Bath time. You either love it of your hate it. Or, if you were like me when I was a kid, you would do anything to keep from having to take a bath, but then once in that nice warm water, would absolutely refuse to get out. Luckily, there are some great books about bath time to make this every day task a little more fun.
In Bubble Bath Pirates (Viking, 2003), Jarrett Krosoczka shows us that bath time can be fun with a little imagination and role playing. In this fun book full of delightful pirate sayings, two boys “walk the plank” into the tub, raise their washcloth sails, and, “shiver me timbers”, manage to get clean and out of the tub!
Getting out the tub is no easy task, especially for King Bidgood. In Don & Audrey Wood’s Caldecott Honor picture book, King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub (Harcourt, 1985), the whole court makes hilarious attempts to get the king out of the tub. With elaborate and humorous illustrations and perfect read-aloud rhythm, the king continues to thwart everyone’s attempts to get him out of the tub by inviting them to join him IN the tub!
Not everyone is as welcoming as King Bidgood when it comes to the bath. Although George and Martha are friends, sometimes a little alone time and privacy is a good thing. In one of the sweet, humorous shorts in James Marshall’s George and Martha (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1972) called The Tub, Martha must address George’s fondness for peeking into windows.
With bright colored underwater illustrations and a fun, rhyming text, Rub-a-Dub Sub (Harcourt, 2003) by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Jeff Mack is an imaginative bath time adventure. Reminiscent of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, a boy descends into the ocean in his submarine, meeting a myriad of underwater creatures. When he meets a scary shark (in a fantastic, dramatic double-page spread) he has to rush backwards, past all the other creatures, until his submarine resurfaces…in the safety of his bathtub.
Bath time just isn’t complete without a rubber ducky! In 10 Little Rubber Ducks (Harper Collins, 2005), a sweet counting story based on a real news article about an lost shipment of rubber ducks at sea, Eric Carle imagines the adventures ten little rubber ducks can have lost at sea.
After sharing some bath time books, hop in the tub and make some suds! Baths can be made more fun with these Eric Carle Squirt Toys. Scrub up with a Very Hungry Caterpillar Bath Mitt and make some bubbles with the Sweet Dreams Bubble Bath. Click here for even more fun for the tub!
Do you have a favorite bath time book?
