Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair

Although the rest of the residents of the town of Triple Creek had little use for eccentric hermit Charlotte Huck (named in honor of real-life librarian and author, Charlotte S. Huck), Eli loved his "Aunt Chip," and visited her regularly. Having taken to her bed years before in protest, declaring that "there would be consequences" to the town's decision to tear down the library, in order to construct a massive TV tower, Aunt Chip lived a quiet life with her (adorable!) cats. But when she discovered that the "consequences" included an entire generation of children growing up without the ability to read, she decided that, in this case, discretion was NOT the better part of valor, and set out to do something about it...

Having been raised show more in a home that, for many years, had no television - a conscious choice on the part of my parents, made in order to encourage me and my sisters to become readers, and to play more outdoors - I am greatly in sympathy with Patricia Polacco's point, in Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair, that too much television does indeed bring consequences - of the negative sort. I appreciated the fact that television didn't need to be "done away with" entirely, once the residents of Triple Creek realized how foolish they had been to abandon reading, but was henceforth (as should everything else be) consumed in moderation. Definitely a book to spark discussion, with younger readers, about the importance of books, and the library! show less

Everyone in Triple Creek loves TV. They love it so much that they watch TV all of the time and have forgotten what books are for (other than propping open doors). When Eli's Aunt Chip (who took to bed with disgust after the town library was demolished), realizes that Eli can't read, she steps out of bed and teaches him to read. Eli shares the magic of reading with his friends until something amazing happens.

This is one of Polacco’s fantasy books. I love Aunt Charolette and how she protested to the towns obsession with TV by refusing to leave her bed for 50 years! She finally emerged to see all the ways books were being used, she explains what a book is and how it’s used for reading. “Now look at this. Those are words. They tell about ideas, dreams, and feelings. They take you to places far from here. They show you how to be fair and just, and sometimes show you what happens when you’re not. Books are a treasure. All you need is the key.” I loved this explanation Aunt Chip gave of words to Eli. Eli wanted to learn how to read and eventually did. Aunt Chip was originally the towns librarian, before the town became obsessed with show more television. This book would be important in the classroom to show children the importance of books, without books you can’t read. show less

I liked this book by Patricia Polacco because of its humorous events and because of the message it sends out to children. The story is about a town called Triple Creek where the people do not read books, instead they watch TV. The people of Triple Creek love TV so much, “They even kept photos of their TV’s on their mantels along with all the pictures of their family members”. Things like that added to the humor of the story. On another page books started falling from the sky and a little girl said, “It’s raining books”, also adding to the humor of the story.
I also really liked this book because of the message it sends to children. This story is an example of what life would be like without books. The town is a mess because show more the people don't read books to learn how to fix it up. After the town learns to read again “They were planting gardens and parks because of books on gardening”.
The main idea of this book is to show children the importance of reading and the joy that can come from reading. The children in the story were begging to learn how to read because of the joy they saw it brought Eli to read. This is the message that is send to children, that reading is fun. show less

Aunt Chip was a librarian until the town got their beloved tv's, thought that they didn't need books, and tore down the library. She warned them that there would be consequences, and there were. People forgot how to read! With the help of a young boy, she taught the town's children to read, and they showed their parents the importance of reading.

Everyone in Triple Creek loves their TVs and can't remember what came before it in terms of entertainment and learning. There are hundreds, no thousands, of books in town, but they're being used everything, e.g., to prop up things and put things on -- not to read. Only Eli's Aunt Charlotte -- known as Aunt Chip -- still knows how to read. And she teaches Eli. It turns out she used to be the librarian in town until the television tower took over (though she always said there would be consequences). Slowly other children besides Eli want to read, to know the stories inside books, and as the books get picked up for reading, it causes a bit of a problem. For instance, the wall of books functioning as the Triple Creek Dam gives way (like the show more boy who failed to put his finger in the dike). But luckily the town takes the experience of raining books as a sign, a miracle. Then it's the turn of the children to teach their parents to read, which in turn started a cultural revolution in the town. They built a new school and a new library -- and Aunt Chip once again took her rightful place, after fifty years.

Ends with an epilogue/warning from the "author" re the consequences of libraries closing. show less

contains a mention of a soothsayer.

Also two children teach their parents.

They warn of the closings of libraries.

So on the one hand-

fortune telling is forbidden by the Bible. I suppose you could look at it as a symbol of how they have strayed.

This book is almost 30 years old and how much farther have we fallen?

A charming illustration and signature from the author is here also.