Slinky Malinky

Have you heard of Slinky Malinky?

Zeke and I were hangin' at Kepler's bookstore last night, waiting for the train after enjoying a delicious dinner at Su Hong, when I ran across the cutest, most lyrical book series. The star is a cat called Slinky Malinky, and as the name suggests, the author likes to write in rhyme. I'd call the style high-brow Dr. Suess. I'm not sayin' that the Suess is low-brow (I would never diss the person who brought us the Sneetches, the Lorax, and the Grinch), I'm just saying that this author uses slightly more sophisticated language than the esteemed Doctor. Bigger words. Longer words. Words that a toddler may not be familiar with, but may be able to pick up in context. And words that are way more fun to read as a parent than much of what you run across in the world of childrens' books.

I wasn't sure if Zeke would like it, but in fact he loved it. Had me read it to him twice on the train and once again this morning.

So now I'm on the Slinky Malinky bandwagon and plan to start picking up the other books in the series. The author's name (if you're considering picking up some Slinky literature for yourself), is Lynley Dodd, and she's actually best known for the "Hairy Maclary" series (precursor to Slinky Malinky). She's sold more than 4 million books worldwide, so I'm guessing that you have in fact heard of her, but just in case you hadn't, I thought you should.