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The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs |
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| Author: |
Jon Scieszka |
 Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0140544518 |
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| Availability: |
Usually ships within 24 hours. |
Book Review
"There has obviously been some kind of mistake," writes Alexander T. Wolf from the pig penitentiary where he's doing time for his alleged crimes of 10 years ago. Here is the "real" story of the three little pigs whose houses are huffed and puffed to smithereens... from the wolf's perspective. This poor, much maligned wolf has gotten a bad rap. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, with a sneezy cold, innocently trying to borrow a cup of sugar to make his granny a cake. Is it his fault those ham dinners--rather, pigs--build such flimsy homes? Sheesh. This 10th-anniversary edition of Jon Scieszka's New York Times Best Book of the Year, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!, includes a special, impassioned letter from prisoner A. Wolf himself and a snappy new jacket by Caldecott Honor artist Lane... |
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Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! |
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| Author: |
Dr Seuss |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0679890084 |
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| Availability: |
Usually ships within 24 hours. |
Book Review
With the release of Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! readers young and old are afforded a dazzling glimpse into the genius of Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel. The book is based on 14 rough drawings and verses Geisel's secretary gave to the author's editor, Janet Schulman, after his death in 1991. In these scribbled sketches and scratched-out lines, we witness the Seussian process in building a story. When brainstorming the name of what resulted in the Diffendoofer School, he jots down several possible names--"William Wilkins Woofer Junior," "Woodrow Watkins Woofer," "Zoofendorf Elementary," "J. Ebeneezer Bomberg Jr."--all of a slightly different cadence and rhythm, which he tests like a composer writing a new concerto. A small collection of Geisel's rough sketches would be plenty... |
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Pinocchio: The Boy |
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| Author: |
Lane Smith |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
064165409X |
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The Stinky Cheese Man & Other Fairly Stupid Tales |
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| Author: |
Jon Scieszka |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Bargain - Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
067084487X |
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| Availability: |
Usually ships within 24 hours. |
Book Review
If geese had graves, Mother Goose would be rolling in hers. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales retells--and wreaks havoc on--the allegories we all thought we knew by heart. In these irreverent variations on well-known themes, the ugly duckling grows up to be an ugly duck, and the princess who kisses the frog wins only a mouthful of amphibian slime. The Stinky Cheese Man deconstructs not only the tradition of the fairy tale but also the entire notion of a book. Our naughty narrator, Jack, makes a mockery of the title page, the table of contents, and even the endpaper by shuffling, scoffing, and generally paying no mind to structure. Characters slide in and out of tales; Cinderella rebuffs Rumpelstiltskin, and the Giant at the top of the beanstalk snacks on the Little Red Hen. There are no lessons to be... |
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John, Paul, George and Ben |
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| Author: |
Lane Smith |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0786848936 |
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From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 2-5–Describing each man in turn as either bold, noisy, honest, clever, or independent, and taking many liberties with the truth, Smith relates how the Founding Fathers of the title–and Jefferson, too–played a part in securing Americas freedom. Hancocks penchant for sprawling his name across the chalkboard as a child led to his boldly writing the biggest signature on the Declaration of Independence. Reveres loud voice selling underwear in his shop came in handy when he had to scream The Redcoats are coming! Washingtons honest admission to chopping down trees led to his serving as president in New York City where there were few forests. Well, you get the idea. The pen-and-ink cartoon illustrations, richly textured with various techniques, add to the fun. Page turns... |
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Seen Art |
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| Author: |
Jon Scieszka |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0670059862 |
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From School Library Journal
Grade 3 Up–The collection at the recently re-opened Museum of Modern Art in New York City forms the framework for this cheeky foray into contemporary art appreciation. While trying to find his friend in Manhattan, a boy asks a passerby, "Have you seen Art?" and sets off a chain of events that propels him through the museum on an unexpected journey of artistic discovery. Once inside, every variation of his "where is Art?" request compels helpful museum-goers to respond in a more esoteric fashion as each visitor briefly introduces the works of his or her favorite contemporary artist to the narrator. After a thorough, eye-opening tour, the boy finds himself back where he started. But now when he is asked, "Did you find art?" he resoundingly replies, "YES!" And, on the final page, he does; Art is waiting... |
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Math Curse |
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| Author: |
Jon Scieszka |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0670861944 |
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| Availability: |
Usually ships within 24 hours. |
Book Review
Did you ever wake up to one of those days where everything is a problem? You have 10 things to do, but only 30 minutes till the bus leaves. Is there enough time? You have 3 shirts and 2 pairs of pants -- can you make 1 good outfit? Don't worry -- it's just the Math Curse striking! An amusing book about dealing with numbers in everyday life.
From Publishers Weekly
Whew! This latest whimsical work from Scieszka and Smith (The True Story of the Three Little Pigs; The Stinky Cheese Man) is bound to stretch out the old thinking cap. The day after her teacher announces, "You know, you can think of almost everything as a math problem," the narrator is afflicted with a "math curse" that affects how she views every facet of her day ("Everything seems to be a problem"). A minimum of the... |
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James and the Giant Peach |
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| Author: |
Roald Dahl |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0140374248 |
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| Availability: |
Usually ships within 24 hours. |
Book Review
When poor James Henry Trotter loses his parents in a horrible rhinoceros accident, he is forced to live with his two wicked aunts, Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker. After three years he becomes "the saddest and loneliest boy you could find." Then one day, a wizened old man in a dark-green suit gives James a bag of magic crystals that promise to reverse his misery forever. When James accidentally spills the crystals on his aunts' withered peach tree, he sets the adventure in motion. From the old tree a single peach grows, and grows, and grows some more, until finally James climbs inside the giant fruit and rolls away from his despicable aunts to a whole new life. James befriends an assortment of hilarious characters, including Grasshopper, Earthworm, Miss Spider, and Centipede--each with his or her own song to sing. Roald Dahl's... |
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Squids Will Be Squids: Fresh Morals for Beastly Fables |
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| Author: |
Jon Scieszka |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
067088135X |
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Book Review
Every once in a while a book crosses our desks that makes us sit quietly delighted--except for a few squeaks of unmitigated joy--and this oversized, energized, stylized, highly prized book of fables is one of them. Jon Scieszka has a simple philosophy of the fable: "If you can't say something nice about someone, change the guy's name to Donkey or Squid." After all, the alleged Aesop did it. Squids Will Be Squids offers lessons such as "Everyone knows frogs can't skateboard, but it's kind of sad that they believe everything they see on TV." Sure, it's goofy, but it's also saying to kids, "Don't believe everything you see on TV." In "Duckbilled Platypus vs. Beefsnakstick," the bragging platypus and his beefy buddy teach us "Just because you have a lot of stuff, don't think you're so special." Of course, there is nothing... |
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Science Verse |
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| Author: |
Jon Scieszka |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0670910570 |
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| Availability: |
Usually ships within 24 hours. |
From School Library Journal
Grade 2-5–In Math Curse (Viking, 1995), a teacher's chance comment causes a girl to see every aspect of her life as a math problem. This time around, the fun starts when a boy hears this remark: "…if you listen closely enough, you can hear the poetry of science in everything." What follows is a series of poems that parody the styles of Joyce Kilmer, Edgar Allan Poe, Lewis Carroll, Robert Frost, and many others, as well as familiar songs and nursery rhymes. "Once in first grade I was napping/When I heard a scary yapping" begins a lament about studying dinosaurs year after year. In "Astronaut Stopping by a Planet on a Snowy Evening," the narrator bemoans the fact that he can't figure out what planet he's on because "In science class I was asleep…." Children need not be familiar with the... |
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Not-So-Jolly Roger, the Twt R/I |
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| Author: |
Jon Scieszka |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0142400459 |
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| Availability: |
Usually ships within 24 hours. |
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6-By Jon Scieszka. Joe, Fred and Sam rescue their own hides in this exciting tale.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
A second ``Time Warp Trio'' story (cf. Knights of the Kitchen Table, above), only slightly less clever than the first. The boys now find themselves on a desert island. Blackbeard comes to bury treasure--and his two helpers; he catches the boys and takes them to the pirate ship (Israel Hands is among those aboard). There's some suspense, more slapstick, and the singing of some fine chanteys before the boys are again saved by The Book. Smith's funny/wicked pirates make an excellent contribution. ``Historical afterword'' on Blackbeard; another (tongue firmly in cheek) on the boys. (Fiction. 8-12) -- Copyright... |
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Knights of the Kitchen Table (Time Warp Trio) |
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| Author: |
Jon Scieszka |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0142400432 |
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| Availability: |
Usually ships within 24 hours. |
From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5-- A book from his magician uncle transports Joe and his friends, Fred and Sam, back in time to swashbuckling adventures fraught with dangers at every turn. In the first story, quick thinking and daring-do save them from a fire-breathing dragon and a foul-smelling giant; in the second, an encounter with the dreaded Blackbeard almost causes their demise. Tongue-in-cheek humor, laced with understatement and word play, makes for laugh-out-loud reading, as verbal insults are hurled, and the boys outwit their foes. Villains and heroes clash, as do modern and archaic language and dress, causing misunderstandings and mayhem. Short, easy-to-read sentences and lots of zany dialogue perfectly suit the breathless pace. Smith brings new dimension to black-and-white drawings, as looming villains tower over the... |
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It's All Greek to Me (Time Warp Trio) R/I |
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| Author: |
Jon Scieszka |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0142401161 |
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| Availability: |
Usually ships within 24 hours. |
Book Review
Great Zeus! Ace author-illustrator team Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith (of Stinky Cheese Man fame) get together again for the eighth title in their popular Time Warp Trio series. Fred, Sam, and narrator Joe are innocently performing a school play about Mount Olympus when "The Book" (a magic tome so dangerous it had been locked away) whirls them into the Greek underworld. Armed with little but a fake thunderbolt and a spray-painted golden apple, they find themselves at the gates of Hades, confronting a slavering, three-headed, not at all mythical Cerberus. ("'Nice doggie, nice doggie, nice doggie,' said Sam.") After a lucky escape, they get to the "real" Olympus only to be embroiled in an increasingly dangerous series of disagreements with the cheeky, wise-cracking, bickering immortals. Will they ever find "The Book" on Olympus,... |
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