This was, hands down, one of my favorite books from childhood! I was obsessed with Smurfs. In fact, I think I still have my collection of figures somewhere in storage and should probably try to find them soon.

A day in the life of the Smurfs, from first thing in the morning until bedtime.

Another great book from my childhood rediscovered while organizing my bookshelves. ( )

"What Do Smurfs Do All Day?" is an easy read for children and rather enjoyable. This book has great illustrations, the language is catchy, and the characters are portrayed well through the illustrations of them. The first reason I think the book is a good option for children is because of the illustrations. This book would be good for an English Language Learner to read because the illustrations on each page show exactly what the words on the page are showing. A child can tell what is going on in the book without having to even read the book. For example, one of the pages says, "Then after school they sing, they toot. They clap their hands. They howl and hoot." The illustrations on this page show a few smurfs playing instruments, Papa smurf clapping, and another smurf chanting ("hooting"). There are also music notes and accent lines all over the page to show that the words are saying something about music and sound. The illustrations make this book easier to read. Next, I enjoyed the language. The book has a rhyme scheme, so it flows well and is fun to read. For example, on one of the pages it says, "They stitch and sew, they bake a cake. They write a poem. They hoe a rake." Children love when things rhyme. It makes the words more catchy and the book more interesting. Also, again, this page shows exactly what the words are saying through the illustrations. One smurf is baking, one is sewing, one is reading a poem, and one is hoeing a rake. So, if a child does not understand all of the words written in the book, they can use the illustrations as context clues while they are reading. Lastly, the characters are portrayed well through the illustrations. For example, although all of the smurfs look the same except for Papa smurf because he wears red pants and a read cap instead of white pants and a white cap, they all are illustrated doing the acts the book says they are doing. Also, one one page two smurfs are yelling and shouting like they are in an argument, and the way their faces are and how they have their fists in the air, shows how their character is at the moment, in an angry emotional state.

The big idea/message of this book is to show children a routine and different activities in which they may want to participate. The book shows the routine the smurfs have every day, and it even includes school since children go to school, so they can see that the smurfs do too. The book shows the smurfs playing instruments, painting, swimming, going to school, hoeing the rake, eating, sleeping, etc. which are all things a child would be interested in doing. The idea of this book is to open the minds of children and have them be more creative and want to do more things. ( )

This book is too cute. The smurfs are funny little blue creatures, but they have day to day schedules just like real people. The book walks the children through their days…showering and grooming, breakfast, school, play, work, etc. It encourages them to have fun, but to also do their work—school, job, yard work, cleaning, etc. The smurfs live very healthy lives—they know how and when to have their fun, they eat healthy, they exercise, they socialize, and they are very hard workers! This picture book has very detailed and entertaining illustrations to lure the children’s minds into wanting to do the daily activities that most often they don’t. I think after reading this book, I would ask my students to illustrate what their daily schedules look like possibly with a timeline or something of that nature. I would then encourage them to make another illustration of all of the things they should be doing—for themselves and to help others around them. ( )

A book about the busy day in the life of a smurf. Smurfs like to work, play, eat, and have fun! ( )

by (Random House, Inc) , h