Bruce Whatley

The Christmas song (my favorite Christmas song), illustrated.

My confession is that I do, absolutely, want a hippopotamus for Christmas. The illustrations fit the song perfectly, which is joking but also not joking. I particularly like a page with an enormous close-up of the girl’s delighted face with the hippo reflected in her eyes, followed by an enormous close-up of the hippo’s delighted face with the girl reflected in its eyes. The hippo wants a girl just as much as the girl wants a show more hippo! I love it. show less

This was full of smart turns of phrase that made me laugh out loud and explain to my kids. Detective Donut is easily distracted and a little bit foolish, but his heart and tummy are in the right place. Good thing his partner is on the scene to steer circumstances in the right direction.

A story about the Three Little Pigs that takes a bit of a twist. The illustrator starts changing the pictures after he runs out of red paint. If there is no red paint, then the there is no way to make a pink pig. Soon we have green pigs and wolves with bent noses. This is a cute and funny story about pigs who try to get through their story with an illustrator who is unpredictable.

Detective Donut and the Wild Goose Chase uses the funniest figurative language in the book; therefore, I am using it as an introductory book to this topic. Detective Donut is the dopiest detective who is so focused on his lack of birthday presents, that he misses what is just right under his nose! This book is just silly, but the illustrations were ingenious. I would love to read this story without showing the pictures to my students because the illustrations are telling a completely show more different story than the words. Then I would love to see their reactions as i showed the picture and read aloud the story. Priceless. show less