Helen Lester

Sloths, despite their names, are not lazy. Like some of my other favorite critters, their evolutionary commitment to a low-value food source means that they spend a lot of time eating for very little caloric reward (see also koalas and giant pandas). This to say I get the joke of the book, but I'm not in favor of using stereotypes of species to beat kids over the head with a moral lesson, even when the species in question comes out alright at the end. That's lazy storytelling.

I'll stick show more with[b:A Little Book of Sloth|13260645|A Little Book of Sloth|Lucy Cooke|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1376784442s/13260645.jpg|18462151], thanks.

Library copy show less

Goodly, Lovely, Angel, Neatly, and Perfect - as the reader might have intuited from their names - were the sort of well-groomed penguins who marched in time. The sort who were graceful divers, sweet singers, and always greeted each other politely. Tacky was a different kind of penguin - a distinctly odd kind. He liked loud shirts, loud greetings, and loud (splashy) cannonballs; and although they were far too polite to comment, his companions looked askance at his many shenanigans. And then show more one day, three rough and tough hunters arrived, and Tacky's tackiness suddenly came in handy...

The first in series of picture-books devoted to the adventures of this lovable nonconformist, Tacky the Penguin is a hilariously engaging animal story that demonstrates what a blessing it is to be an individual. Lynn Munsinger's droll illustrations are the perfect accompaniment to Lester's tale, emphasizing the zany madcap-antics of her characters. Although long aware of the Tacky books, I had somehow never gotten around to reading them, when a recent Horn Book review of the latest title (Tacky Goes to Camp) convinced me to rectify that mistake. How happy I am that I did! I sense another Bad Bear project in the offing... show less

Wodney suffers from a common problem - he says w instead of r. That in and of itself should have been okay, but he's shown being teased mercilessly by the other students. No adult notices and steps in, even when he's unable to speak up in class and either totally ostracized or - slightly better - so shy from this treatment that he avoids the other rodents entirely and never even pokes his head out of his jacket.

This is realistic enough - unfortunately - but that doesn't make it pleasant for show more me to read to my nieces.

When a new bully comes and bullies the rest of the class, they don't learn the moral lesson "Bullying people isn't fun". Instead, Wodney turns her ignorance of his disability against her. The children laugh at her, and she runs off. "And they lived happily ever after and never teased him again." Of course, if he hadn't been able to use his Special Skill to help him then the other students would have continued to tease him, right?

It's a very unsettling moral message, and not one I really like. show less

When his parents are faced with naming their new son, they struggle to find the perfect name. They decide to name him Fluffy. But Fluffy doesn’t feel very fluffy so he sets out to find things that will help make him fluffy such as soaking in a bath that only makes him soggy, or whip cream that only makes him sticky. Fluffy soon learns that a name is only a name and doesn’t have to describe you or your features when he meets a Rhinoceros named Hippo.

Personal Reflection: I loved this book! show more Often times children complain about the name their parents have given them and this is a great book that helps them see they are not alone. This book allows children to laugh and not feel bad about a name they might not truly love. I personally had this issue growing up and it wasn’t until I was much older did I learn to appreciate my name, it always seemed so old (Martha). I still don’t use my given name but I also don’t dislike my parents for giving it to me anymore.

Classroom Extension:
1. A great book to help students learn that names are only names and not identifiers. Students who struggle with name calling will learn that sometimes kids have names that they don’t like but they can’t do anything about that.
2. A good book to discuss friendship. The rhino was all set to give Fluffy a hard time until he started laughing so hard at his name which was probably because he had such a funny name for a Rhino. The two become fast friends over sharing something in common, a funny name. show less