I smell a winner

Two of the books in heavy rotation at our house are Bill Martin's Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and the "rollicking companion" Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?. Ada really enjoys these books -both looking at the pictures and chewing the pages. After 2,000 or so readings of the books, Chris and I were wishing for a third in the series - something to mix it up a bit. Although we couldn't hope to compete with Martin's work (much less with Eric Carle's art), we did come up with an idea for a third book. Introducing (with apologies to Bill Martin):

Stink Bug, Stink Bug, What Do You Smell?


Stink Bug, Stink Bug,
What do you smell?
I smell a wet dog,
shaking near me.






Wet Dog, Wet Dog,
What do you smell?
I smell a dead rat,
lying near me.






Dead Rat, Dead Rat,
What do you smell?
I smell a musk ox,
shedding near me.





Musk Ox, Musk Ox,
What do you smell?
I smell a striped skunk
spraying near me.






Striped Skunk,
Striped Skunk,
What do you smell?
I smell a rotting fish,
decomposing near me.





Rotting Fish, Rotting Fish,
What do you smell?
I smell an guinea pig
scrabbling near me.




Guinea Pig, Guinea Pig
What do you smell?
I smell a Tom Cat,
marking near me.



Tom Cat, Tom Cat,
What do you smell?
I smell a Ferret,
scratching near me.





Ferret, Ferret,
What do you smell?
I smell children...


Crushing a stink bug,
hugging a wet dog,
poking a dead rat,
teasing a musk ox,
scaring a striped skunk,
grabbing a rotting fish,
fondling a guinea pig,
ruffling a tom cat,
bathing a ferret.

That's what I smell.