A Sick Day for Amos McGee

Written by Philip C. Stead
Illustrated by Erin E. Stead

Amos McGee, a friendly zookeeper, always made time to visit his good friends: the elephant, the tortoise, the penguin, the rhinoceros, and the owl.
But one day – “Ah-choo!” – he woke up with the sniffles and sneezes. Though he didn’t make it into the zoo that day, he did receive some unexpected guests…

The summary is from the cover, published by Roaring Brook Press.

Amos is the most wonderful friend that any human or animal could ask for. So when he stays home sick, the animals do the only thing that makes sense…show him how much he means to all of them. This book is a wonderful story of friendship and is the perfect story to huddle up and read together.

Discussion/Project Ideas:

1. What makes a good friend? Make a list of characteristics that you think make a good friend and if you have time, try to list a friend for each of the characteristics. Try to use the name of each person in your group at least once.

2. Amos has a lot of responsibilities to take care of the animals at the zoo. What do you think happens when a zoo employee is home sick for the day? Write out a set of interview questions for a worker at the zoo to see what his/her job consists of and what happens when they are home sick. If you can, contact someone to actually interview with the help of your teacher or parent.

3. What kinds of things make you feel better when you are sick? What kind of things do you do for the people in your family when they are sick? Not all people like the same care when they don’t feel well. Make a T-chart, Venn Diagram, or any other visual display and compare/contrast what you like done for you and what you do for others when there is a sick day involved.

Leave a Reply