When I heard the kids laughing while my husband read them The Squeaky Door, I knew the book was a winner. I've read it to them a couple more times since then, and they're still chuckling. During our last reading, they both were reciting some of its lines, which I take as another sign of a star.
The Squeaky Door is based on the Puerto Rican folk song "La Cama." Author Margaret Read MacDonald tells the tale as she learned it from another storyteller, and here, it's a humorous bedtime story. Little Boy goes to Grandma's house to spend the night. He insists he won't be scared in the big brass bed all by himself, but when Grandma closes the door, the door's squeak does scare him, and he begins to cry. Grandma brings in the cat to help him feel unafraid, but when Grandma closes the squeaky door again, both Little Boy and the cat cry out. Grandma brings in the dog, the pig, and the horse before the bed breaks. Seeing that the situation won't do, Grandma puts the animals back in their own spaces, and brings Little Boy in to sleep with her and Grandpa. The next day, Grandma fixes the broken bed (I like that it's Grandma who does the fixing), and oils the squeaky door. That night, Little Boy and the cat snore the night away in the big brass bed.
My summary of The Squeaky Door doesn't do the book justice. MacDonald and illustrator Mary Newell DePalma have created a delightful book that I feel sure would tickle any young listener's funny bone.
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