Over and Over (ISBN 006443415X)

Terrific book!:
I had the same experience as one of the other reviewers. I found this book in the library after not seeing it for 25 years. I had just loved the pictures and the descriptions of warm doughnuts, jack-o-lanterns, chocolate eggs and other seasonal delights. You won't be able to choose which holiday is your favorite!

a fabulous book for preschoolers:
I got this book for my 3 year old daughter at a used book sale, and had just started looking for one for my niece. I'm so glad to see it's back in print. This gently told story satisfies both the need to know what is coming and the need for repetition for toddlers and preschoolers. My daughter is now four, and we read it at least once a week.

a delightful, comforting book:
This is a book that my children and I return to "over and over." The illustrations are warm and beautiful, and the evocation of a small child's world and sense of time is magical.

It's so hard to figure out the concept of time:
My two girls have both adored this book. It helped both of them while they were struggling with the concept of time (which holidays bookmark the different points of the year). The holidays are Christian (Christmas and Easter) so it's not the most multicultural but is still a very sweet book.

A Book to be Cherished, as it is read over and over.:
"Over and Over," by Charlotte Zolotow, is an exquisite picture book, first published in 1957, that can be read to a child of two or three or four or five, until the child can read it to herself. But the prose of the text is so well-written, almost poetic, that if Mommies- or Daddies-to-be have especially mellifluous voices, it can even be read to the child in utero. The holidays and seasons, as seen through the eyes of a very little girl, are half-remembered, but experienced anew well before she can tell time or even anticipate "What comes next?" as she asks her ever-attentive Mommy at the end of every special day and on the beginning of each new page. Although Ms. Zolotow and the late Margaret Wise Brown might have to duke it out as to which woman is the Queen of Children's Books (I think I'll have to declare it a draw), the undisputed Champion Illustrator has to be Garth Williams, who was best known for his drawings in Ms. Brown's iconic Golden Book "Mister Dog." In fact, the little boy whom Mr. Dog {Spoiler!} "adopts" is almost a twin to the little girl on the cover of "Over and Over," although inside the book, the girl has a slightly younger, softer look. For a book that was written more than 50 years ago, this classic of mid-20th Century children's literature is as fresh and relevant as ever. Conceived in a quieter, gentler world, where the main source of children's amusement and entertainment media consisted of gold-foil-spined-Little Golden Books by Simon & Schuster and a choice, on primitive black and white televison sets, between one of two puppet shows; where Halloween visitors demanding "Trick or Treat" were treated to warm doughnuts and fresh apples; and little girls still wore party dresses to parties; this is a perfect book for your children and grandchildren. One quibble I have, unfortunately, is that the book incorporates Easter and Christmas holidays, making the decision to give the book to a Jewish child rather tricky. But each family will have to decide that on their own. Even so, this is a lovely book, and besides having my own copy, I have given it away as gifts to some of my favorite little girls. I hope that they will cherish this book, listening to their parents or grandparents reading it aloud, although a parent or grandparent will have a hard time reading it aloud without tearing up as they come to the last page, as I do, every time I read this book, over and over.