One Monday Morning

This imaginative counting book follows a young city dweller whose humble apartment receives increasingly elaborate royal visitors throughout the week. Uri Shulevitz masterfully builds anticipation as each day brings new members of the royal court, from the initial king and queen to a growing procession of knights, soldiers, and courtiers. The simple, repetitive text creates a comforting rhythm perfect for early readers while introducing days of the week and sequential numbers. Children will delight in spotting the subtle urban details that contrast with the fantastical royal parade marching through ordinary city streets.

Shulevitz's distinctive cross-hatched illustrations give this classic storybook a timeless quality, with intricate black-and-white cityscapes gradually filling with colorful royal figures. The clever twist—that the child narrator is never home for these visits—adds wonderful humor and invites young readers to imagine what might happen if they finally met. This picture book particularly shines for children who enjoy spotting visual details in illustrations and following patterns in storytelling. The combination of mathematical concepts, days of the week sequencing, and playful royal fantasy creates a rich reading experience that grows more rewarding with each revisit.