Take Turns, Penguin! (Be Nice at School Series) - Hardcover

Willis, Jeanne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1575054930 ISBN 13: 9781575054933

Publisher: Carolrhoda Books, 2000

Synopsis

On Penguin's first day of play school, he won't share the slide with others until Crocodile teaches him a lesson.

About this title

From Booklist:

Reviewed with Jeanne Willis' Be Quiet, Parrot!.

Gr. 1-2. These two titles in a new series focus on behavior problems in a classroom of animals just starting school. In Be Quiet, Parrot! an overly exuberant parrot can't stop interrupting his friends, the story hour, and even show-and-tell, during which he eats Elephant's caramels and, unable to open his beak, is finally quiet. Take Turns, Penguin! follows the animals out to the playground at recess, where Penguin monopolizes the slide until finally fed-up Crocodile swallows Penguin as he whooshes down (he's immediately pulled out by his sneakers). Although both stories have awkward moments (Parrot! has a particularly abrupt ending), they are written in language that beginning readers can handle, aided by the clues in colorful, slightly naive pictures. But it's the subject matter that is most compelling here; educators and parents of primary-graders can use these titles to discuss concepts such as sharing and selfishness, and to encourage children to approach future conflicts by doing what the teacher suggests--"sort it out yourselves." Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From School Library Journal:

PreS-Gr 2-Each story teaches a lesson to a student who does not mind his manners. During his first day of school, Parrot cannot stop talking, even during storytime, until his beak is sealed shut after snatching some of Elephant's very sticky toffee. In Penguin, the young bird will not let any of his schoolmates have a turn on the playground slide. The teacher, an ostrich who literally has her head buried in the toy box, is too busy to take control of the situation. The other students, Guinea Pig, Rat, Elephant, Rabbit, and Crocodile, solve the problem by allowing Penguin to glide into Crocodile's open mouth at the bottom of the slide. In both stories, male animals are the naughty ones and the tattletale is the stereotypical "Weasel." The formulaic, flat illustrations do little to inspire these tepid stories. Neither the small format nor the radical solutions make these stories appropriate for the storyhour crowd.-Kathy M. Newby, Kokomo-Howard County Public Library, Russiaville, IN

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Carolrhoda Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1575054930
• ISBN 13: 9781575054933
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Birchall Mark