Fans of Mo Willems tongue-in-cheek humor will not be disappointed with his first attempt at a fairy tale send-up. Goldilocks and the Three Bears is fractured beyond belief by Willems as the bears are replaced by three dinosaurs, Mama, Papa and “some other dinosaur visiting from Norway.” The dinosaurs cook chocolate pudding and leave it out at varying temperatures to lure an unsuspecting “succulent child” which works like a charm on Goldilocks. She doesn’t care about the temperature of the food since chocolate pudding is good at any temperature. Zany chaos ensues as Goldilocks realizes that she has, in fact, fallen into a trap set by dinosaurs. She realizes this mostly because the dinosaurs are peering at her through the window of the house and gloating with the anticipation of eating a little girl. Goldilocks escapes through the back door as the dinosaurs rush through the front, and reminds the readers of the very important moral “if you ever find yourself in the wrong story, leave.”
Certainly a story for a child who is familiar with the classic Goldilocks and the Three Bears this might be even more enjoyable to readers of Mo Willems work, as readers can search for his other characters which sneak into the scenes of this story, including the very famous Pigeon.
Posted by: Kelly
Traction Man is here again!
After reading this book, I had to chuckle to think about my own (of course, very limited) time spent in the corner being punished. In Time Out for Monsters!, the little boy has been sent to the corner most certainly to think about what he has done wrong. Instead he starts deciding what he would do to “spruce up” the corner where he spends so much time. He thinks it could definitely use some color and a window, oh, and some flowers, and what about a dinosaur or two or three. Of course the corner needs a monster and a monster truck and what about a fire truck! (You can see where this is going.) How about a dump truck full of ice cream or maybe a dragon? When all of these wonderful ideas end up as pictures colored on the living room wall, you just know there will lots more opportunities to “think” and decorate in the corner. Very clever and fun!
It’s September, so everyone is back in school–and surrounded by a whole student body full of germs! The weather is getting colder, and it seems like there are sniffles and coughs everywhere. We’re all taught to wash our hands constantly, but somehow everyone always gets sick anyway.
This is not a new book but it is a cute summer read. Piggie gets her first ever party invitation and she asks Elephant to go with her. He is delighted and tells her that he knows about parties. He advises her that it might be a fancy party and that they should dress up for it. They do! But then he says that it might be a pool party. So they wear their pool accessories also. But wait, it might be a costume party too! Does Elephant know parties like he says he does? Look for this book in the Easy Fiction section under the author. It is a lot of fun. And if you like it, there are more Elephant and Piggie books.
Kevin Spencer is the most romantic 14-year- old guy you will ever meet – or so he would like to have us believe. He has a crush on Tina Zabinski who, in Kevin’s eyes, is the most beautiful girl in the world. He just knows he would make a perfect boyfriend. He realizes that he must swing into immediate action when the new boy in school, Cash, starts showing attention to Tina.
Madeline is in fifth grade and she lives with her parents on the island of Hornby in Canada. Her parents support the family by making sand-dollar art. Madeline is really the adult in the house. She takes care of everything–including her parents–and works as a waitress to make ends meet. When her parents are kidnapped by foxes, Madeline starts out to discover where they are and rescue them but her detective Uncle falls into a coma (something he has been looking forward to) and Madeline doesn’t know where to turn. Then she meets Mr. and Mrs. Rabbit who have decided that their newest passion is to be detectives and they take her case pro bono (that means for free).
What if your favorite cereal company had more in mind than just making sure you got a tasty breakfast?
Amanda, a sweet little girl, and Alligator, a sweet little stuffed animal, are best friends. Alligator always has a hard time waiting for Amanda when she is not home. These friends like to share surprises with each other such as books and tickles and a great big “boo”. One day Alligator discovers he has a price tag with a cost of only 7 cents and he is disappointed to know he was in the sale bin because no one seemed to want him. Amanda quickly reassures him, “No one wanted to buy you because they knew you were meant to be my best friend.”
If you were a naked mole rat why would you ever want to get dressed? I mean, based on the name of your species you should prefer to be naked shouldn’t you? Well, not all naked mole rats are alike and Wilbur really enjoys wearing clothes. He likes to dress fancy or funny or sometimes even in a cool outfit. All the other naked mole rats think he is a bit strange and when they sarcastically suggest that he open a clothing store, he thinks it’s a great idea! But the other naked mole rats aren’t happy with Wilbur because as they say “NAKED MOLE RATS DON”T WEAR CLOTHES!”
