New Kids on the Block

Judy Freeman, Curriculum Connections -- School Library Journal, 5/15/2008

Over the years, we’ve become fast friends with many unforgettable characters who have lit up the literary landscape of easy-to-read chapter books. High on my list of favorites are Sara Pennypacker’s artistic iconoclast, Clementine; Frances O'Roark Dowell's science-minded Phineas L. MacGuire, better known as Mac (S & S); Stephanie Greene’s adventuresome Owen Foote (Clarion); Megan MacDonald’s wisecracking duo, Judy Moody and her brother Stink (Candlewick); Wendelin Van Draanen’s bully-buster Nolan Byrd, AKA Shredderman (Knopf); and, of course, Barbara Park’s language-mangling dynamo, Junie B. Jones (Random).

We should also pay affectionate homage to Ann Cameron’s Julian Bates, his gullible little brother Huey, and their pal Gloria (Farrar); Suzy Kline’s schoolkids Horrible Harry, Song Lee, and Herbie Jones (Putnam); Louis Sachar’s hapless Marvin Redpost (Random); Paula Danziger’s resilient Amber Brown (Putnam), and Betsy Duffey’s worrier, Cody Michaels (Viking).

Now meet a couple of new kids on the block, starting with Sarah Weeks’s Oggie Cooder (Scholastic, 2008; Gr 2-5), a free-spirited and unlikely fourth-grade hero. Oggie lives in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin with his parents, who run a resale shop called Too Good to Be Threw, and his slobbery dog Turk (short for Turkey-on-Rye, Oggie’s favorite sandwich).

Oggie’s teachers have categorized him as unusual, unique, and quirky; fellow students are less tactful, calling him weirdo, dork, doofus, and dweeb. His classmate and neighbor Donnica Perfecto usually wrinkles her pointy little nose in disdain at his signature mismatched outfits of stripes and plaids, and colorful sneaker laces he crochets himself. Today, however, she sees Oggie as her ticket to Hollywood. Hidden Talents, one of the most popular television shows ever, is holding auditions at the town’s band shell on Friday, looking for kids who “can do something cool that nobody else can do.”

So far, Donnica’s only discernable talent is whining, but she yearns to be famous. She dupes the guileless Oggie into divulging his tips and techniques for what he calls “charving.” Using just his front teeth, Oggie has taught himself to chew and carve individual slices of processed American cheese into the shapes of the 50 states. He finds the activity relaxing, and keeps wrapped slices in his back pocket.

The comical chapters focus alternately on Oggie, the good-natured, generous, oblivious innocent, and the spoiled and imperious Donnica, whose many schemes backfire in Oggie’s favor. If, like Oggie, your students start saying “frappuccino” when they’re frustrated, “prrrrr-ip” when they’re happy, and “yeppers” instead of yes, you’ll know they’ve taken this character to heart. And, of course, you’ll want to break out the atlas and the American cheese to do a little group charving.

Pair Oggie Cooder with Clementine, a third grader trying to discern her own special talents in time for the school’s Talent-Palooza in Sara Pennypacker’s The Talented Clementine (Hyperion, 2007, Gr 1-4). Compare these two loquacious children to the title character in Lenore Look’s Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things (Random, July 2008; Gr 1-3), illustrated by LeUyen Pham.

Alvin Ho, a Chinese-American boy who lives in Concord, Massachusetts (home to the Revolutionary War and the Minutemen way back when), tells you on page one that he is afraid of many things (including elevators, airplanes, substitute teachers, wasabi, shots, and, most importantly, school). Reading his list of fears, you’ll be reminded of Mac’s list of 15 allergies, in Frances O'Roark Dowell's Phineas L. Macguire . . . Erupts!: The First Experiment (S & S, 2006; Gr 1-4). Neither kid is wild about girls, either, and they both encounter several savvy females.

Alvin, though, is someone you haven’t encountered in children’s books up to now. He has never uttered a word in school, though his voice works fine everywhere else. In school, he states, “I am as silent as a side of beef.” Alvin carries his own PDK (Personal Disaster Kit), which includes garlic to fend off vampires and teachers, and a scary mask to keep girls away. He’d like to be taller and to make friends at school, and asks his big brother, Calvin, for help.

Calvin, who’s so smart he’s reading the entire encyclopedia online, hoists Alvin up to an apple tree branch so he can dangle by his hands and stretch. “You look like a duck hanging in a Chinatown window,” notes their little sister, Anibelly. When they rush off and leave him there, he’s too scared to call for help. “Poor thing,” his mom says soothingly when she finds him. Then he starts second grade, and the only person who wants to be his desk buddy is Flea, a fearless girl who wears an eye patch like a pirate and is taking a martial arts class, Aggression for Girls, to make her stronger.

Alvin’s personal narrative is wonderfully lively and endearing, giving voice to a child who may be selectively mute, but still has lots to say about getting chicken pox on purpose, accidentally wrecking his dad’s vintage Johnny Astro Space Craft toy at show-and-tell, and trying out his dad’s favorite Shakespearean curses (“Away, I say, thou currish milk-livered mold-warp!”) on the psychotherapist who is trying to get to the bottom of why he can’t talk.

All of these titles and series will help readers make the transition into longer fiction. Ask your students to speculate on what might transpire if they invited one or more of these characters on a play date or to a birthday party. Which children would be their friends and why? Talk about talents and fears and allergies and what makes each character special and knowable. We can never have too many friends, even in books.

OTHER FICTIONAL KIDS WORTH KNOWING:
Cameron, Ann. The Stories Huey Tells (Knopf, 1995).
Cameron, Ann. The Stories Julian Tells (Random, 1989).
Danziger, Paula. Amber Brown Is Not a Crayon (Putnam, 1994).
Dowell, Frances O’Roark. Phineas L. Macguire . . . Erupts!: The First Experiment (S & S, 2006).
Duffey, Betsy. Hey, New Kid! (Viking, 1996).
Greene, Stephanie. Owen Foote, Frontiersman. (Clarion, 1999).
Kline, Suzy. Horrible Harry in Room 2B. (Viking, 1988).
Kline, Suzy. Song Lee in Room 2B. (Viking, 1993).
McDonald, Megan. Judy Moody, M.D.: The Doctor Is In! (Candlewick, 2004).
McDonald, Megan. Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid. (Candlewick, 2005).
Park, Barbara. Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus. (Random, 1992)
Pennypacker, Sara. Clementine. (Hyperion, 2006).
Sachar, Louis. Marvin Redpost: Alone in His Teacher's House. (Random, 1994).
Van Draanen, Wendelin. Secret Identity. (Knopf, 2004).

Judy Freeman (www.JudyReadsBooks.com) is the author of Books Kids Will Sit Still For 3 (Libraries Unlimited, 2006) and Once Upon a Time: Using Storytelling, Creative Drama, and Reader's Theater with Children in Grades PreK-6 (Libraries Unlimited, 2007).

Related TeachingBooks.net resources »»»

« Back | Print