Books of the Week – November 13, 2010

Here are our favorites from the past week:

Tintin, age 7

Wayside School Is Falling Down
Author: Louis Sachar

Wayside School Is Falling Down is the sequel to Sideways Stories From Wayside School, which Tintin read not too long ago. It's just as funny and weird as the first book, with each chapter focusing on a different student from the 30th floor of the school (which has one classroom on each floor, and no 19th floor, although there are three chapter 19s). Tintin's favorite part is when the lunch lady's mysterious food makes one boy kiss the teacher, who is really into gravity and not afraid to throw a brand-new computer out the window to teach her kids about it.

The Battle of the Red Hot Pepper Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
Author/illustrator: David Lubar

Speaking of weird, The Battle of the Red Hot Pepper Weenies is that, plus, as the title says, warped and creepy. Lubar's fourth short-story collection is really for ages 10 and up, but we've been reading it together on and off and Tintin really likes it (and not just because of the word "Weenies" in the title, although that helps). I think we'll have to reread this one in another few years, though, because I think it will take Tintin that long to fully appreciate the sections at the end of the book, in which the author talks about how he got his ideas and provides discussion questions and activities to go along with his stories.

Johnny Boo, age 4

We Are in a Book!
Author/illustrator: Mo Willems

Finally, we got a copy of Mo Willems's newest Elephant & Piggie book, which we had on hold at the library ever since we first found out about it. Johnny Boo loves Gerald (the elephant) and Piggie so much that just yesterday he had a tantrum when I didn't buy him a four-book set of Elephant & Piggie books, even though he already owns two of the books in the set. As usual, he loved taking turns with me reading the two characters' parts (he especially enjoyed reading Gerald's lines this time). This would make a great bedtime book for kids (but maybe not for parents) because they have Elephant & Piggie's permission to read the book over and over again.

Meet Mr. and Mrs. Green
Author/illustrator: Keith Baker

Meet Mr. and Mrs. Green is the first in a series of four books about two fun-loving alligators. After finishing all of the George and Martha stories, I was excited to find a similar series for Johnny Boo. In this book, with stories about camping, pancakes and the county fair, emerging readers will find lots of examples of descriptive prose and learn lots of different shades of green (apple green, lime green, screaming green, olive green, mint green, shamrock green). Johnny Boo especially likes the pancake story. How can you not like an alligator who, after eating 100 pancakes, says, "I'll eat just one slice of chocolate cake now...And save the others for after lunch"?


We're linking this post up with Little Sprout Books, Kid Konnection at Booking Mama, and What My Child Is Reading at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.