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

Getting ready for bed is hard for children and monsters alike. However, this bedtime tale seeks to allay any child’s--or monster’s--nighttime discomforts by describing the usual bedtime routine of Little Monster. Although Little Monster does many of the same things to get ready for bed as little humans, children will enjoy the slight twists in the monster’s schedule: Mama Monster tangles Little Monster’s hair and aids Little Monster in checking under his bed for frightening children. show more

The muted watercolor illustrations are appropriate for a book that is supposed to be soothing before bedtime and the rhyming scheme also adds to the calming tone. This book would be a valuable tool for talking about bedtime routines, and also gives adults the opportunity to prompt children to talk about their own bedtime routine (such as what they have a bedtime snack instead of the worm juice and baked beetle bread that Little Monster has or maybe questioning why their bedtime routine isn’t as smooth as Little Monster’s).

At the end, Little Monster is reminded of his safety while sleeping, which will also reassure readers at their own bedtimes. When Little Monster drifts out off to sleep, readers will share in Little Monster’s contentment as well. Highly recommended. Grades pre-K to 1. show less

the second half redeems the book from being meh. the first half is a simple counting primer that seems Scottish for its refusal to use any word for small but wee. the second half changes direction to a story that was actually getting set up in the first half but you missed it for the counting. like the monster mash song, the eerie monsters and animals are revealed to be non-threatening. I would love to go to this haunted house.