Sometimes ANNOTATION
An alligator feels different things from time to time, but they are all okay.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Happy or sad? Hot or cold? Up or down? Sometimes you may feel every which way, and that's just fine. Keith Baker uses opposites and an irresistible banjo-playing, cake-baking alligator to remind us all of one of life's simplest--and most important--lessons: Anything is possible if you like who you are and you like what you do.
FROM THE CRITICS
Children's Literature - Karen Leggett
Keith Baker's simple story about an alligator is a "Green Light Reader" that following the guidelines for readability in the Reading Recovery program. Encouraging youngsters to begin thinking about themselves and acknowledging their feelings, Baker's alligator admits that sometimes he is happy and sometimes he is sad--but "I like who I am. I like what I do." The bold illustrations are colorfully crowded and appealingly silly. With many repeated phrases, it's easy for children to feel a sense of accomplishment when they are able to read the story aloud to a parent or teacher. The closing question "What about you?" opens the door to a conversation about how youngsters feel about their own daily ups and downs.
School Library Journal
K-Gr 2-These three easy-readers combine brightly colored illustrations with short simple stories. Readability is determined using the Reading Recovery model, and each book features a meet-the-author section. In Sometimes, an alligator engages in all sorts of activities, such as cooking, ice fishing, and playing the banjo. The text is repetitive: "Sometimes I am happy. Sometimes I am sad." The reptile has lots of expression, and even nonreaders could recite/read this story after hearing it once or twice. Catch Me features a T-rex that frightens all of the other dinosaurs, except for one, who turns out to be his loving grandchild. The illustrations, done in markers, reflect Most's typical flat style. Written in rhyming couplets, Shoe Town is the best of the bunch. After her children move out, a mother mouse just wants to relax in her shoe home. Various nursery-rhyme characters ask to move in, but she insists they get their own shoes. The cow jumping over the moon keeps a count of the population of "Shoe Town" as it grows. Stevens's illustrations are irresistible, and the tale works well as a read-aloud or read-alone.-Sharon R. Pearce, formerly at San Antonio Public Library, TX Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Emerging readers follow the adventures of a busy crocodile in this Level 1 entry in a promising series (see McPhail, below).
Home
