humor – Page 3 – The Reading Circle

Don’t Hug the Quokka! (Magination Press)
Written by Daniel Errico
Illustrated by Mia Powell

For ages: 4-8
If you have never heard of the quokka, you are in for a treat. Quokka are a small marsupial found on some small islands off the coast of Western Australia. It would be best if you googled them because I guarantee their pictures will surprise you. They have such an open, happy face and have little fear of humans. They are cases of a quokka biting a person, but for the most part, they are curious when these outsiders visit them. They have no natural predators on their island, so they have never needed to develop fear-based instincts to survive. Quokka can carry salmonella, though, so touching them is not safe.

Author Daniel Errico and illustrator Mia Powell take the incredibly enticing quokka and use it to illustrate the importance of consent in their book. The quokka is so cuddly and friendly that every fiber of your body wants to hug & cuddle it. But you can’t just do that. If the quokka says “No,” you must respect it. Throughout the book, the child proposes different scenarios to ask if it’s okay to hug the quokka now. With each one, the adult reminds the child that the animal said No, which means No. Only if the quokka says “Yes,” may you hug one. Much like in life, we shouldn’t violate people’s personal space & always ask permission to touch another person, respecting their No.

Activities

1. Have students work in groups to make posters warning visitors that they should not hug the quokka without permission. The posters should emphasize the text’s central theme that consent is critical.

2. Having students research the quokka or other Australian native creatures is always a great idea. The diversity & uniqueness of animal life in that region always captivates children.

3. Students can write a reflection about consent. What do they think about the message of the book? Why is asking for consent necessary? What should we do if someone is not respecting our choice?

I Want To Be a Vase (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
Written by Julio Torres
Illustrated by Julian Glander

For ages: 4-8
Shapes are all around us. Comedian & former SNL writer Julio Torres is obsessed with shapes, which you would know if you saw his HBO special. Torres brings his love of shapes & inanimate objects to this lovely children’s book, all about defining your own shape. Plunger knows he was not meant to sit by a toilet his whole life only used to unclog it. He’s meant to be something beautiful & admired. Instead, Plunger wants to be a vase. This starts chaos among the other objects in the bathroom and eventually the whole house. Some things want everyone to stay as they are, while Plunger has awakened others. They have always felt off, and now they want to be who they truly are.

It’s pretty easy to see this is a text about gender identity. Still, it’s also about pushing back against the negative thoughts people get tangled up in so easily. So often, people are labeled and shelved by society. They tell us that because of a few external physical features, they know who we are. But anyone who listens to themself and is truly honest knows we are so much more than that. Torres brings along illustrator & animator Julian Glander, who delivers digital images that feel like something torn out of the 1990s but also still so fresh & relevant. There will not be another book on your classroom shelf that looks anything like this one; I guarantee it.

Activities

1. Have your students pick an everyday household object they can imagine themselves being. In writing and/or illustration, have students explain what they would do if they got to spend their day as a teapot, for example.

2. Taking this a step further, create a T-chart with students. On one side, give Plunger and the other objects’ reasons for wanting to be other things. On the other side, list the vacuum cleaner’s rebuttals from the text.

3. Taking the T-chart from the last activity, have students compose a single-paragraph opinion essay about whose point of view they agree with more. Make sure they defend why they think that character has the right perspective with details from the text.

humor, middle grade, mystery

Middle Grade Must-Reads – The Mysterious Howling

September 6, 2022September 5, 2022 Seth Harris

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I – The Mysterious Howling (Balzer + Bray)
Written by Maryrose Wood
Illustrated by Jon Klassen

So…this is a knock-off of A Series of Unfortunate Events. The author doesn’t try to hide it by including witty asides and long-winded introductions to chapters. Every page is filled with baroque language that evokes some laughs. It’s not a bad book, but because it is so obviously attempting to mimic an outstanding middle-grade series, you cannot help but compare the two. That means the flaws of this book stand out more. The inclusion of illustrations by Jon Klassen drew my attention to the text in the first place. His style evokes the macabre work of Edward Gorey in this context, and I think that helps give the story personality.

Miss Penelope Lumley is a recent Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females graduate. Her first job will be the governess at Ashton Place, an estate hidden in the forest. When she arrives, Penelope cannot find a trace of any children in the house. Instead, there is a constant howling coming from the barn outside. Penelope investigates and finds three feral children being kept there. The staff and the owners explain that these children appeared one day and could not speak. They want Penelope to train the children and make them presentable by the holiday ball a month away. Penelope begins to uncover a mystery in Ashton Place that may help her discover where these children came from.

If your student is very into Gothic flowery stories, you will not be able to go wrong with this one. I personally love A Series of Unfortunate Events and wasn’t overly excited about this one. I can’t put my finger on it, but the language doesn’t flow as smoothly from Wood’s pen as it seems from Lemony Snicket’s. It’s not a bad book, but it pales in comparison to the original.

author spotlight, humor

Author Spotlight – Jon Klassen

September 1, 2022August 29, 2022 Seth Harris

Jon Klassen is one of the essential comedic children’s writers working in the business. You will know what I am talking about if you have read his work. I see his books as a distillation of the comedic ethos behind things like Monty Python but made appropriate for kids. What I mean by that is that the work presents some heady philosophical concepts but presented in a manner that a child will have no problem digesting them and finding the humor in the deceptively simple work. Klassen is a Canadian, born in Winnipeg but grew up in Toronto. His art career started in animation, and Klassen contributed to the hit film Kung Fu Panda. His illustrations for other children’s authors gained him several awards and spurred Klassen to write his own books. I Want My Hat Back was his debut as an author/illustrator, and it has been hit after hit since. The recurring aesthetic in all of Klassen’s work is minimalism. The drawings are never overly complicated or filled with detail. It results in a very deadpan style of humor.

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humor, spotlight

Spotlight – I Don’t Want to Read This Book/Gladys the Magic Kitchen

August 11, 2022July 29, 2022 Seth Harris

I Don’t Want to Read This Book (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers)
Written by Max Greenfield
Illustrated by Mike Lowrey

For ages: 4-8
For years, actors have tried their hand at picture book writing. I always meet these books with some skepticism, often wondering if the celebrity isn’t trying their hand at it because they perceive children’s book authoring as easier than writing for grown-ups. But, those of us who have spent years pouring over texts for kids know it takes a skilled person, almost a poet, who can parse big ideas with simple words. Max Greenfield (The New Girl) has presented his attempt at this seminal venture, and it’s not too bad.

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asian-american, author spotlight, culture, humor

Author Spotlight – Minh Lê

July 21, 2022July 4, 2022 Seth Harris

It’s always interesting to learn about the authors behind some of your favorite books, particularly if they have a day job outside their writing career. Minh Lê is a Vietnamese-American writer who works as a federal early childhood policy expert from the national to local levels. This means he spends a lot of time in and out of all kinds of schools across the country. Having a Bachelor’s in Psychology and Masters in Ed Policy means he’s incredibly well versed in understanding how people learn and productive ways to communicate through his writing. Like so many kids, Minh Lê found books to be a comforting place to go while growing up. One of his favorite things about books is the ability to revisit them over time and uncover new layers as you develop and grow. Through his own children, Minh Lê has seen the importance children place on storytelling as they develop their language skills. These meaningful observations have led to a growing bibliography that speaks powerfully to kids’ hearts.

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book list, folktales, humor

Book List: Remixed Fairy Tales

July 19, 2022June 28, 2022 Seth Harris

Cinderella and the Furry Slippers (Tundra Books)
Written by Davide Cali
Illustrated by Raphaelle Barbanegre

For ages: 3-7
Things start how you might expect. Cinderella is a put upon young woman, made to do endless chores at the hands of her stepmother and stepsisters. So when the prince’s ball is announced, Cinderella phones a fairy godmother she finds advertised in a magazine. Unfortunately, what she gets delivered is not as promised, including the titular furry slippers. But Cindy has to work with what she’s got. It turns out the ball isn’t all it was cracked up to be, and Prince Charming has severe bad breath. The lesson here is an empowering one, to not rely on the fantasies young girls are inundated with but be you, be who you want to be, and not be shaped and influenced by outside forces.

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author spotlight, humor

Author Spotlight – Adam Rubin

April 14, 2022April 18, 2022 Seth Harris

Adam Rubin has a very distinct sense of humor. He’s been writing and publishing children’s books for 14 years and always infuses his texts with that trademark silliness. Before becoming a New York Times bestselling author, Rubin worked in ad agencies as a creative for a decade. Everything changed when Rubin was introduced to illustrator Daniel Salmieri by a college friend. The two men had a shared sense of humor and decided to collaborate. The result was their first of nine books together, Those Darn Squirrels. They would make two more Squirrels books and followed that with one of their biggest hits, Dragons Love Tacos. Rubin kept working in advertising until 2015 when he made enough from book sales to be a full-time writer. There is a strong influence from the classic newspaper comic strip The Far Side in Rubin and Salmieri, an off-beat weirdness that makes for addictive reading. Now he devotes himself to writing new books and traveling around the country to bookstores and schools to meet his readers. Below are three books I highly recommend if you are looking for something tremendously silly to share with your students.

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