"It didn't exactly look like summer camp. But then, summer didn't exactly look like summer in the Nice Icy Land."Any child who as been camping will love this story. Tacky, the penguin, is on a mission to show kids it's ok to be different. It's ok to be a little "weird". Whereas Goodly, Lovely, Angel, Neatly, and Perfect like to keep things nice and neat, Tacky always has to do things a little differently.
In this Tacky adventure, the penguins are at summer camp. At the end of the day, they decide to tell each other scary stories, the only problem is that one of the stories comes true! But don't worry, Tacky comes to the rescue just in time.
This book has a couple neat features that make it an especially good interactive book for children. At one place the author, Helen Lester, uses pictures as an integral part of the text, so that readers must be able to switch back and forth between comprehending written text, and integrating the meaning of the pictures. At another point, she has included the camp song, and has even provided a tune.
Lynn Munsinger, the illustrator, does a great job of incorporating Tacky's differences in a humorous way. In one illustration, she shows all the other penguins at Camp Whoopihaha rock climbing, while Tacky just lets them pull him up by his safety belt.
I look forward to reading about all of Tacky's other adventures, which include: Tacky and the Emperor, Tacky in Trouble, Three Cheers for Tacky, Tacky and the Winter Games, Tackylocks and the Three Bears, and Tacky the Penguin.
What a wonderful take-off of summer camp! I would love to read this story as an elementary school student, especially because my summers were full of summer camps. Camp Whoopihaha? I fell like this book will just make a class full of laughter.
ReplyDeleteHi Naomi, I have to admit that I went and got the first book in this series "Tacky the Penguin" out of the library, and yes I am going completely overboard on the picture book thing, but I want to start finding some really great books to put on my wishlist for my classroom library, even though I think I'm gonna hold off buying any until I know what grade I'll be teaching once I get a job. ps. you are right, this is a really light-hearted but humorous series.
ReplyDeleteSo now I will have to go to the library and get the Chester books!! I am quite interested to investigate this book!This could be a great story to get your students interested in writing their own books and illustrating them as well! I wonder if Chester is based on the author's own cat?? Let us know if you find out more about the artworkl!
ReplyDeleteThe Tacky series sounds like a great book collection that could be used to inspire a young reader. It sounds fun and the illustrations seem to be delightful. What age group would you say these books are appropriate for.
ReplyDeleteHey Gina, I couldn't find out whether or not Chester was based on her own cat but it seems probably. Helen Lester also wrote a book called "Author: A true story" about herself as a child and how she came to be an author, I haven't read it yet, but it sounds like it would also be a great book to help kids learn about the writing process.
ReplyDeleteBen: There are 8 books in Tacky series. I'm not sure what age group they would be best for. Shelfari advises that they are for kids 4-8. I think that as a read aloud it would be good for P-K and Kindergarten, and then after that it would be a good series to get kids interested in reading themselves. I def. think its a fun book series for kids.