Bertrand. The Empanadas that Abuela Made

The Empanadas that Abuela Made is a children's book by Diane Gonzales Bertrand, with art by Alex Pardo DeLange, published in 2003. It is available at the Internet Archive, and it is a bilingual book: Las empanadas que hacía la abuela. 

Here is a YouTube read-along (the reading is just in English), and here is a Spanish YouTube reading:

The story starts with the empanadas, and then the ingredients: the pumpkin, the dough that folds over the pumpkin, the rolling pin that rolls out the dough, etc. It is told cumulatively with short lines in both English and Spanish (no rhyming in either language). Then the grandchildren who push the rolling pin, and the grandfather who hugs them, the dog who follows grandfather, the cousins who chase the dog, then the family who comes with the cousins, and finally the grandmother who feeds everybody with empanadas, and milk to drink, with happy faces all around. It ends with "This is Abuela who dreams of happy faces..."

Plus there is a recipe in the back for pumpkin empanadas. Yum! The recipe is given in both English and Spanish.

This is a beautiful book, and a perfect model for a simple chain story based on food and family. 

Baldwin. This is the Sea that Feeds Us

This is the Sea that Feeds Us is a children's book by Robert Baldwin, with art by Don Dyen, published in 1998. It is available at the Internet Archive.

Here is a YouTube read-along:

The story starts with the sea that feeds us, then the sun, then plankton making food from the light of the sun. The style is rhyming couplets, all long lines after we move on from the sun:

A nice feature of the book are informational notes next to the illustrations, set off from the story by using a different typeface, as you can see above.

Then comes a girl, then some wind which thrilled the girl, with her mother teaching her to fish on the shore, using a shrimp as bait, and the story becomes not so much a chain tale, as a story in verse, as you can see here:

Then at the very end, it returns to the food chain theme:

There is then some information at the end about sea ecology and how it provides food.

It's a nice book, but the chain tale dimension of it is not very strong; hence the 2-star rating.

Robart. The Cake that Mack Ate

The Cake that Mack Ate is a children's book by Rose Robart, with art by Maryann Kovalski, published in 1991. It is available at the Internet Archive.

This works backward from the cake to the egg to the chicken to the corn, to the seed, the farmer, the farmer's wife, and candles, very short lines (told cumulatively), but no rhyme:

...and then we learn: this is Mack!

And he was not supposed to eat that cake, ha ha.

It's not much of a story, but it is very simple and sweet, and I think young readers would probably enjoy it! It could also be an inspiration for a chain tale about some other pet misadventure. Everybody who has pets has pet misadventures like the cake that Mack ate.

Ernst. This is the Van that Dad Cleaned

This is the Van that Dad Cleaned is a children's book by Lisa Ernst, with art by the author (presumably; the artist is uncredited), published in 2005. It is available at the Internet Archive.

Here is a YouTube read-along:

The story starts with a clean van, and then a girl and a boy, with a toy; there's also a baby all forlorn (an echo of the classic Jack), and then ketchup that is airborne (repeated rhyme, also like in the classic Jack), with more rhymes in -orn (just like the classic Jack)... the result is a mess, but this time it is the kids who clean up the van!

This is a fun book, and the way it plays with the format features of the classic Jack is very charming!

Downey. This is the Earth that God Made

This is the Earth that God Made is a children's book by Lynn Downey, with art by Benrei Huang, published in 2000. It is available at the Internet Archive.

The story starts with dirt, then mountains (told in cumulative style). Then fountains that flow from the mountains (rhyming starts!), the sea, and a willow tree, with honeybees, and the -ee rhymes repeat, just like in the traditional Jack. It very nicely ends with a prayer for everything in the world:

After the prayer, there are some pages for "Family Fun in the Earth that God Made," plus a page with facts about the natural world.

The only reason I gave this one just *** stars is because it felt like there could be so much more done with the rhyme, more of the world that could be included in the chain, and so in the prayer of thanks at the end.

Schaefer. This Is the Sunflower

This Is the Sunflower is a children's book by Lola Schaefer, with art by Donald Crews, published in 2000. It is available at the Internet Archive.

Here is a YouTube read-along:

The story is told with long rhyming lines from the start:

And look at all the birds who come to eat the seeds! There's even a chart on the last page of the book that identifies all the birds.

But some seeds fall to the ground and are warmed by the sun:

Which leads to more sunflowers: it's a circular tale... that multiplies!

I really like this book: there is not a story exactly, but there is a chain that comes round in a circle, and the artwork is lovely. Plus all those birds!

Rosenberg. This is the Wind

This is the Wind is a children's book by Liz Rosenberg, with art by Renée Reichert, published in 2008. It is available at the Internet Archive.

Here is how the story starts: This is the wind that blew on the farm on the night you were born; as you can see, a woman is rocking her baby.

It then moves into rhyming couplets:

This is the mouse
that crawled in the house
to stay nice and warm
from the wind that blew on the farm
on the night you were born.

The story then shifts to a man following the sound of the mouse (but we don't realize at first that this is a flashback to that night); the wife then wants to eat cake with him, then the man and the wife go down an icy road to the white place (a hospital), where the baby is born.

It's honestly a bit random, with some rather surreal pictures; the cake is a recurring motif!

I like circular stories, but this one is a bit hard to follow; I wonder what a young reader would make of it. It was not my favorite story; it is a nice idea for an experiment, but I'm not sure it succeeded.

Dunbar. This Is the Star

This Is the Star is a children's book by Joyce Dunbar, with art by Gary Blythe, published in 1996. It is available at the Internet Archive.

Here is a YouTube read-along:

This is another faith-based "Jack" built, starting with the Nativity star and ending with the Christ child. It is told cumulatively with rhyming couplets in long lines throughout:

This is the Christ child born to be king
While hosts of heavenly angels sing.
These are the wise men come from afar
Who also saw and followed the star,
Bearing the gold and fragrant myrrh
And frankincense, the gifts that were
Placed by the manger warm with hay
Wherein a newborn baby lay.
This is the ox and this the ass
Who saw these wonders come to pass
At the darkened inn where the only room
Was a stable out in the lamplit gloom
For the donkey and his precious load
Who trudged the long and weary road,
Looked on by the angel shining bright
Who came to the shepherds watching by night
That saw the star in the sky.

The art in the book emphasizes the illumination provided by the star:

This is a nice example of a rhyming-couplet "Jack" story, with a very nice book design. The story accumulates line by line, but when the child is born, that line gets its own page:

Wedeven. The Christmas Crib that Jack Built

The Christmas Crib that Jack Built is a children's book by Carol Wedeven, with art by Nell Fisher, published in 1989. It is available at the Internet Archive.

This book follows the traditional Jack format, starting with short lines, and then shifting into long lines with a repeating rhyme; in this story, the rhyme is -ing, and the story ends with the three kings arriving with their gifts:

These are the kings with three gifts to bring,
That followed the star with rays for a ring,
That shone on the choir God sent to sing,
That scared the lad with flute and sling,
That watched the flock mid thistles that cling,
That covered the hill
That tired the beast
That carried the maid
That bore the babe
That lay in the crib that Zack built.

It's a nice example of a classic Jack format adapted to a different narrative, and thus a good addition to the faith-based books.

Bertrand. The Park Our Town Built

The Park Our Town Built is a children's book by Diane Bertrand, with art by Tanya Bauerle, published in 2011. It is available at the Internet Archive.

There is a YouTube read-along, but the creator has disabled embedding, so you will have to click and go to YouTube if you want to watch the video. 

The story starts with the man who gave the land to the town for the park:

The chain then links the man, the mayor, the children, the people, the tools, the swings, the slide, the bridge, the fountain, the benches, the garden, the families, the party, and the fireworks to finish things up. As you can see, the story is done in short lines of verse but without rhyme:

There's nothing special about the story, but it's a great example of how to construct a very simple chain, easy for young readers to understand and follow.

Bower. The Hurry-up Exit From Egypt

The Hurry-up Exit From Egypt is a children's book by Gary Bower, with art by Barbara Chotiner, published in 2017. It is available at the Internet Archive.

Here is a YouTube read-along:

This is another one of Bower's "Faith that God Built" book series; earlier I posted about A Patch on the Peak of Ararat. The subject this time is Moses and the exodus from Egypt; specifically, the parting of the waters:

The story is told cumulatively in rhyming couplets; here is the cumulative conclusion, ending with the Bible itself:

This is the Book that tells of the day
God stopped their pursuers and swept them away,
after the chariots, hot on their heels,
with hobbly, wobbly, wiggly wheels,
pursuing their pathway, an eye-popping sight,
with water heaped high on the left and the right.
After old Moses had lifted his rod
and parted the waves by the power of God.
who blew back the sea that made them all, cry,
"We're trapped here like rats and were all gonna die!"
While fleeing King Pharaoh's frightening forces
— drivers on chariots, riders on horses —
chasing The Israelites thrown in a fit,
panicking, scampering lickety-split
on scurrying feet
that were frantic and fleet
on the hurry-up exit from Egypt.

Kenney. The Stable that Bob Built

The Stable that Bob Built is a children's book by Cindy Kenney, with art by Greg Hardin and Robert Vann, published in 2004. It is available at the Internet Archive.

This is a Veggie Tales book! More about Veggie Tales at Wikipedia. The book opens with a Bible quote... and with Larry the Cucumber... as a cow!

The whole book is populated with Veggie Tale characters; here is how the chain builds up in rhyming couplets, starting with Bob and Larry (the cow), but ending with the birth of Jesus:

This is the baby, Savior born,
on that very first Christmas morn,
the reason the star had shown the way
for three wise men, who walked all day,
to find the man, who God designed,
to love the woman, so young and kind,
that the angel told the shepherd to find.
She showed the way to the shepherd with pie,
who cared for his lambs, all cuddly and spry,
that wandered off and followed the guy,
who didn't know how to milk the cow
that mooed in the stable that Bob built.

It is told in cumulative style; here's how things stand when the angel appears:

Then the story ends with an extra rhyme in honor of the veggies:

These are the Veggies who played the parts
in the story that lives in all of our hearts,
to share the news of the Savior born
on that very first Christmas morn,
all in the ... Stable that Bob built.