Come to the Castle

Written by Linda Ashman
Illustrated by S. D. Schindler
Published in 2009

Why we chose this book:
The beautiful cover art is what caught my eye to start, and we love castles and knights, so we had to bring it home from the library.

Mom's Review

The inhabitants of an English medieval castle are introduced through rhyme.

Where to start? The art looks like an illuminated manuscript. The castle inhabitants, from the lord to the cook to the herald to the knight all have individual personalities and come to life. The rhymes are spot on and the vocabulary is elevated, but still accessible to a three year old. Oh, and there is a guy who shovels poop! What more could you want? T and I read this several times and then acted out the story with his castle inhabitants again and again and again. And we built a castle from blocks like the one featured in Come to the Castle. Poop chute and all. (To clarify, the septic system in the castle is basically a hole above a chute, which empties into a pit. Once a heap is formed, a "gong farmer" has to remove it.)

Awesome, awesome book!

Son's Review
(age 3)
After reading:
Son: I liked where they made a mess!

Mom: Was there anything you didn't like?

Son: I didn't like that one spit. . .One acted with poop!

Mom: Which job would you want?

Son: I liked the man who had to take away the poop!

Mom: Who was your favorite character?

Son: The knight! I wondered why he has those little bumps on his helmet.

Mom: Did you learn anything new about a castle party?

Son: I learned that you should dance when it is party time. I liked the musicians.

Mom: Who might like this book?

Son: Children who like castles!

Mom: Do you have anything else to say about this book?

Son: It's good.

Mom: And what is the best part?

Son: Where one has to clean the poop away.