Independent Reading level: Grades PK-3
Awards: Nominated for Beehive Book Award (2022)

This is going to be a fabulous read aloud. I love the set up for kids to finish the rhyme, but because Chester forgot how, it's never the word readers will think. ( )

"There once was a youngster named Chester Van Chime,
who woke up one day and forgot how to rhyme."

This is the LAST rhyme readers will see/hear in this book, for it continues...

"It baffled poor Chester. He felt almost queasy.
To match up two sounds, it was always so...
...simple for him."

This would be a fantastic read-aloud for preschool, kindergarten, or first-grade kiddos who have a handle on rhyme already and will be driven absolutely up the wall by the non-rhymes here. The resolution, when it comes, is simply to relax and have fun with language, and not stress out about it - and Chester's ability returns. (Except for orange. Nothing rhymes with orange.)

Endpapers are covered with small, charming illustrations of rhymes (owl towel, socks blocks, red bed, mop hop, Humpty Dumpty, etc.). ( )

PreK - 3
2024 North Carolina Picture Book Award nominee