living in a beautiful castle that was covered in ivy and red roses she was mostly happy.

While Vernita loved being the monarch; she missed all her friends from the land of Quails. After noting her calendar she realized that it had been one complete year since she had seen her friends. Queen Vernita determined to encourage her friends to come for a visit during each month of the coming year. That very evening Queen Vernita wrote twelve invitations to her twelve friends.

Osage County First Grade get pleasure from listening to the entertaining account centered upon Queen Vernita and her calendar of friends and activities. We note that the Queen and her comrade Debbie spent time together beginning January 1 through January 31, plus during each day of the week the duo benefited from taking part in different activities: on Mo it was jolly jump rope, Tu found them juggling jacks, on Wed they played four square, and on Th they took pleasure in marvelous movies, Fr the twosome popped pumpernickel popcorn, Sa they enjoyed long walks around the castle and on Sundays they stayed in and read three books.

Alliteration, repetition, names of the days of the week and day number and order, in addition to month order and the names of each month grants an outstanding teaching tool for morning calendar work in K – 1 grades. Calendar is one of the required teaching goals in many states.

Tommie who only stayed 28 days came in February – it was not leap year and he and the Queen enjoyed snowy activities on top of spending some time staying in and writing letters in cursive script, March brought Dana who stayed for 31 days in addition to her bringing along her seven favorite board games. It was April and warmer weather when Cale as well as his dog Scrappers arrived for a 30 day visit. And, in May, Jeremy arrived in time to see all the flora the April showers had created. He and the Queen picked flowers during each of the 31 days of the holiday.

June and the commencement of summer found Westley arriving for his 30 day visit during which he and Queen Vernita had a grand time spending time in the summer sun. Ashlie arrived for a visit on the Oceaneer Beach with Queen Vernita where they spent 31 splendid sun filled days.

Thus it went month by month and friend by friend, Hannah appeared in August, followed by Virginia in September, Mike arrived in October, he gave way in November to Nicole. Tyler Ann was the last of the twelve for 31 days in December.

Furthermore, as Vernita waved goodbye to a departing Tyler Ann, we see the approaching carriage bringing Debbie for her next January visit.

Instructing Little People re the monthly calendar, days of the weeks, holidays and seasons through the exploits chronicling Queen Vernita and her friends; is a task Osage County First Grade undertakes during morning calendar time. Queen Vernita and her friends is chosen also as a book for reading for enjoyment at the reading table during work time, or for taking to a DEAR office for sustained reading time.

The hypothesis behind the account is engaging as the Queen invites 12 unique friends to visit with her during each month of the year. I am pleased to find the Queen has an ample circle of friends including women – Debbie, Hannah, Virginia and Nicole; men – Tommie, Jeremy and Mike; teens – Dana and Ashlie children – Cale, Westley and Tyler Ann. Relationships and interpersonal relationships is another area of study in the classroom.

Calendar tasking in our classroom incorporates conversation re month name and order, names and days of the week as well as the day before, and the day after, seasons are discussed and illustrations noted whether they are cold activities, inside activities, outside or beach activities and why some activities are appropriate for the particular month and season and they are not appropriate for other seasons or months.

I like that the notion of leap year is introduced, this school year Osage County First Grade noted that 2008 is/was a leap year, and that in our country, The United States, that means election year for choosing a new President who is the leader of our country. Casting ballots for president in November was one of our activities.

Images supplied by artist Bobbi Switzer are sparkling, filled with exhilaration and movement through the use of effervescent color. I particularly enjoy the portrayal of Vernita, she does bear a resemblance to a well known monarch.

Writer/Educator Menge has created an appealing, well written account in picture book for kids and adults to get pleasure from. Highly recommended as a grand read, and as a winning teaching tool useful for emphasizing calendar related themes and activities. Whether in home or classroom setting „Queen Vernita’s Visitors“ is a must have.