Helen Ketteman

In this wacky Cinderella, the roles are reversed. Miz Lurleen is looking for a husband. Bubba, the cowboy, is bullied by his step daddy and two stepbrothers Dwayne and Milton.

When Baba is left behind, a fairy God cow gives him a dazzling new outfit so that he can attend the ball. (Why a cow destined to be killed and eaten would help a cowboy is beyond me. But that’s another blog post.) Bubba goes to the ball, dances with Miz Lurleen, and wins her heart. When the clock strikes midnight, show more Bubba’s clothing turns back to dirty rags and he smells horrible. He runs from the room leaving a boot behind. Lurleen goes from ranch to ranch with the boot trying to find the “real cowboy.” She finds and marries Bubba who remains dirty and stinky and just the way she wants.

I love that Miz Lurleen prefers the real Bubba to the clean and shiny one. It’s also nice to see the woman actively choosing who she wants to marry.

The vocabulary has just enough “Western” dialogue to give it flavor. For example, “Milton and Dwayne spent all day getting gussied up in their finest duds. Bubba about ran hisself ragged waiting on them.” Of course, you’ll have to explain to the child that the incorrect grammar is there for flavor and not to be emulated except for humorous effect.

The illustrations are impressive and could transfer easily to a Pixar movie. Situations are depicted with humor and expression.

Kids would love this alternative Cinderella story. show less

Some of the books in this pile by my bed are there by the sweet serendipity of New Hartford Public Library's "discard" pile. Because they're ten cents, I buy them with my grandfather's Great Depression mentality that is his legacy. Someday, I think, I may have no books at all, and anything with printed words on a page may be useful for my classroom whether as a tool to teach grammar, sentence structure, personal narrative organization & style, etc. or even as a way to look at bad writing to show more see how it could be improved. Ten cents, what is there to lose?

Sometimes, I find something amazing and I experience conflicting feelings of pity for the library's poor choice in making something trash, but thrilled that it's now my treasure. I almost want to take this back and bring it their attention, "No, you see, this was a mistake!"
This is one of those. I can't believe it's mine for 10 cents.

A perfect example of a short personal narrative (what we teach to be a personal narrative in the middle school, anyway) about a country boy way back (seems like it could be the GD, but I'm really not sure) who saves his quarters for chores in a cigar box, saving up for a baseball glove. The conflict and its touching resolution choked me up and had me crying this Sunday morning.

"Discard" brands several pages, and I think I'm going to white each one out. I love it that much.


For teachers: Would make an excellent companion to Where the Red Fern Grows, A Day No Pigs Would Die, or f any elementary classroom to use for comparing and contrasting. The mother put coffee and sugar in the boy's cereal. The kid's ability to "go on a train ride" was the most exciting experience, they listen to the ball game on the radio and attend one, so comparing things like that to our modern society and customs would be a valuable experience (definitely enough details to explore and connect to). And finally, I'm going to use it for my personal narrative unit, and it wouldn't bother me at all if my students had read it twenty times at the elementary level, so HP teachers, go for it! show less

A mama bear answers baby bear's questions about what she would do if various zoo animals had a variety of afflictions. Her answers are silly, but when he asks about what she would do if HE was sick, she becomes more comforting. Not a bad premise, but includes some troubling images such as a "cake chock full of pills" and includes being "too fat" as one of the afflictions.

The cover inspired me to pick it up on a mass grab at the library. Turns out the story isn't as dramatic as the cover, and I don't like the way Parker draws people at all. I did like the way the story built - the first reason the crop failed was entirely plausible, but by the end the tall tale was so absurd that even a toddler would laugh at the silly grandpa and child.