The True Story of The 3 Little Pigs!

This is the story told by the Wolf. He begins the story by saying that the original "Three Little Pigs" was incorrect. He states that the day the little pigs lost their homes, he was making a cake for his grandma. He didn't have sugar, so he went next door to borrow some from the first little pig. The first little pig wouldn't answer the door, and the Wolf was about to leave, when he sneezed. The sneeze caused the house of straw to fall down, and it killed the little pig. He couldn't leave the pig there, so he ate it. He still needed sugar, so he went to the next house, which belonged to the brother. The house was made out of sticks. He knocked on the door, and called to the pig. The pig told him, he was shaving and to go away. The wolf sneezed again, and once again the house fell down killing the pig. The wolf didn't want to leave the pig to spoil, so he ate that one too. He still needed sugar to bake his grandma a cake. He went to the next house, which also belonged to one of the brothers. He knocked at the door, but the pig told him to "Get out of here." He thought that was rude and was about to go home, when he sneezed again. This time the house did not fall down, then the little pig proceeded to insult the wolf's grandmother. The wolf gets mad, and tries to break down the door. The police then arrive with the news cameras. The wolf obviously looked guilty, and he was arrested. The rest is history.

I thought the story was really cute. I laughed outloud several times. The wolf making a cake for his grandma, and needing sugar. It reminds me of little red riding hood, but reversed. The illustrations really added to the story. Lane Smith made the wolf look innocent by adding glasses. He made the pigs look mean,, which adds to the Wolf's innocence.

Kelly Morrison

Science Verse by Jon Scieszka

When the teacher tells his class that they can see the poetry of science in everything, they are struck by a curse, and begin to see nothing but science verse that reminds you of well known poems. The poem the "Water Cycle" is to the tune of "It's Raining, It's Pouring." It is no longer Mary had a little lamb, but now Mary had a little worm. Jack is not jumping over the candlestick, but over the combustion reaction of O2 + heat+fuel to form C02 + light + heat + exhaust. And the poem "The Night Before Christmas" is now Time, Matter, and Space. In the end, it all turns out to be a dream.

I enjoyed this book more than Math Curse. I have always been a science person, so I think that might have been a factor. I thought the use of science terms in poetry was really creative. I plan to read this book to my class when I teach the water cycle, and matter.

Kelly Morrison

The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka

The Frog Prince becomes unhappy in his marriage. His princess nags him constantly, and he gets fed up. He decides to run away to find a witch to turn him back into a frog. Except, every witch he runs into, wants to either kill him or possibly eat him. He runs into the witch from Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Hansel and Gretal, and the Fairy Godmother from Cinderella. After the Fairy Godmother turns him into a carriage, he is ready to go back home. He realizes that he is happy being a prince.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a perfect story starter for my second graders. It was fun to watch the kids try to figure out which story the witches came from. I didn't think they would know about Hansel and Gretal, but they did. I thought the illustrations added to the story, and the ending was really funny.

Kelly Morrison

The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka

This is a spoof of traditional Fairy Tales. There is Little Red Running Shorts, instead of Little Red Riding Hood. She beats the wolf to her grandmothers house. The Little Red Hen is trying to tell her story throughout the entire book, but no one will listen. Chicken Licken instead of Chicken Little appears as one of the first stories. He is running trying to tell everyone the sky is falling. He meets pretty much meets everyone that he does in the original, but Foxy Loxy doesn't eat him in the end. Another story that is spoofed is Cinderella, but instead it is a combination of Cinderella and Rumplestilskin. She can't go to the ball until she says his name, but he doesn't offer her a dress or carriage. She ends up staying with her stepmother and step-sisters. The Ugly Duckling doesn't turn into a swan, but stays ugly. Then there is the Stinky Cheese Man, which is a spoof of the Gingerbread Man. He runs around yelling "You can't catch me, I am the Stinky Cheese Man." The difference is no one wants to eat him.

I thought parts of the book were funny, and others were just disturbing. The ugly duckling was really ugly. I guess I like the traditional fairy tales or something close to them. If they had been a sequeal like the Frog Prince Continued, I might have liked them better.

Kelly Morrison

Robot Zot! by Jon Scieszka

Robot Zot sets out to conquer is enemies, which is a blender and toaster. He defeats them when he hears another enemy, the T.V. It is playing a mouth wash commercial, and Robot Zot thinks it is making fun of him. He goes to defeat the T.V when he sees his queen, the telephone. He decides to risk it all, until the evil general appears (a dog). He must then fight off the dog to save his queen. He is about to defeat the dog, when the owner shows up and takes the dog away. Robot Zot and his queen are then safely in his ship....sort of. They actually get thrown away and end up in the dump. The dog gets blamed for Robot Zot's mess he leaves behind.

I loved this book. It made me laugh out loud. My 5 year old son stole the book from me because he really loved the pictures. I thought this book was really cute, and appropiate for adults and children, because some of the humor was more mature. The illustrations were very detailed, and actually told a different story than the words.

Kelly Morrison

Math Curse by Jon Scieszka

On Monday, Mrs. Fibonacci points out to the main character that everything can be seen as a math problem. The next day, her morning turns into a math problem where she has to figure out how much time it will take her to get dressed and make the bus. She can't eat her breakfast because she doesn't want to have to count the flakes in the bowl. Her class becomes a multiplication problem using arrays. A problem develops in P.E., English, Art, and just about every subject. It gets to the point where she thinks that she is "raving math lunatic." She even ends up going to bed without dinner because her dinner becomes a true/false test about the potatoes. She even dreams about math problems, until she is able to create a hole, and get out. She wakes up Wednesday morning, and it able to solve the problems.

I read this book to my class, and they loved it. They got really excited about the math problems, and didn't want to stop. I thought the illustrations were funny, and added to the book. I recommended this book to the other teachers.

Kelly Morrison