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bunthedestroyer's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty funny! Apparently it’s a series. Reminds me of If You Give A Mouse...in a way
aliciawik's review against another edition
5.0
How can you not love a book about bringing a circus to the library!
lupingirl1973's review against another edition
3.0
Read for Circus Storytime May 30 and May 31, 2017
dragonbitebooks's review against another edition
4.0
Originally published on my blog, Nine Pages.
This was a story hour book, and a fairly successful one, though my audience was too young to have much experience at school, and went to a school without show-and-tell to give the book context. With something of an If You Give a Mouse a Cookie pattern, Magnolia tries to keep her alligator from getting her in trouble with the teacher, but his drawings make her laugh during class, and when he gets hungry, he takes a bite out of one child’s thankfully generous afro, and when Magnolia tries to keep his teeth occupied, the bubble gum ends up everywhere. This was a fairly memorable picture book, with humorous text and humorous illustrations. The core text stands alone fairly well from the illustrations (which is helpful for aloud readings), but there is text in the illustrations for expanded readings. It was a good book to introduce some of the rules of classroom behavior and offers some compelling reasons for those rules, making it an especially good classroom read.
This was a story hour book, and a fairly successful one, though my audience was too young to have much experience at school, and went to a school without show-and-tell to give the book context. With something of an If You Give a Mouse a Cookie pattern, Magnolia tries to keep her alligator from getting her in trouble with the teacher, but his drawings make her laugh during class, and when he gets hungry, he takes a bite out of one child’s thankfully generous afro, and when Magnolia tries to keep his teeth occupied, the bubble gum ends up everywhere. This was a fairly memorable picture book, with humorous text and humorous illustrations. The core text stands alone fairly well from the illustrations (which is helpful for aloud readings), but there is text in the illustrations for expanded readings. It was a good book to introduce some of the rules of classroom behavior and offers some compelling reasons for those rules, making it an especially good classroom read.
dragonbitebooks's review against another edition
3.0
First published on my blog, Nine Pages.
This is a sequel to If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, Don’t! That first book was better. This one felt… well, like a sequel, piggybacking off of the success of the first but unable to capture the same uniqueness and unexpectedness that made the first book memorable. Magnolia brings a full-size upright piano to the beach. Her mother warns her not to lose it, “keep it neat and clean” and “push it to the beach.” Well, you just know, every one of those promises is going to be broken. They get broken in surprising, more and more outlandish ways. Brownie points for a multiracial family: white, Asian, and African American with potentially just a single mother. There’s a lesson here about our love affair with stuff: The piano is replaced in Magnolia’s heart and affections by a shell that she can use as a boat, a shovel, and a Frisbee.
This is a sequel to If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, Don’t! That first book was better. This one felt… well, like a sequel, piggybacking off of the success of the first but unable to capture the same uniqueness and unexpectedness that made the first book memorable. Magnolia brings a full-size upright piano to the beach. Her mother warns her not to lose it, “keep it neat and clean” and “push it to the beach.” Well, you just know, every one of those promises is going to be broken. They get broken in surprising, more and more outlandish ways. Brownie points for a multiracial family: white, Asian, and African American with potentially just a single mother. There’s a lesson here about our love affair with stuff: The piano is replaced in Magnolia’s heart and affections by a shell that she can use as a boat, a shovel, and a Frisbee.
kathryneh's review against another edition
5.0
Between the wonderful illustrations and fun story the combination was outstanding.