Archive for Humor

Cookie, the Walker

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Written and Illustrated by Chris Monroe

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I admit it. I’m a sucker for subtle, dry humor, and I’m a big fan of Chris Monroe. In the tradition of Sneaky Sheep, the new book will have second graders as well as grown-ups giggling and wanting more.

Cookie is an ordinary dog, except she walks on two legs. The advantages are many. She can look out the window without getting on the furniture. She can turn on the television. She can reach the icemaker. Her talent draws more attention than Cookie and her buddy, Kevin, can handle. She is hired first by Beatrix Havior of B. Havior’s Behavior Barn to star in a dog show. Cookie performs many tricks and even walks on a flaming board across a kiddie pool filled with snapping turtles. She works for snacks. Next, Pierre La Toot of Cirque De La Toot shoves Kevin aside to hire Cookie for circus peanuts (snacks). Television producer Stu Spoon comes next with a fanny pack, mini fridge, and more snacks. Among other things, she dances with penguins and interviews ghosts. Cookie mostly ends up overworked and over-snacked. So she starts walking like a regular dog again, unless there’s no one around and she sees bacon or an extra-fluffy towel.

The silliness of both the text and illustrations make this a winner, drawing in many readers. But the themes of using your talents and the value of individuality provide many opportunities for reading activities. Parents and teachers may want to use this as a read aloud for younger children, so they can discuss those themes.

  • cookie the walkerTitle: Cookie, The Walker
  • Author/Illustrator: Chris Monroe
  • Publisher: Carolrhoda Books/Lerner Publisher Group, 2013
  • Reviewer: Sue Poduska
  • Format: Hardcover, 32 pages
  • ISBN: 978-0-7613-5617-2
  • Genre: Picture book, humor
  • Lexile: 320L
Posted in 2013, Humor, Picture book tagged with , ,

Martha Speaks: Summer Fun

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Written by Susan Meddaugh

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What’s more fun than a talking dog? Martha, the talking dog, certainly has an amusing view of the world. She also has a sneaky way of teaching a lot, given that she doesn’t quite understand the human world. Based on the PBS series, this is a collection of three stories, each by a different author. First, one of Martha’s human friends mistakenly uses a self-tanning lotion instead of her usual sunscreen. When she uses it to excess, her skin turns embarrassingly orange. To make her feel better, Martha talks all the other kids into adopting the same orange glow. And the friend feels better. Next, Martha learns of her lupine heritage and decides to become a pack animal. Her canine friends opt out when they find that comfort comes first: food, bed, and television. Martha returns to her pack, the other members of which are human. Last, Martha does her best to be endearing to her human grandmother, only to take several missteps. Martha can’t quite figure out an appropriate birthday gift. But Grandma recognizes her efforts and rewards her. Not only are the stories fun and informative, the illustrations are winners too. The reader can feel like part of the action.

Not surprisingly, Martha Speaks books have tons of added value for second grade readers. In addition to the popular television show, Martha Speaks, the show has an excellent website, www.pbskids.org/martha, which is loaded with information for parents and teachers and reading activities. Martha also has her own website, www.marthathetalkingdog.com; and the publisher’s website (www.hmhbooks.com) is useful to help increase reading skills and comprehension.

  • Martha SpeaksTITLE: Martha Speaks: Summer Fun 
  • AUTHORS: Susan Meddaugh
  • PUBLISHER: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • REVIEWER: Sue Poduska
  • EDITION: 2013
  • ISBN: 978-0-547-97025-7
  • GENRE: Paperback, Animals, Humor
  • LEXILE: 480
Posted in 2013, Animals, Fiction, Humor tagged with , ,

Sherlock Bones and the Missing Cheese

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Written by Susan Stevens Crummel

Ilustrated by Dorothy Donohue

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A smelly, scrumptious cheese is missing!  This is no ordinary cheese.  It is made from the milk of a cantankerous cow, a Cowabunga.  It is delicious, delectable, but really smelly.  So when it disappears from its rock, Sherlock Bones is called to find that missing cheese.  He uses all five senses to gather clues.  Some witnesses saw strange things, others heard strange things.  He notes them all which lead him to the beanstalk.  He concludes that they have a giant problem.  Sure enough, a giant got hungry for pizza and thought the smelly cheese would be perfect for his concoction.  When Sherlock demands that the giant return the cheese, he puts all the cheese in his mouth.  Poor giant.  Now he has a giant stomach ache.  When he grabs Sherlock, they both fall out of beanstalk land.   The people of the dell are now able to trade the giant’s services for the cure to the Cowabunga Cheese Disease.

For all those amateur detectives out there, Sherlock’s clues are shown in detail and can be adapted into a literacy activity.  Sherlock’s problem solving method is a good model for young readers.  There is also the music for “The Farmer in the Dell” which the author claims was the inspiration for this story.  It is a very loose connection, but the song could be part of the story time that uses this book as a read aloud.  The intricate cut-paper illustrations are unique, giving a sense of depth as well as adding a humorous element of their own.  The illustrator shows her method on her website: (http://dorothydonohue.com/).

  • Sherlock BonesTITLE: Sherlock Bones and the Missing Cheese
  • AUTHOR: Susan Stevens Crummel
  • ILLUSTRATOR: Dorothy Donohue
  • PUBLISHER: Amazon Children’s Publishing
  • REVIEWER: Risa Brown
  • EDITION: Hardcover, 32 p.
  • ISBN: 978-0-7614-6186-9
  • GENRE: Rhyming stories, Picture books
Posted in 2012, Humor, Picture book, Rhyming tagged with

Happy Birdday, Tacky!

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Written by Helen Lester

Illustrated by Lynn Munsinger

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The team of author Lester and illustrator Munsinger delight children and adults with another installment of Tacky the Penguin stories. In this episode, several of Tacky’s penguin friends attempt to plan a perfect birdday party for Tacky, and they want it to be a surprise.

Goodly, Lovely, Angel, Neatly, and Perfect bake a cake, secure the fishy ice cream, write and illustrate cards, prepare a special birdday card, purchase the extravagant dinner jacket, and line up some penguin entertainment. But, as often happens to an event when Tacky is involved, things don’t necessarily go as originally planned. Tacky wants to dine on the jacket and not in it. He wears the fishy ice cream cone on his head like a hat. He extinguishes the birdday candles with a hair dryer; and then tosses the cake like a football. And after those fiascos, Twinklewebs the Dance Queen, begins to perform her special ballet dance. But her swan song takes a mis-flight, and Twinklewebs is injured, or so the drama-queen thinks. In Tacky fashion, the guest of honor distracts the crowd with his Flapwaddle Dance, and suddenly Twinklewebs recovers and joins him in the dance, along with Tacky’s penguin friends.

Lester and Munsinger use the Tacky series to celebrate individuality and differences. The books often mention that Tacky is an “odd bird,” but yet he never fails to delight his friends in the story and charm readers, both children and adults. The stories of Tacky encourage readers to appreciate their uniqueness, as well as the differences of others around them.

Second grade readers will like the made-up words, like “flapwaddle,” “birdday,” “tippywebs,” and “Iglooslavia.” Be sure to check the children’s reading comprehension of the story with the created words used in the story and with the words used by the penguin character, Twinklewebs, spoken in an “Iglooslavian” accent.

After reading the story aloud to the class, pick a day to celebrate the individuals in your classroom. Play a game in which the students take turns sharing aloud a fact about themselves that they believe is unique, a characteristic that no one else in the room shares. Like, one child might say, “I was born in California.” If someone else in the room shares that same fact, then he or she joins the speaker at the front of the room, and the speaker must make another statement of uniqueness. The idea is for each child to share something about himself or herself that is completely individual to that child and will single he or she out as a special, unique individual. (And, it’s a fun way to get to know your students better!)

  • Happy Birthday TackyTITLE: Happy Birdday, Tacky!
  • AUTHOR: Helen Lester
  • ILLUSTRATOR: Lynn Munsinger
  • PUBLISHER: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
  • REVIEWER: Julie Lavender
  • EDITION: Hard Cover, 32 p.
  • ISBN: 978-0-547-91228-8
  • GENRE: Humor

 

 

 

Posted in 2013, Fiction, Humor tagged with ,

Spider Stampede (S.W.I.T.C.H.)

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Written by: Ali Sparkes

Illustrated by: Ross Collins

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Josh and Danny are twins – but they’re far from identical. Josh loves creepy-crawlies (as Danny would call them). Danny could “win the Under Nine Dancing Competition” for his bust-out moves when a spider lands on his shorts. That’s all about to change when the boys follow their dog Piddles under a hole in the fence into their mysterious neighbour’s back yard and they end up in Petty Potts’s lab.

Accidentally covered in S.W.I.T.C.H. (Serum Which Initiates Total Cellular Hijack) set out for Piddles, the boys escape and run back home. They climb into the bathtub to wash off the yellow goop clinging to their legs, but they’re too late. The bathtub grows huge as they shrink to spider status. The adventure grows even larger when their sister Jenny flushes them down the drain and a pair of surprisingly wise and friendly rats come to the rescue.

Spider Stampede, the first of six S.W.I.T.C.H. titles (originally published by Oxford University Press in 2011), is a captivating blend of science and fiction. The author effortlessly weaves scientific detail into the story. Simple black-and-white line illustrations add humor and interest.

The first in a series, this chapter book introduces the cast of characters and sets up the motivation for the seemingly mad scientist that is Petty Potts. At the end of the story – once the boys are safely transformed back into eight-year-old humans – Petty Potts’s diary entry fills in a few more storyline details. Readers will quickly realize the story is far from finished! Second grade readers will be hooked.  There’s also a two-page glossary of scientific terms used throughout the book and recommended reading pages including both books and websites to expand reading skills.

Spider Stampede is fun, fascinating, and full of fantastic science facts. It’s a clever second grade level chapter book that promises to be a thoroughly entertaining series!

  • Spider StampedeTitle: Spider Stampede
  • Author: Ali Sparkes
  • Illustrator: Ross Collins
  • Publisher: Darby Creek
  • Reviewer: Megan Kopp
  • Hardcover: 104  Pages
  • ISBN: 978-0-7613-9199-9
  • Genre: Science Fiction

 

 

Posted in 2012, Humor, Science fiction tagged with ,

Claude in the City

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Written and Illustrated by Alex T. Smith

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Claude and his best friend, Sir Bobblysock, a very bobbly sock indeed, set out on an adventure and make a splash in the city. Claude, a dog with a long face and a beret, lives with Mr. and Mrs. Shinyshoes, who leave Claude and Bobblysock alone every day. After the humans take off for work, Claude blocks traffic because he doesn’t understand  horn blowing. He examines groups of pigeons. He finds a shop with many kinds and colors of berets and buys every possible combination. He goes to an art gallery and foils an art thief. He is the hero of the day and is recognized by the mayor, though Mr. and Mrs. Shinyshoes don’t understand how. Next, Claude takes a trip to the hospital in an effort to find out what’s wrong with Sir Bobblysock. At the hospital, Claude is recruited to help a group of wrestlers suffering from a mysterious illness. Of course, all is well at the end.

Imaginative and exciting illustrations are important parts of this story. As a dog, Claude doesn’t talk much, but he has many expressions. The themes of pure silliness, humor, and striking out on your own fit in well with the second grade reading level. There is enough repetition to aid in comprehension, but not enough to get tedious. For more fun and reading activities, check out Smith’s blog at http://alextsmith.blogspot.com/, which includes his sketchbook, or Claude and Bobblysock’s own blog at http://claudebooks.blogspot.com/. Apparently, Claude’s fans like to dress like Claude and have their own Sir Bobblysock.

  • Claude in the CityTitle: Claude in the City
  • Author and Illustrator: Alex T. Smith
  • Publisher: Peachtree Publishers
  • Reviewer: Sue Poduska
  • Hard cover: 94 pages
  • ISBN: 978-1-56145-697-0
  • Genre: Middle grade, Humor

 

Posted in 2013, Humor tagged with , ,
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