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

Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson

Ashley is an average high school senior. She has a boyfriend that no one thinks is good for her, but she loves. She works a part time job that she hates. She lives in an overcrowded house with her parents, and brothers. Her mother is pregnant again with like her tenth child. Her parents are quirky like any other parents. Ashley's besfriend is her polar opposite. Natalia is her next door neighbor, and can't wait for the prom. Ashley could care less about the prom, but Natalia is the prom committee chair. Her world gets turned upside down when the prom committees advisor runs off with all the money. Her bestfriend needs help, and Ashley reluctanely steps in to help. Ashley helps her friend organize a low budget prom, and in the process begins to realize that her boyfriend may not be the one for her, or maybe he is.

I really enjoyed this book because it shows a family that truly cares for one another. They may not have very much money, but they will make it. There is that crazy grandmother who is secretly a genius. Natalia's grandmother reminded me of my Aunt Friday.

Kelly Morrison

Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

Unlike the most of Laurie Halse Anderson's main characters, the main character of Twisted is a boy. Tyler is the main character in this story. He was a typical high school student before he decides to pull a prank, and gets caught by the police. He gets stuck doing community service and has to work with the custodians all summer doing landscaping, and other maintenance work. He is now in shape, and a little big mysterious. He has a secret crush on Bethany, who is his father's boss's daughter. She becomes interested in him, and even tries to go all the way with him at a party. He stops her, and walks away. The only problem is, someone comes along later and rapes her. Tyler gets blamed for it. His father doesn't even believe him. In fact, his father seems to hate him, and everone around him. Nobody believes Tyler, except for his bestfriend. Tyler steals his father's gun, with the idea of killing himself. Except his sister messes it up, when she reads his suicide letter. He is made fun of, alienated, and beat up by Chip, Bethany's brother. The whole time, Tyler is in danger of breaking his parole. In the end, the real suspect is caught, and Tyler is finally able to connect with his father.

I really enjoyed this book. It shows how things can totally change in one instant. Tyler was accused of something he didn't do just because he had a record. I think this happens more than we know. I also think that Tyler find s friend in the custodians/maintenance workers. The whole experience was a wake up call for his father, which ends up healing their relationship.

Kelly Morrison

Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson

Kate Malone is the main character in this story. She is a straight A student, whose has always dreamed of going to MIT. Her father is a minister, who forgets that he needs to be a Dad to Kate and her brother. Kate's mother died years ago, and now Kate takes care of her brother. Kate's dad worries too much about the church, and not enough about his own kids. Kate is in the middle of her senior year and awaiting her letter from MIT. As other students begin to get their acceptance letters, it begins to look like Kate is not going to get in. Everyone tells her she can always go to one of her back-up schools, except Kate didn't apply to any other school. In the middle of this, Kate's next door neighbor's house burns down. Her next door neighbor is Teri Litch. Teri is a rough, mean girl. Kate's father offers to let Teri and her little "brother" stay with them while their house is rebuilt. Kate ends up having to share her room with Teri and her little brother, who are less than appreciative. The church begins to rebuilt their house, and Teri chips in to help. Everything seems to be going well, until Teri's little brother wanders upstairs when no one is looking. He gets electrocuted and dies. Everyone then finds out that the little boy was Teri's son, and not her brother. Teri goes crazy, and begins tearing the house apart. Kate can only watch her and wait. Eventually Kate gets through to Teri, and they form a bond. Kate agrees to stay and help Teri rebuilt the house again. She won't be going to college right away.

I thought this book was sad. Kate's dad never learned to pay attention to her, and she lost her boyfriend. Teri's mother didn't seem to care about her or her son. Teri's son dies, and then she rips down the house that everyone just rebuilt. The only happy thing that happened was when Kate and Teri became friends. I wish there had been a comic relief somewhere in the story.

Kelly Morrison

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Wintergirls is about two girls, Lia and Cassie, who are struggling with eating disorders. The story starts out, and Cassie has died due to bulemia. Lia has been in and out of a hospital due to her anorexia. Lia is living with her dad, step-mom, and half sister. She is sick again, but has gotten so good at hiding her disorder, that her step-mom doesn't see it.

Lia had not spoken to Cassie in monthes, but recieves over 3o calls from her in one day. Lia did not pick up the calls, and then she finds out later that Cassie was found dead in a motel. Cassie died of a ruptured stomach. Lia begins to slip back into her anorexia problems, and loses more and more weight. She also begins to hallucinate, and believes that the ghost of Cassie is following her around. She also recieves a call from a guy at the motel, who has a message for her from Cassie. Lia attaches herself to the guy, because her mother, father, and step-mother are clueless at what to do for her. She seems to be able to hide her illness from her parents again, until she gets so bad that she almost dies from anorexia/cutting herself. Her little sister finds her, and she is banished from her father's house. She is forced to speak to her mother, who finally starts to pay attention to her. She also is told that she will not see her little sister until she is well. Lia has another low moment when she decides to run away, and ends up back at the motel. She ends up being left by the guy, and almost dies from starvation. She is found at the last possible moment, and survives.

I thought this book was sad. I thought she was going to die several times during the story. When her voices kept telling her to lose more weight, it became very clear how those with anorexia must feel. She couldn't stop it. I have always been told that anorexia is an illness, and I believe it is. Laurie really captured the thoughts that must go through an anorexic teenagers mind.

Kelly Morrison