This is a fun story for children of all ages to read. The story stresses the importance of reading. The plot is about a town that loves to watch television and dosent read. The whole town has forgotten to read and uses books for filling pot holes and patching up walls. The town is outraged when a young boy begins reading but they are soon reminded of the importance of books via Aunt Chip and a huge flood.

The book is at the 4th grade reading level and readers can learn more about Patricia Polacco herself and her books at her website http://www.patriciapolacco.com/ that has all kinds of info that give readers an inside look at Polacco and her career.

I loved this book! It's a great over-the-top way to teach the value of reading and the potential evils of not using our imaginations at all. ( )

This story is about a town that has gotten rid of all their libraries. Books are now used to hold up buildings and as chairs. At the end of the story the mayor realizes the importance of reading and all the children help teach the town to read.(4.2)

www.patriciapolacco.com/ This site has an area for teachers and activities to go along with her books. She will also write letters back to the class if more than two students write her.

This was an amazing book about what happened to a town who shut down it's library and started using the books to fill potholes and mend roofs. TV became the life of the town and over a 50 year period, people stopped reading. One day, Eli asked his Aunt Chip what reading was and she freaked out and taught him and all his friends how to read. This is a great book to get kids excited about reading. (3rd grade reading level)

Everyone in Triple Creek loves their TVs and can't remember what came before it in terms of entertainment and learning. There are hundreds, no thousands, of books in town, but they're being used everything, e.g., to prop up things and put things on -- not to read. Only Eli's Aunt Charlotte -- known as Aunt Chip -- still knows how to read. And she teaches Eli. It turns out she used to be the librarian in town until the television tower took over (though she always said there would be consequences). Slowly other children besides Eli want to read, to know the stories inside books, and as the books get picked up for reading, it causes a bit of a problem. For instance, the wall of books functioning as the Triple Creek Dam gives way (like the boy who failed to put his finger in the dike). But luckily the town takes the experience of raining books as a sign, a miracle. Then it's the turn of the children to teach their parents to read, which in turn started a cultural revolution in the town. They built a new school and a new library -- and Aunt Chip once again took her rightful place, after fifty years.

Ends with an epilogue/warning from the "author" re the consequences of libraries closing. ( )