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Make a book for Grandpa
Help your child make a book
about Grandpa (or another older friend or relative). When it’s finished it will make a great gift to give to Grandpa.
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Pivotal
Kids Book
Stinky
(Toon
Books)
 |
by Eleanor Davis
|
One
of the honorees for the 2009 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award,
recognizing the most distinguished books for beginning
readers.
Early reader. 4-8
Deep in the swamp dwells Stinky, a purple, spotted monster with
horns and a hedgehog do. Stinky lives up to his name, and
the swamp is the perfect place for him: I love the mushy,
mucky mud. / I love the slimy slugs. / And I love the stinky
smell! / (SNIFF) AHHHH... But on the other side of the swamp
is the town, which is full of children, who like to take
baths! When a little boy builds a treehouse in Stinky s
swamp, he tries everything he can think of to drive the
disgustingly clean creature out until he discovers that this
particular child is definitely a kindred spirit.
Davis also doesn't write down to her audience, automatically
spelling everything out. I appreciated that if you read
between the lines there s a story about Nick s family and
recent changes in it that you can pick up on, by way of
example.
The winning story carries itself on spunk and a controlled
vocabulary that combines judiciously chosen sight words
(onion, gross) with easily sounded-out words (slimy slugs!)
that will have emerging readers in stitches Davis’ colorful
art makes Stinky and his swamp delightfully attractive to
young readers.
It’s impressive that Davis can draw characters like Wartbelly the
toad in a way that makes her clearly smelly and slimy, but
at the same time actually cute. (The little hearts around
her head when Nick first meets her had me laughing for a
couple of minutes.) The little details that she adds into
each page couldn’t help but make me fall in love with her
art, from the animals cheering on the sidelines as Stinky
comes out of the pit, to the sleeping possums snoring away
while Stinky stomps by. Each page has a nice little touch
just waiting to be discovered, all drawn in Davis s soft,
warm style.
Read an
interview with Eleanor Davis and fellow
TOON Books creators Dean Haspiel and Jay
Lynch
here.
Lesson plans for TOON Books,
including
Stinky,
are available
here.
If
you want to own this book, please
support my website by buying it
using the Amazon link, or you can
join the Pivotal Gold book club and
ask for this book for free....
More books in the Toon Books
series
|
Indian in the Cupboard Study
Guide
 Omri receives several conventional gifts for his ninth birthday,
including a
longed-for skateboard. However, two gifts you would expect to be of
least
interest to a young boy prove to be magical and exciting. Suitable for
primary aged students this study guide has learning outcomes in key
learning
areas such as English, Art and Society and Environment.
|
Pivotal
Gold members click here to
get your copy for free