Student Post #1 09

There is a Bird on your Head

By: Mo Willems

There Is a Bird on Your Head is one of several books found in Mo Willems' "elephant and piggie book" collection. Whether you are two or ninety-two this amusing story will put a smile on any child's face. Piggie and Gerald are best friends. Though they are very different they stick together through the thick and thin. When Gerald discovers a bird on his head he thinks that nothing could be worse. However, Gerald quickly learns that there is something much worse. By the end Gerald needs the help of his best friend to get three baby chicks, two birds, and a nest off his head.

From the very first time that I read this book I loved it. It is one that can be read over and over and never seem to get old. I think that Piggy and Gerald are a dynamic duo always ready to entertain their readers with their interaction. A couple of my favorite aspects of this book are the development of the story and the illustrations. From each turn of the page something exciting happens. First its one bird, then its two, then a nest, and then three chicks! Mo also does a great job with his illustrations in order to capture exactly how Piggie and Gerald are feelings throughout the book. LG

Best Friends
By Steven Kellogg

Best Friends, written and illustrated by Steven Kellogg is a cute story about two best friends, Kathy and Louise, who are inseparable. They shared a love for horses, chocolate milk, and imaginary play inside their fantasy world. However, when summer came, Louise went on vacation with her aunt and uncle, and Kathy was left all alone. When she hears that her best friend has made new friends on vacation, Kathy is hurt and becomes angry. She decides Louise was her worst friend and sets out to find a new friend; but when Louise returns from vacation, their friendship is rekindled.

Steven Kellogg does an excellent job illustrating this story using many creative details and bright colors. I really enjoyed this book and the detailed illustrations. I also really liked how Kathy’s emotions were expressed through the pictures because it brought the character closer to the reader. This book would be a great free read for elementary students who are beginning to form those close friendships. SL

Jimmy: The Pickpocket of the Palace
By Donna Jo Napoli
Illustrated by Judith Byron Schachner

This fantasy novel with black and white illustrations is based on the fairy tale of the frog prince.

A young frog named Timmy is distraught, because the hag has returned to the pond and has threatened to dry up the pond. The prince who appeared at the pond the same day that Timmy’s dad left has a magic ring that will fix everything, so Timmy goes to the palace to find it. When he is chased by a cat that leaves a cut in his leg, the princess, who is desperate to have a pet, kisses his wound.

Timmy turns into a clumsy boy that has a bad lisp and tries to leap instead of walk. Not only is Timmy (known as Jimmy to the humans) having trouble walking, but he is worried about his little sister who has been trapped by the princess, is trying to find his dad and to get the ring from the prince. Timmy gets caught stealing the ring and is taken to prison. Eventually, Timmy discovers that the prince was his father who had once been turned into a frog and then back into the prince. He is able to return to the pond, turn back into a frog and live happily with his family.

This was a very fun book that could easily tie in to a variety of classroom themes. It challenges the reader to look at life from a different perspective. While it is very light-hearted, it has a number of interesting facts about frogs in it as well. EM

Walk Two Moons
Sharon Creech

In Walk Two Moons Salamaca, a thirteen-year-old girl, takes a journey with her grandparents across the country to bring her mother back. During her trip she tells the complex story of her friend, Phoebe, and inadvertently, her own. Phoebe’s mother unexpectedly leaves and Phoebe suspects that she was kidnapped by the “lunatic”, a young man who kept coming by the house. As Phoebe struggles to reconcile her mother’s unexpected abandonment, Sal relives many of her not-to-distant emotions her mother’s desertion. To rationalize her emotions, Phoebe fantasizes that her mother is kidnapped or that the neighbor, Mrs. Cadaver killed her. Unlike Sal’s mother, Phoebe’s mother returns to the family after a couple of days with the lunatic in tow. It turns out that the “lunatic” is her son, whom she had given up at birth. As Sal tells Phoebe’s story, she begins to understand her own emotions surrounding her mother.

During the trip, Sal is able to bond with her grandparents and follow the journey her mother made to Idaho. The experience gives her strength to go on when her grandmother suddenly has a stroke only miles from the place where her mother is. Sal drives herself along the high mountain road until she is stopped by the police and taken to her mother’s grave.

I applaud Sharon Creech for writing this 1995 Newbery Award Winner. I would consider using this book in a middle school or junior high students, because it discusses difficult topics such as death, divorce, and parental dating. Even though it contains mature themes, I found that as I reflected on the fictitious story of Salamaca, I sorted through some of the emotions surrounding death in my own life. I strongly encourage you to read this book, because you won't regret it. RK

Keep Reading,

Dr. Quinn