Module 10 babymouse Skater Girl

Title of Book:Babymouse Skater Girl; Author: Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm; ISBN: 9780375839894; Published by: Random House Children's Books

Summary:
As Babymouse skated, a talent scout saw her and offered her a place on her ice skating team. Since Babymouse was desperate to have a trophy in the school trophy case, she accepted a spot on the team. Things got a little hairy however when Babymouse learned of the intense practice routine and dietary restrictions she would need to follow to stay on the team. After some soul searching, she decided that time with friends, books and eating cupcakes were more important than a trophy. Her friends surprised her with her own “Best Babymouse” trophy. The fun pink, white and black graphics just add to the kid appeal as do the smallish size of the books.

My Impressions:
OK, I admit the Babymouse books are never going to win a Newbery award, but it’s just so perfect for the second to third grade crowd! (As adults do we exclusively read Pulitzer Prize winners? Someone’s got to be buying all those National Enquirer magazines I see at the check out lines.) It’s cute, and short, and the reading level is easy, and it’s in the hottest graphic novel format, and Babymouse is just too precious! This series hit a home run! FYI-Jennifer L. Holm was the author of a Newberry Honor book Our Only May Amelia.

Flashlight Reading Under the Covers Rating: 5 out of 5

Reviews:
From Booklist. Retrieved from Amazon.com
In the seventh book in the Babymouse series, the intrepid heroine takes up ice-skating, learning that it takes hard work to be the best. When her training schedule begins to cut her off from her friends and from her beloved cupcakes, she must decide how badly she wants to win. Once again the brother-sister creative team hits the mark with humor, sweetness, and characters so genuine they can pass for real kids. Cute, smart, sassy Babymouse is fun and funny, and this book, like its predecessors, will draw reluctant readers as well as Babymouse fans. Coleman, Tina

Suggestions for Use in a Library:
Celebrate You Day! Gather up some arts and craft supplies to decorate cardboard trophies with. (Check Hobby Lobby or Oriental Trading as they sometimes have ready to decorate trophies that will save you some time.) Let each child decide to give themselves a trophy of something they are best at. Then, allow them to make a trophy to decorate to give to someone special in their life for what that person is great at. You may want to have some ideas up to get the creative juices flowing. Best kicker, best sleeper, best dishwasher unloader, best colorer, best towel folder, best boo boo kisser, etc… Try and steer kids clear of generic “best mom” or “best friend” and help them dig deep!

Module 10: Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets

Title of Book: Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets; Author: Dav Pilkey; ISBN: 978-0545027274; Published by: The Blue Sky Press. Available in Spanish. Title: Captain Calzoncillos y el ataque de los inodores parlantes; Author: Dav Pilkey; ISBN: 978-0606249898; Published by: Turtleback Books

Summary:
The beginning of the book is an introduction (in comic book format) on how Captain Underpants came into being. In a previous adventure, our protagonists Harold and George hypnotized their principal Mr. Krupp so now any time he hears fingers snapping, he turns into the underwear sporting, crime fighting Captain Underpants. In this particular adventure, Hoard and George were in detention and they were drawing a comic book. They wanted to make copies of the comic book so they snuck into the Invention Contest and made copies on the copier that has been modified to bring to life anything it copies. And, you guessed it, their comic book was about talking toilets. A teacher snapped her fingers within hearing of Mr. Krupp who rushed to grab his outfit and began fighting those toilets. The end of our story found Mr. Krupp flushed with success (so sorry; I couldn’t resist) singing his trademark Tra-La-Laaaa! as he ran out of the school ready for his next adventure.


My Impressions:
I’m not exactly sure why this book is so controversial. Yes, there was a crazed, hypnotized principal running around in his underwear battling crime. Yes, there was a fair amount of “potty” humor. (Last year I was cursed out by a first grader who repeatedly screamed, “You are a toilet!” at the top of his lungs. And you thought being a librarian was all fun and games!) The underwear and off color humor didn’t bother me at all. What bothered me was the attitude of hate the teachers at the school exhibited toward George and Harold. They actually threw a party when the two boys got kicked out of school. I also objected to the numerous misspellings (“thier”, “pored” for poured and “exsept” for except).


Flashlight Reading Under the Covers Rating: 0 out of 5
Sorry, no way will this former first grade teacher give a book anything other than a “0” when their is spelled “thier”; not even if it has amazingly cool Flip-O-Ramas.

Reviews:
Grade 3-6 This epic novel opens with an introductory cartoon strip that tells the top-secret truth about how two kids, George and Harold, used the 3-D Hypno-Ring to hypnotize their principal, who now becomes Captain Underpants whenever he hears fingers snapping. In this second adventure, the boys are banned from attending the annual Invention Convention and sent to detention to keep them out of trouble. This, of course, is impossible, so they sneak into the school that evening and tamper with all of the inventions to wreak havoc. They also make copies of their newest comic strip of vicious attack toilets and the daddy monster of them all Turbo Toilet 2000. The copy machine is an invention that duplicates into live matter all images it copies and the attack toilets come to life. The wild story actually comes to a logical conclusion, but it really doesn’t matter. The fun is in the reading, which is full of puns, rhymes, and nonsense along with enough revenge and wish fulfillment for every downtrodden fun-seeking kid who never wanted to read a book. The cartoon drawings and the amazing flip-o-rama pages make this book so appealing that youngsters won’t notice that their vocabulary is stretching. Hooray for Captain Underpants! Watch him fly off your shelves. Marlene Gawron, Orange County Library, Orlando, FL From School Library Journal


Suggestions for Use in a Library:
Host a cartoon drawing party. I suggest getting proficient at a few basics like people or trucks using Ed Emberly’s Complete Funprint Drawing Book or Ed Emberly’s Fingerprint Drawing Book. Those are particularly easy to follow and they involve the child’s thumb or fingerprint. Other supplies you’ll need are copies of blank pages that look like comic book panels, markers, washable ink pads (for the thumb prints) and some wet wipes. Do some demonstrations at the front of the room and perhaps plant some very basic story lines (a superhero saves a dog from the bad guy) then let the children loose to create their comic books.