Today Is Monday

by Eric Carle

Learn the days of the week with bestselling author/illustrator Eric Carle through song!

String beans, spaghetti, ZOOOOP, roast beef, fresh fish, chicken and ice cream are the delicious fare during the week in this popular children's song. Until Sunday. Then, all the world's children are invited to come together and share in the meal. Celebrated artist Eric Carle brings new energy to these much-loved verses as lively animals parade across the page, munching on favorite dishes, and introducing young readers to the names of the days of the week. Both art and song invite children to join in the procession and sing along.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Food, Animals, Fiction, Storytime, Music

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Eric Carle was an American author, designer and illustrator of children's books. His picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, first published in 1969, has been translated into more than 66 languages and sold more than 50 million copies. Carle's career as an illustrator and children's book author accelerated after he collaborated on Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. Carle illustrated more than 70 books, most of which he also wrote, and more than 145 million copies of his books have been sold around the world.
In 2003, the American Library Association awarded Carle the biennial Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal (now called the Children's Literature Legacy Award), a prize for writers or illustrators of children's books published in the U.S. who have made lasting contributions to the field. Carle was also a U.S. nominee for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2010.

Reviews

[Christian Schultheiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

A perfect book to continue reading through the long carle backlog with my son because today really is Monday. I was a little nervous at picking up and going through this one mostly because most people think it’s one of his worst but like with most art both simple and deep I think most people aren’t looking at it in the right light. It’s silly and captivating for kids even if it seems a bit nonsensical and once I learned it was based on an old Irish folk song I felt more connected to it and like I ever learned a thing or two which in the end of the day isn’t that what any good books goal should be.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't get this song. I think it's stupid. So does my husband. Whenever we hear it we look at each other like, "What the crap? How is this supposed to help us remember the days of the week?"

This book has illustrations to the dumb song. My kids liked it. Goes to show you how well I can trust their opinions. But that's also why I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1. Their opinion does matter (even if I don't agree sometimes).

But I won't be checking it out again.

[I.Shayan · Rating 2 out of 5]

این کتاب باید به بچه ها کمک کنه تا روزای هفته رو یاد بگیرن اونم با شعر و به کمک اسم غذا ها ولی برای منم که اسم روزای هفته رو بلد بودم(! 😂) هم چرت و پرت بود
چون من هیچ ارتباطی بین Tuesday و spaghetti نمیبینم که بخوام با کمک این اون یکی رو حفظ کنم به هرحال حتی برای آموزش زبانم توصیه نمیشه 😑

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was thinking this is the most nonsensical and stupid Eric Carle book yet when I finally reached the end and saw the music notation, suggesting it originated as a song. And indeed, it is a traditional folk song for some, but I am unfamiliar with it.

I watched a couple of videos of people singing it, and it sounds awful. It also seems to have a lot of variations in its lyrics from person to person.

I'm sure this would work better for readers who know and like the song.

[Shawn Deal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute little story that goes through the days of the week and comes with a song you can play if you can read music. Would work nice in a music class.

[Audreona Ferren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun picture book that goes through a sequence of food throughout the week. The animals go from eating string beans to ice cream! The book is full of bright and colorful animals that eat food throughout the week and then join all of the hungry children at the end of the week!

I loved that the book included such bright colors! The pictures will really stand out to young children and catch their attention. I also like that the author used the term "ZOOOOOP" as one of their meals. This is a term that the kids will find funny! I also really liked that the book had a fun song at the end to sing with your class.

This book could be used with small children when discussing the days of the week. Also, it could be used when working on sequencing. Students could determine the order of which the food was eaten.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids loved this book. Especially all the big, colorful animals eating different things. I don't think they really cared for the story per se, but they loved the pictures. LOVED.

[Halina Hetman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Пісенька, яка ніби-то повинна допомогти дітям краще запам'ятати дні тижня. Проте мені її було складно запам'ятати, занадто багато повторів. Однак я все одно продовжу досліджувати американську дитячу культуру, цікаво на чому вирісли люди, яких я знаю.

[Amanda Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I get this book stuck in my head. If I were a kindergarten teacher I would use it as my days of the week song.

[Melissa Perez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colorful illustrations! Song included!

[Blair · Rating 2 out of 5]

Immediately no. I’ve seen what I needed to see. Okay the illustrations were beautiful as Mr. Carle always does but the storyline 😩

[Pamela · Rating 1 out of 5]

None of us liked it. It seemed a little pointless. There are much better books that teach the days of the week, even Eric Carle books.

[senna ✧ · Rating 5 out of 5]

are you hungry childrennn come and dance with me

[Jacqui · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm learning Italian, so picture books are helping me on the way. This one was fairly easy to interpret, and google helped me when I got stuck. The pictures were delightful.

[Snova Pennerman]

I Like this book. It helps children to learn the "Days of the Week" in a fun way.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a strange book, but our girls liked the illustrations and the funny words like "ZOOOP." I'm not familiar with the song, so it made it hard to understand the point of the book until the end, when I saw the music and lyrics.

November 2023 update: I found this book around our house and read it again before I donated the book. At the back of the book, I was fascinated by this note about the illustrations:

"Eric Carle prepares his own colored tissue papers. Different textures are achieved by using various brushes to splash, spatter, and finger paint acrylic paints onto thin tissue papers. These colored tissue papers then become his palette. They are cut or torn into shapes as needed and are glued onto white illustration board. Some areas of his designs, however, are painted directly on the board before the bits of paper are applied to make the collage illustrations. The art is then scanned by laser and reproduced in full color." (p. 28)

[Hannah Melberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Today Is Monday was a very fun and silly book for young children. The author Eric Carle wants children to discover that reading can be fun and silly. This brightly illustrated book takes you through the days of the week and the food that each animal eats. Every page is a new animal like am elephant, snake and monkey. Each animal is eating something different from the rest. At the very end of the book the parrot says "all you hungry children come and eat up." And following that there’s a table full of all the different foods the animals collected and a bunch of hungry children feasting around the table. I think this would be a fun book to use in my future classroom during a read aloud.

[Matthew Meehan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was not my favorite by Eric Carle, as it doesn’t have much meaning, other than to let children know they must eat their food. I suppose it would be great for children who have a tough time eating what they are given, but other than that, this book’s audience is limited in my opinion. As for curricular connections, I don’t think there is any. There is a song at the back of the book, which is designed to sing the text in the book, but I think I would use it in my classroom. I also didn’t think that the illustrations were that great, as the connections between the foods and animals weren’t very relevant. Overall, not a choice to read in a classroom.

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good Eric Carle title that we have at Yongsan SLP. Not as simple as "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" or as beautiful as "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" but still worthwhile. I'm embarrassed to say I don't understand why the elephant says, "ZOOOOOOOP." Is that just the sound he makes when he slurps soup through his trunk?

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eric Carle is fantastic. But I do much prefer his animal illustrations to his illustrations of people, especially groups of people. Perhaps the style and medium simply lends itself more readily to an iconic single shape than complex scenes with people in them.

I love the cat with the roast beef.

Great cover.

[raccoon reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the first (and maybe only) picture books my son wants to read on a daily basis (all day if I'd let him.) He likes that there are cats throughout, though he sometimes things the fox is a cat. Oh well, he's only 14 months so we have time to work on that. I highly recommend it! He LOVES it. I look forward to exploring more of Eric Carle's wonderful world with him.

[Rebecca Dean · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book. The illustrations were nothing special and I think they could have used better colors. The only good thing about this book was readers could learn the days of the week but the book as a whole was bad.

[Jess Bergman · Rating 4 out of 5]

My husband and 2 year old daughter really like this book, but I find it frustrating to read to her. It flows in an odd way and what the heck is zoop? Lol. Of course like all Eric Carle books, the pictures are beautiful!

[Kristen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Eh. It wasn't the best.

[Nicki · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is pointless... And what is ZOOP?!?!

[Darlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? It's Eric Carle!

I picked this up at the library because I wanted art inspiration. I have always thought Mr. Carle's work visually exciting. From the Hungry Caterpillar and Angry Ladybug, I was in awe of the way Eric could make his own prints and cut them into amazing pictures. The other side of that is his books are so much fun to read aloud to kids.

Having had a few accidents where crepe paper got wet and left an interesting stain behind. (Cleaning said stain wasn't fun but I loved how the stain looked--though it didn't belong there.) I realized when I read the first Eric Carle books to my kids that this was crepe paper stains cut and reformed into fantastic illustrations. I have learned since that he uses tissue paper to make his own prints. Makes me want to play with this method.

This book had pictures that looked less like crepe or tissue paper but the visuals didn't disappoint. The story was rhythmically satisfying. And at the end of the book, the words are placed into a song. I think it would be a fun way to teach a little songwriting or other musical lessons. So with this book, we get so many things to learn.

I didn't miss how inclusive the author was to minorities and the handicapped. All done in a sneaky way that most children or adults might not notice. But on each reading of this book, the onion can be peeled back to show children new lessons.

[Mama Bibliosoph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today is Monday is fabulous for a child who needs practice sequencing the days of the week. The unmistakable illustrations of Eric Carle are delightful. The text is a very simple cumulative poem (think "The Twelve Days of Christmas"), meaning that each new stanza adds a line to build on what came before. You end up chaining the days of the week backwards because of this poetic structure, which I imagine could be confusing for some kids, but it hasn't been for mine.

The book introduces a series of animals and names what they eat for various days of the week. The foods and animals are all fairly basic, so they should be reinforcing for most kids who have basic food and animal names in their repertoires.

Happily, Eric Carle includes sheet music at the back of the book so that you can sing this book as a song. Anytime you can sing a book to a child, I think it's beneficial. For many kids, it certainly seems to increase participation and attention.

****
I review books for children from the perspective of a parent of kids with autism. The review above is from a longer blog post about great books for kids with autism that can be used to learn the days of the week: http://www.lineupthebooks.com/days-of...

[Angelissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok so today is really Tuesday but I was drawn into the book cover when I saw it and decided to give it a go. Apparently, there has been a whole generation of kids raised knowing this book and the accompanying song for it. I however was born a decade too early and had never heard of this book before.

Today is Monday is a basic picture book that is supposed to help children with the days of the week while also introducing some foods.

Ok, so I can see where kids might get confused by remembering the days of the week as in the book the days are repeated in backwards order. Which frankly it isn't bad for kids to know the days of the week both forwards and backwards. What if they are stopped one day by a cop who wants them to repeat the days of the week backwards as part of a sobriety test? 

In all seriousness this was a cute book. What I most liked it for were the illustrations. What looks simple at first glance is actually much more nuanced and beautiful when you look at it long enough. The cat drawing on the cover is amazing. I'm no art critic but I know what I like and I have to admit I really loved the art in this book. 

4 out of 5 stars. 

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knowing nothing about this book except it's by Eric Carle and it has a black cat on the cover, I picked it up at the library in hopes of some cat shenanigans in brilliant Carle form.

Wrong.

While the illustrations (which were originally tissue paper art) ARE noteworthy, the book itself is just meh for me. Each day, an animal eats something different, Monday a porcupine eats string beans, Tuesday, a snake eats spaghetti, etc. It doesn't rhyme. And honestly, the fox with a chicken in its mouth disturbed me a tad. I know, I know. It's nature. Circle of life. Blah, blah, blah. Don't we all have enough to make us flinch on a daily basis without having to think about a chicken suffering?

So I get to the end and think, well THAT was weird. Then I turn the page and see that this is some sort of song that little kids are going to be prompted to sing, and even though the sheet music was right there in front of me (and I can read sheet music), I REFUSE to get another kid's song stuck in my head. Damn you, Baby Shark.

Obviously not my favorite Eric Carle book.

[Khari · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think that was the most pointless book I've ever read.

I don't like Eric Carle. I don't like his art. I don't like his words. I just don't like him. I don't know why I keep reading these books except that they are in the library and I keep holding out hope that I will like one of them.

The art is horrendous. There is a cat holding an amorphous blob of brown, the only reason I know that it's 'roast beef' is because the words tell me so, the visual representation looks nothing like what it does in real life. It is unidentifiable.

Why is one of the foods an onomatopoeia rather than a word? Why break the pattern?

I don't get the point of this book. Honestly, what purpose does it serve? Why was it written? What is this random song at the end about the days of the week and random foods assigned to them? To teach the days of the week by association with said foods? I don't get it.

Story: ????
Art: Horrendous
Price: $6.99