One Monday Morning

by Uri Shulevitz

A boy's imagination brings new friends into his life in Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator and author Uri Shulevitz's picture book One Monday Morning .

"One Monday morning the king, the queen, and the little prince came to visit me. But I wasn't home . . . "

On a dreary, rainy day, a boy playing with a deck of cards looks out his New York City tenement window and begins a story. A royal family pays the boy a visit, only to find him not at home. Every day, the royals return with a grander, more colorful entourage in their wake, but still the boy isn't there to greet them.

When they finally do gather in the tiny space of the boy's room, the sun appears to shine down upon the new fellowship.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Royalty, Mathematics, Classics

48 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1999

About the author

Uri Shulevitz was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. He won the 1969 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship, an Eastern European fairy tale retold by Arthur Ransome in 1916.

Reviews

[Linda Lipko · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the boy who lives in a tenement looks out the window on a rainy day, he begins a story about a king, a queen and a little price who visited him, but he was not home. Then, as the story progresses, more days and more characters are added on to the ensemble until on Sunday, when the cast of characters is complete, the little boy is home to greet his company. And, the reader discovers that the little boy's imagination allowed him to invent his company while he was playing with a deck of cards until the sun came out.

There is nothing overwhelming about this book, but I very much like the simplicity of it all. Uri Shulevitz is an amazing Caldecott Medal award winner for his book The Foll of the World and the Flying Ship His illustrations are crisp and clear, whimsical and lovely.

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

A royal family repeatedly attempts to visit a young boy, each time adding a member to their entourage. A bit too repetitive for my taste, though youngsters may enjoy it more. With fine illustrations by the author.

[Lorellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charmingly illustrated introduction to the days of the week. Perhaps a little old for Tot, but we will save it for later.

[Chui Ying · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cumulative story that introduces the concept of the days of the week. Using muted colours in the illustrations, the story conveys the dreariness of a rainy day and how the boy imaginatively occupies his time indoors. A great book to use in an extension in dramatic re-enactment, using characters from the royal family, which children love and know well.

[Rowan Stewart]

One Monday morning... I picked up this book off of the library shelf and absolutely fell in love with it. This Uri Shulevitz picture book tells us the story of a young boy who is visited by a royal family - but each time they visit, he's out doing some chore or another. Every day of the week, a new person from the castle joins the crowd filing into the young boy's apartment.

The story itself is written with a very simple rhythm, and is very easy to follow as the majority of the words are repeated over and over. The images flow with the words, as each one shows the royalty listed and the little boy out and about. No matter how many times the two missed each other, the little prince suggested they return the following day. Finally, on the 7th day, the two groups collided, and the prince shares his message with the little boy...

The images of the story are drawn very simply and contain very little color with the exception of the royalty. There are small white borders around the images, which contain the majority of the text. On some pages, however, the words are on walls as the list of royalty grows longer and longer.

I really enjoyed reading this story and I'm very glad I picked it up off the library shelf that Monday morning. I can't wait to share this with my future class!

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book are just wonderful and it's worth it just for that.

The story itself is so very simple that it practically tells itself. It concerns an imaginative boy barely missing meetings with a disappointed young prince and his increasingly large entourage. In fact, the story is so simple and predictable, that I could probably recite it from memory even though its been more than a year since I read it. But there is a certain power in that, especially for children of a simple age who will love the repitition precisely for its predictablity.

As I said, the illustrations are incredible, and the incongruity of the gayly dressed royal entourage looking like a pack of living playing cards, ascending and descending the stairs of the dark, drab and confined tenement apartment I think will charm and amuse readers of all ages. Apparantly the New Times choose this as a notable children's book of the year at one point, but its sadly obscure now.

[Danielle Winter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read outloud with any age! Children love to guess what might happen next. Will the narrator meet the royal family? Like many of Shulevitz's stories, this story reminds us we have to be open to using our imagination.

[Cosette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magical - I'll have to look up the French song

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A perfectly fine, simple picture book about a little boy who keeps getting visited by an ever-increasing royal retinue--right when he's out. The language is simple and there's a lot of repetition and visual clues to what is happening that would make it a great book for emerging readers. I enjoyed the depiction of city life as the boy on his outings rides the subway, visits a laundromat, and stares longingly at the sweets in the corner candy store. There's some visual cleverness at the end that suggests that the boy might have been imagining the events of the book from items he has in his room.

This book was featured on Reading Rainbow in the You Don't Have to Take my Word for It segment of episode 5, which first aired on July 4th,1983. This review is part of an ongoing project where I read and review every book mentioned in Reading Rainbow

[Caroline Herfindahl]

One Monday morning some visitors go to see a boy but he isn’t home. Each day they return with another member in their party until finally at the end of the week, the boy is home and the book ends with a visual surprise. The illustrations add to the telling of the story.

[The Brothers · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started with just a king, a queen, and a prince dropping by on a Monday morning to visit a little boy. He wasn't home. Every day after, their entourage grows and grows and he still is not home for a visit.

Interesting illustrations.

[Nicholas Driscoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another very cute picture book, this time about a royal procession coming each day to visit the main character and finding him out for the day. The procession keeps getting bigger and in the end we get hints at who they really are. It’s cute.

[Day · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book has wonderful illustrations! The story flowed well and had a pattern to it.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book. Not really bad and my six-year-old liked it. But nothing stood out for me in this title. Not good. Not bad.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A whimsical, silly book.

[Kest Schwartzman · Rating 2 out of 5]

this is the exact kind of repetitive droning that I hate, but am under the impression that small children like.

[Macy Davis]

Read for CHL 403 - Picturebook, Fall 2020

[Ammie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book drove J nuts! "What in the world??? Make it end!" 😅

[Kati Zuber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I expected another dawn/ dusk/ snow book, but this book is different. I like how Shulevitz takes mundane, everyday experiences and makes them into magical tales through his illustrations.

[Sarah Threlkeld · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really like the juxtaposition of royalty with gritty NYC. Sweet celebration of a child’s imagination.

[evelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

este cuento era mi favorito de pequeña, 5 estrellitas pq mi yo pequeña se lo daría 🤍🤍

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple but interesting picture book about a royal family returning each day to call on a boy who is not at home until they've formed an entire entourage to greet him!

[Brianna Justice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for learning days of the week

[Sisch Nymph · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations are wonderful, I love how it emphasized saturated colors as imaginative and out of place, reveals so much of the boy's imagination. Additionally the gloomy reality his circumstance is, manifesting from the characters what he needs.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book and the illustrations. However, it didn't have that spark as "The Moon in my Room" book did.

[Kelsey Vayens · Rating 4 out of 5]

This picture book is a simple children's book that tells the story of a young boy never being home to meet up with his friend, a young prince, and his rather large entourage. Each day, the prince and one additional member of his entourage try to stop by the young boy's home only to find that the young boy is never home. This continues until many of the royal entourage are traveling to the young boy's house to see him. This book, although very simple in plot, does a great job in teaching about the concept of repetition. For everyday that the entourage comes to visit the boy, the story repeats itself. Younger aged children will be able to grasp the concept in this sense and will even be inspired to incorporate repetition in their own writing.

[Randie D. Camp, M.S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uri Shulevitz, inspired by a traditional French song, tells the story of boy who is never home. Normally that would not be a problem but in this case, the King, the Queen, the little prince, the knight, the royal guard and others are attempting to visit him. They come to the boy's apartment every day of the week each time another person tags along. Finally, on Sunday, the boy is home...playing with a deck of cards.

Uri Shulevitz's illustrations are wonderful and the boy's imagination is splendid. Fun story with plenty of repetition for younger readers.

[T Crockett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember learning the French song this is based on back in school, which was an extra little perk. The illustrations of NYC create such atmosphere and a wonderful backdrop to the brightly colored visitors. I love how the visitors take up more and more of the page, as if they're growing. And then the end has a sweet little surprise.

As an adult I really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to sharing it with kids.

[Nonakasparov · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book for its illustrations of NYC before the chains and the malling of SoHo (it's like Woody Allen's New York pictured in a kid's book); and for its depiction of a child's great imagination, which keeps him entertained with just what's on hand while it's raining outside. It's also good for learning the days of the week and the repetition helps with spelling.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this picture book in preparation for a 10-day course in craft of children's literature, with a focus on writing with pictures. Fabulous illustations, with just a whisper of words to set the young reader off on a picture book voyage.

I wanted to save it for Monday morning, but I couldn't stop myself from reading it Sunday afternoon.