On our last trip to the library we came across a cute new book that was just put on the shelf. Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready for School? By Barney Saltzberg turned out to be a cute and fun short story that we all enjoyed. Barney Saltzberg has published several books about Cornelius P. Mud and his many childhood adventures including one about welcoming home a new sibling. Each of the books is written for very young children. All of them, including Cornelius P. Mud Are You Ready for School, are short stories with very brilliant pictures all the way through.

Cornelius P. Mud needs to get up out of bed and get himself ready for school. He is a big enough boy now to do most of it on his own. He needs to get up, make his bed, get dressed, eat breakfast, get his backpack ready, pack his lunch and as always, get a kiss goodbye from his mommy, all before he has to catch his bus. All of this sounds pretty simple and routine, but for Cornelius P. Mud, his routine might look a little different than what everyone else does.

Cornelius P. Mud is no regular school pig and studies for his general education are quite different than anyone would expect. As you read along in his adventures of getting ready for school, you may think that he is just plain, out right silly and trying to get one in past mom. With breakfast consisting of popcorn and cotton candy to his packed lunch being a large tray of snow cones, we know that something just isn’t quite right with Cornelius P. Mud and what he thinks is the right things to grab to get ready for school in the morning. Can you guess where Cornelius P. Mud might go to school and what he is learning to be?