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 Posté le: Mar Sep 17, 2013 5:40 am Sujet du message: in this clever chapter book for young readers |
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{For Kids: The Meanest Birthday Girl}
The Meanest Birthday GirlBy Josh SchneiderClarion Books, 48 pages, $18.99Life lessons come in various guises and sizes. For Dana,[url=http://www.toms-shoes-sale.com]Cheap Toms[/url], one arrived on her doorstep — as a birthday gift. She didn’t immediately recognize it as such, but once she did,[url=http://www.toms-shoes-sale.com]Toms Shoes Sale[/url], she knew exactly what to do with it.Josh Schneider, in this clever chapter book for young readers, presents Dana as what used to be called a brat. She’s not nasty enough to be called a bully, but mean nevertheless. And self-centred. And totally oblivious to the feelings of others.As if all that’s not bad enough,[url=http://www.toms-shoes-sale.com]Cheap Toms[/url], it’s Dana’s birthday and that, she believes,[url=http://www.toms-shoes-sale.com]Toms Shoes Outlet[/url], means she can do whatever she likes. So she begins by pulling on her favourite outfit (a pink dress with puffed sleeves in jarring contrast to the bandage on her knee) and eats her favourite birthday breakfast (waffles) before heading to the bus stop, where she meets Anthony,[url=http://www.toms-shoes-sale.com]Toms Shoes Sale[/url], a classmate.Because it’s her birthday “and she could do whatever she liked,[url=http://www.toms-shoes-sale.com]Toms Shoes Outlet[/url],” Dana calls Anthony a name (“ickaborse”) and pinches him. At school, she takes his dessert.Having read this far, it comes as something of a surprise that this little girl has friends — and that they visit her home after school with presents. Anthony, not surprisingly, isn’t among them. But in Chapter 2, when Dana is getting ready for bed, he turns up on her doorstep. Smiling sweetly, he tells her he has brought her a gift. And there is a big white elephant — its toenails painted pink, Dana’s favourite colour. Dana is stunned at Anthony’s generosity. “Take good care of it,” he tells her before heading home. And Dana does.Therein lies the life lesson. Taking care of a big white elephant, it turns out, is no simple matter. Dana gives up her bed for the new companion, and goes hungry so she can feed his gargantuan appetite. When her stomach rumbles on the bus, Gertrude, a classmate, calls her a name: “Grumble-Guts.” And just like that, Dana gets a taste of the miserable treatment to which she subjected Anthony.By Chapter 5, Dana has learned her lesson, apologized to Anthony, and taken a page from his book by presenting Gertrude with a large and unusual birthday gift, its toenails painted green, Gertrude’s favourite colour.It’s hard not to cheer when Dana aligns herself with Anthony. By then we’ve grown sympathetic to her plight. Even at her nastiest, she had some endearing qualities — especially the way Schneider depicts her in his colourful, cartoonish illustrations. The art shows a feisty little redhead who is resourceful and self-sufficient (adults make no appearance in this book). When the elephant wrecks Molly, her mountain bike, she doesn’t whine and complain but simply trundles the thing to a bike repair shop. And the look on her face as she walks away from Gertrude at the end of the book is one of satisfaction and resilience.Ages 6 to 9
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