Stephanie's Ponytail

Stephanie wants a ponytail. And all the kids say "Ugly, ugly", but the next day they copy her style. And she keeps coming up with more and more exotic places for her ponytails and getting more and more frustrated with the annoying hypocrites in her school, until she finally announces she's Shaving her HEAD.

She doesn't, they do. LOL. Great shot at the end of the entire shaven school, teachers and principal and students and all (and birds, and cats, and dogs with their heads shaved!) chasing Stephanie with her one ponytail right in the back of her head. It's ridiculous, it's absurd, it doesn't pretend to have any more meaning than that "Copycats are annoying" - you have to love it.

Stephanie's classmates begin to copy her hairstyle in this amusing picture-book romp from Canadian author/illustrator team Robert Munsch and Michael Martchenko. When she wears her ponytail at the back, so do they. When she wears it at the top, so do they. Eventually both boys and girls - as well as the teacher! - are copying Stephanie. But will they continue to do so, when she tells them she intends to shave her head...?

Munsch and Martchenko have collaborated on quite a few beloved Canadian picture-books, from Love You Forever to The Paper Bag Princess, and they are a winning team! Stephanie's Ponytail offers a humorous look at imitation and individuality, pairing a matter-of-factly madcap tale with immensely droll artwork. Recommended show more to fellow fans of this creative picture-book team, and to anyone looking for children's stories about conformity vs. individuality, trend-setting vs. imitation. show less

A great lesson about the perils of peer pressure. Could have been blech in heavy-handedness, but since the humor is based on exaggeration, it's ridiculously funny. Short and light, fine even for pre-school children imo.
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reread in [b:The Munschworks Grand Treasury|285755|The Munschworks Grand Treasury|Robert Munsch|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390869389l/285755._SX50_.jpg|277243]... notable now is to compare Stephanie to modern-day "influencers" who would envy her so much....

Munsch is a fantastic story-teller, and this may well be my favorite book of his (next to to the unsurpassable I Love You Forever). In Stephanie's Ponytail, every keeps copying Stephanie's hairstyles until one day she tricks everyone and can return to her own unique ponytail again without fear of copycats. This is a wonderfully adorable tale about individuality and wit. This picture book also serves as an example of clever, aspirational female characters, which should fill the shelves of a classroom library.

Okay, this book is pretty darn cute! I love Stephanie's independence, and how her parents don't do much to discourage her from her wacky ponytails. The only thing, she makes her teacher and classmates look pretty stupid. Who knows, maybe they needed the lesson!

Stephanie wants to be different, so she asks her mom to give her a ponytail. When her classmates mock her, she simply replies that she likes it. The next day, they all show up with ponytails. Stephanie comes up with increasingly zany hairstyles in her quest for uniqueness, but finds herself mimicked every step of the way. How will she assert her individuality?
This is a wonderful book. It's incredibly funny and brings a unique interpretation to the conversation about identity. There are some insults in the book, which I don't mind, but parents and teachers may want to prepare themselves for a discussion on how to deal with bullies.This book is a great read-aloud and is appropriate as an independent read for 1st-5th grade.

I really enjoyed reading this book as a child, and just as much now that I’m older. The plot is unique but relatable, and it’s an overall fun book to read. One thing I particularly liked about this book was the illustrations. They are very detail oriented and there are little “easter eggs” on every page. For example, on one of the pages, all of the students shave their heads after Stephanie says she is going to. If you look closely, amongst the huge crowd of bald students and teachers you can see a cat who also has his head shaved. It’s these little details that make the book fun to read over and over again. The maid idea of this book is that sometimes coming up with an original idea is better than taking one that already exists.