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BILLYWISE Minutes after Billywise, a young owl, creeps out of his egg a moth asks, “Who are you?” She then taunts him with “You’re not rough, you’re not tough, just a small ball of fluff . . . you wouldn’t make anyone afraid!” His mother calms his fears and tells him to eat and rest so that one day he will be able to glide through the midnight air. But he whispers, “I won’t dare!” A squirrel teases him and Billywise is sure he won’t ever fly. Mother keeps encouraging and when the nest fills up with two more babies, Billywise longs to fly. Suddenly he’s ready. The poetic language of the text and the soft, luminous illustrations give the story a magical quality. Self-confidence and a mother’s love are strong themes in this simple story. FIRST YEAR LETTERS The trials and tribulations as well as the fun and excitement of a new teacher’s first year are chronicled in the letters written to the teacher by her students after they set up a class post office. Readers learn about field trips, an escaped pet snake, fire alarms (complete with fire department) and visits from the principal all told with humor and quite a bit of exaggeration. The illustrations add many interesting details to the text of the letters. Most of the letters are typed, but the ones written by Josh are shown with his printing and typical errors. He makes the comment in his last letter that his writing has gotten much better. “Maybe it’s all the practice I’m getting.” This is an important concept for students to think about. First Year Letters makes letter writing sound like fun rather than a dreaded task. I STINK! The letters in the title seem to reverberate with imagined odors of as this boastful garbage truck extols his virtues, barks orders, and talks to his audience. “Know what I do at night while you’re asleep?” asks the brazen vehicle, “Eat your TRASH, that’s what.” After compacting a huge load of trash bags, he gives a double-page BURRRP! and then announces that he now has room for “alphabet soup” proceeding to list a gratifyingly gross ABC of items that he devours—from apple cores to dirty diapers to puppy poo and finally, ziti with zucchini. This book, with its brash language and bold illustrations,
is sure to delight the Tonka Toy crowd. Our hero is brimming with personality
as he asks, “What’s
that? You think I STINK? WHOOOOO-WHEE! Do I ever! No skunk ever stunk
THIS BAD! Go on, hold your nose, but think about it—WITHOUT ME?
You’re
on Mount Trash-o-rama, baby." This is a south-of-the-border version of the well-known story of The Little Red Hen. Iguana wants to prepare a fiesta to celebrate spring and asks for help from three of her friends. As she asks for help with each task, Conejo (rabbit) always gives the excuse of being too fast, Tortuga (turtle) gives the excuse of being too slow, while Culebra (snake) promises to help “Mañana, Iguana, when I grow my arms.” To their dismay, they are not invited to the party that Iguana finally prepares all by herself, but in the end they work out a clever way to redeem themselves and repair their friendship with Iguana. The text is filled with Spanish words and the book contains a glossary in the front. The delightful illustrations add to the humor of the story. THE PRINCESS AND THE PIZZA Princess Paulina, whose father has given up his throne to become a wood carver, decides that the only way to become a princess again is to vie for the hand of Prince Drupert, the Milquetoast son of the domineering Queen Zelda. She and eleven other princesses are given the old pea-in-the-mattress test (“That’s so once-upon-a-time,” Paulina scoffs) that five of them pass. After the try-on-the-glass-slipper test, only three remain. The final test involves cooking and, after the other princesses grab, Paulina finds herself left with only flour, yeast, water, tomatoes, cheese. She is about to give up when she is informed that the losers will be beheaded. Frantically she tosses things together and, you guessed it—a pizza. She wins the prize, but decides she would rather open a pizza parlor. The story has a modern feel to it. Paulina prefers sneakers to slippers, is an independent thinker, and speaks up when she thinks things aren’t fair. The text is filled with great dialogue, references to other fairy tales, and has a twist at the end. THREE SAMURAI CATS When the castle of a daimyo (powerful lord) is taken over by a enormous, ferocious rat who intimidates everyone, the daimyo seeks help from a shrine famous for training samurai cats. A magnificent cat is sent to subdue the rat, but he is quickly overwhelmed by the rodent’s martial-arts skills. The second warrior cat meet the same fate. Desperate, the daimyo requests the toughest cat of all and is dismayed when a scrawny, tattered, disreputable-looking ancient feline arrives. This samurai waits patiently until the rat’s greed works against him and he is defeated. His message is, “Draw strength from stillness. Learn to act without acting. And never underestimate a samurai cat.” The underlying message of brains over brawn and passive resistance is tempered by Kimmel’s humorous language and Gerstein’s lively, comical illustrations.
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