Monday, March 2, 2009

Laughing with Moxy

picture from amazon.com

Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little
by Peggy Gifford
photographs by Valorie Fisher
published by Yearling, NY, 2008


Summary: "With summer coming to an end, about-to-be-fourth-grader Moxy Maxwell does a hundred different things to avoid reading her assigned summer reading book."



Strengths: This hilarious book is full of charismatic characters with funny photographs. The chapter headings relate to the text excellently and add humor. Students can definitely relate to not enjoying summer reading and procrastination. The story also makes divorce and children's interest in the future commonplace ideas. Finally, I really enjoyed the funny scenes, like the dog pulling up the mom's garden, as well as the final scene of the book.



Concerns: Parents may be concerned that their children will learn to follow Moxy's bossy and procrastinating attitude.



Classroom Use/Other Comments: Teachers can introduce this book with a walk through the pictures and chapter headings. This story would be an excellent kick off for reading Stuart Little. Students can build their own lists of possible career paths. Children aged 7 and up would enjoy this fascinating piece of realistic fiction.




1 comment:

  1. You may already know that there's a new book about Moxy, Moxy Maxwell does not love writing thank-you notes.

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