Oh Lord, I Wish I was a Buzzard

It is a hot day for picking cotton in the fields, and every living creature seems to be better off than the sharecropper's hard-working daughter. The buzzard's flying around freely overhead, the snake is "curved up cold and cool," and the lucky dog pants in the shade. The doe-eyed little girl tells us, "I saw a dog lying under a bush, / going huh-huh-huh like dogs do. / I said, 'Oh Lord, I wish I was a dog.'" Her wistful, gently comical refrain "Oh Lord, I wish I was..." makes for a rhythmic, satisfying read-aloud. Polly Greenberg's lyrical text and Aliki's splendid, bold illustrations (reminiscent of the artful simplicity of Ezra Jack Keats's The Snowy Day) make Oh Lord, I Wish I Was a Buzzard, first published in 1968, absolutely unforgettable. Aliki's use of pattern and color is no less than spectacular, and the expressions on the girl's face are priceless. This universally appealing story will hit home with any child wishing he or she were anywhere but in his or her current predicament! The book concludes with notes for parents and teachers about children who work to help their families, child labor laws, and the oral narrative based on Mississippi sharecropper Gladys Henton that inspired this lovely story. (Preschool to age 5) --Karin Snelson