I Yam a Donkey! by Cece Bell (review)

Donkey introduces himself on the opening page with the less than articulate title quote, and an actual Yam, looking aggrieved and pedantic with arched eyebrows and pince-nez, immediately corrects him: “The proper way to say that is ‘I am a donkey.’” This elicits the ever more grammatically egregious response, “You is a donkey, too? You is a funny-looking donkey.” And now Donkey and Yam are off to the races with an absurd dialogue rife with misunderstanding in the best who’s-on-first tradition. A chorus of supportive vegetables chimes in to help Yam drive the lesson home to obtuse Donkey, but, in a deliciously vicious twist that will warm the heart of any child corrected by persnickety adults, Donkey eats the whole crew for lunch. Bell wraps up with “Moral: If you is going to be eaten, GOOD GRAMMAR DON’T MATTER.” Embedded in this frolic is a curricular-friendly lesson in pronoun/verb agreement, but don’t count on it to raise any standardized test scores. This is a hilarious battle of wits between cleverly anthropomorphized cartoon figures, and by the second reading (the request for which you will surely anticipate) listeners may even suspect that dim Donkey is purposely leading on his adversaries. Grab a teaching partner or fellow librarian for a crowd-pleasing dual read, followed by crudités for snacktime.