Little Whistle by Cynthia Rylant

Rylant, Cynthia. Little Whistle. Illus. Tim Bowers. New York: Harcourt, 2001.

Little Whistle, a guinea pig, lives in a toy store. He sleeps all day, but at night he explores the store and makes many friends. When Little Whistle first came to the toy store, a kindly sailor loaned him his blue peacoat because it gets chilly in the store at night. Every night before Little Whistle sets off to visit his friends, he dons his peacoat. He cuts quite a dashing figure. He normally makes use of the train to go see all his friends. There's a teddy bear who loves hats, a rabbit who is always running, a china doll who sings, and a toy soldier who reads to the babies. Little Whistle and his friends have many adventures at night when the store is closed. Little Whistle has more fun in Little Whistle's Dinner Party, Little Whistle's Medicine, and Little Whistle's Christmas.

What I Thought: This is a delightful book. I love the idea of a toy store coming to life after closing time. The Little Whistle books have the potential to be classics. This book would be prefect to use for a story time that had toys as its theme.