It Looked Like Spilt Milk is an American children's picture book, written and illustrated by Charles Green Shaw. Originally published in 1947, the illustrations are a series of changing white shapes against a blue background. The reader is asked to guess what the shape is or whether it is just "spilt milk". (The first page has the narration read, "Sometimes it looked like spilt milk. But it wasn't spilt milk". Before the shape changes, what it really looked like was milk that had been spilled out of a glass and ended up all over the table.) First the shape looked like spilt milk, then a rabbit, a bluebird, a pig, a sheep, a birthday cake, a tree, an ice cream cone, a flower, an angel, a squirrel, a mitten, and finally a great horned owl. But it wasn't any of those 13 things. (That is, as the first 13 pages read, "Sometimes it looked like 'item name'. But it wasn't 'item name'".) The silhouette shape makes the reader know it is a secret item until the last page. At the end of the book, the last page repeats the phrase as the first page's line (as the narration reads, "Sometimes it looked like spilt milk. But it wasn't spilt milk".). It wasn't really spilt milk but only a cloud in the sky. (That is, as the phrase --on the last page-- reads, "It was just a cloud in the sky".) Then the silhouette shape becomes a real cloud in the daytime sky revealing that it was just a cloud. Then the changing white silhouette turns into a real cloud and the cloud goes up into the blue sky (which is what the white "item" really becomes). The last page becomes the blue sky and the white silhouette shape which turned into a cloud. On the last page, the silhouette shape is now a real item. That is, a cloud. Then the book ends.
A Scholastic Corporation edition was released in 1989. A board book version was published in 1993. An audio cassette and compact disc version by Live Oak Media was published in 1988 and has the narration of Peter Fernandez with the music heard at the beginning and end and read without music.
Receptionedit
Kirkus Reviews wrote "Children love to play this game from earliest identification, and will like a book that plays it with them. Blue and white silhouettes make a cute idea book."[1]
Referencesedit
^"It Looked Like Spilt Milk". www.kirkusreviews.com. Kirkus Media LLC. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
Bader, Barbara, (1976) American Picturebooks from Noah's Ark to the Beast Within, Macmillan p. 527. ISBN0-02-708080-3
Fredericks, Anthony D. (1993) Involving Parents Through Children's Literature: Preschool-Kindergarten, Libraries Unlimited, p. 27. ISBN1-56308-022-2
Silvey, Anita (1995) Children's Books and Their Creators, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, p. 597. ISBN0-395-65380-0
looked, like, spilt, milk, this, article, includes, list, general, references, lacks, sufficient, corresponding, inline, citations, please, help, improve, this, article, introducing, more, precise, citations, july, 2015, learn, when, remove, this, message, ame. This article includes a list of general references but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations July 2015 Learn how and when to remove this message It Looked Like Spilt Milk is an American children s picture book written and illustrated by Charles Green Shaw Originally published in 1947 the illustrations are a series of changing white shapes against a blue background The reader is asked to guess what the shape is or whether it is just spilt milk The first page has the narration read Sometimes it looked like spilt milk But it wasn t spilt milk Before the shape changes what it really looked like was milk that had been spilled out of a glass and ended up all over the table First the shape looked like spilt milk then a rabbit a bluebird a pig a sheep a birthday cake a tree an ice cream cone a flower an angel a squirrel a mitten and finally a great horned owl But it wasn t any of those 13 things That is as the first 13 pages read Sometimes it looked like item name But it wasn t item name The silhouette shape makes the reader know it is a secret item until the last page At the end of the book the last page repeats the phrase as the first page s line as the narration reads Sometimes it looked like spilt milk But it wasn t spilt milk It wasn t really spilt milk but only a cloud in the sky That is as the phrase on the last page reads It was just a cloud in the sky Then the silhouette shape becomes a real cloud in the daytime sky revealing that it was just a cloud Then the changing white silhouette turns into a real cloud and the cloud goes up into the blue sky which is what the white item really becomes The last page becomes the blue sky and the white silhouette shape which turned into a cloud On the last page the silhouette shape is now a real item That is a cloud Then the book ends First edition publ Harper amp Row A Scholastic Corporation edition was released in 1989 A board book version was published in 1993 An audio cassette and compact disc version by Live Oak Media was published in 1988 and has the narration of Peter Fernandez with the music heard at the beginning and end and read without music Reception editKirkus Reviews wrote Children love to play this game from earliest identification and will like a book that plays it with them Blue and white silhouettes make a cute idea book 1 References edit It Looked Like Spilt Milk www kirkusreviews com Kirkus Media LLC Retrieved 17 July 2015 Bader Barbara 1976 American Picturebooks from Noah s Ark to the Beast Within Macmillan p 527 ISBN 0 02 708080 3 Fredericks Anthony D 1993 Involving Parents Through Children s Literature Preschool Kindergarten Libraries Unlimited p 27 ISBN 1 56308 022 2 Silvey Anita 1995 Children s Books and Their Creators Houghton Mifflin Harcourt p 597 ISBN 0 395 65380 0 nbsp Children s literature portal nbsp This article about a picture book is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title It Looked Like Spilt Milk amp oldid 1211666328, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
