These Potatoes Are No Turkeys
Written: Nov 17 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Vegetarian Theme. Potatoes. Potatoes.
Cons: Even more potatoes would be nice.
The Bottom Line: Here's a nice, unconventional, nontraditional Thanksgiving book. Not for those who are fowllowers.
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| nagels's Full Review: |
Big Bob and the Thanksgiving Potatoes is a book in Scholastic’s Hello Reader! Series. It is a level 3 book targeted for students in grades one and two. Among books in the extensive series are “Ballerina Dreams”, Big Bob and the Magic Valentine’s Day Potato”, “A Girl Names Helen Keller”, “Monster Manners”, and “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Bully”.
Preceding the title page is a letter addressed to family members by reading specialist. Francie Alexander. She points out the roles of sight words, phonic decoding, picture interpretation and text clues in the reading process. She shares a list of very comprehensive and useful activities for before, during, and after reading. I’ve seen such lists from so-called specialists that are gobbledygook. Alexander’s suggestions are sensible and pertinent.
Spudopsis
In what appears to be the first of the Big Bob books, Bob introduces himself. He’s a second grader uncomfortable with being the biggest boy in his class. The other kids laugh at him and make him feel clumsy and dumb. He complains of always having to sit in the back of the room and adults saying,” A big boy like you should know better.”
In a talk with his mother about these feelings Bob begins to cry. Ironically Mom tells him he shouldn’t cry because he’s a big boy. Bob feels comfortable around family because his family is big. In school he’s as big as a fifth grader but they don’t want to have anything to do with a second grader. Bob enjoys the company of his dog Big Boris and his friend Big Gloria. Tina Tiny and Billy Thimble begin to talk to Bob and Gloria, eventually becoming a part of the unlikely tandem.
Mr. Salami is the second grade teacher. He used to be a boxer, a weight lifter, and a mountain climber. He’s 63 inches tall and weighs 206 pounds.
Mr. Salami asks the class to cut out turkey decorations. Big Bob says he can’t cut out turkeys because he’s a vegetarian. Big Gloria decides that she’s a vegetarian also. With Mr. Salami’s approval Bob and Gloria cut out potatoes instead.
“We see nothing wrong with eating potatoes.”
Everyone enjoys their paper potatoes. Some of the other kids also make potatoes. Bob admits to Gloria that he’s not really a vegetarian. Gloria thinks it’s cool that he fooled Mr. Salami. They decide to tell their teacher the truth tomorrow and think he will enjoy the joke.
Billy Thimble and Tina Tiny walk home with Bob and Gloria who share their secret. Billy talks about his “killer potato from space,” and Tina about her “TV-star potato with red lips.” As they walk and talk, it’s apparent the bond of friendship amongst these four is deepening.
My Take
In this the first of the four Big Bob books (Thanksgiving Potato, Holiday Potato, Valentine’s Day Potato, Halloween Potato) we are introduced to the group of four friends and their affable, rotund teacher, Mr. Salami. Bob is a very empathetic character with whom any child who has been picked on for being different can identify. Bob copes well by vocalizing his feelings and making friends with kindred spirits. Young readers may also enjoy the nonconformity of Bob and Gloria. They are different but never impolite or disruptive.
The Scholastic site recommends this book for readers aged 4 to 8 and has determined its reading level as 1.5. The author skillfully tells his story with mostly one-syllable words and much helpful repetition, a necessary reinforcement tool for the juvenile reader. The Common Sense Media site suggests this as a read aloud book for ages 4 to 6 and a read alone book for ages 6 to 8. That’s a fairly accurate assessment in my opinion.
Some of the more difficult words for first graders might be: problem, clumsy, laugh, dumb, surprised, squash, Boris, pillow, behave, pirates, satisfactory, decorations, vegetarian.
It’s interesting to see the development of the four child characters and see their friendship and personalities mesh. Their common bonds become stronger and richer in the subsequent books as they might in a sitcom ensemble.
Oddly there are no contractions used in this book making the conversational language seem a little stilted. This omission of contractions actually seems like a great simplification in the context of this book. It actually adds a bit of quirky charm.
The illustrations of Jill Pinkwater will also appeal to the young readers. They are will done but not overly complex, with the appearance of drawings done by an advanced youngster. Though simply drawn the faces are expressive, showing various emotions and degree of feelings. I especially liked the Pilgrim potato sketches and also the killer space potato.
I enjoyed this book though it lacks a dramatic climax ,finality , or denouement. (Just kidding) The open-ended final page is appropriate for discussion and prediction. Predictions can be justified by the reader’s understanding of the characters, especially Mr. Salami.
The Author
Daniel Pinkwater of Memphis, Tennessee, was born in 1941 and attended Bard College. He has authored mostly children’s books and occasionally comments on National Public Radio. Pinkwater has illustrated some of his books, but his later books have been illustrated by his wife Jill. Many of his books are about social misfits who find themselves in strange situations.
32 pages
paperback
PLEASE NOTE - PotatoES is spelled with an E. The listing for this book must have been written by Dan Quayl.
Recommended:
Yes
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