Thursday, August 21, 2008

STINKY



By Chris Wilson
Editor-in-Geek



AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR:
Eleanor Davis
PUBLISHER: Toon Books
FORMAT: Hardcover
PAGES: 40
COLOR: Full color
ISBN-10: 0-9799238-4-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-9799238-4-5


STORY SYNOPSIS
Stinky the monster and Wartbelly his pet toad are a couple of dirty little guys. They root and play in filth, eat pickled eggs and pickled bananas, and enjoy all things … well, stinky. The two are wary of the very scary, and very clean, kids on the other side of the swamp. He has no use for the sanitary little buggers; he steers clear.

That is, until he discovers that a little boy made a tree house right in the middle of Stinky’s swamp. He vows to rid his world of the boy. Stinky tries his best to shoo the child – hiding his tools, stinking up the treehouse, dressing as a ghost – but to no avail. When the boy loses his hat, Stinky finds it and throws it into the local bottomless pit. Stinky’s conscience gets the best of him when he realizes it was the boy’s lucky hat, so Stinky tries to retrieve it, falling into the pit. It is the boy who saves him and an unlikely friendship is formed.


REVIEW
Toon Books creates comics for emergent readers, ages 4 and older and was started by Pulitzer Prize-winning comic creator Art Spiegelman (Series Advisor) and NEW YORKER Art Director François Mouly (Editorial Director).

Never before have we seen comics designed for emergent readers and STINKY fits the bills for a kid’s first comic. Mixing stink and mud, toads, slugs and possums together with a helping of diabolical plot to scare the pants off a little boy, and you have a story that children will delight in experiencing over and over again.


ART REVIEW
The art is delicate and creamy, colorful but slightly muted. There are 1 to 4 panels per page, with small amounts of dialogue. Click here to see some sample pages.


AGE RECOMMENDATION
Chris’ Rating: Emergent readers
Publisher’s Rating: Ages 4 and older

STINKY is a perfect concoction for very young children, and a good primer for readers who have just learned to read and those who cannot yet read by themselves.


IN THE CLASSROOM
STINKY is an obviously choice for the early childhood and kindergarten classroom.


CHRIS’ RECOMMENDATION:
Highly Recommended
Reading should be fun and enjoyable; reading should be a treat for children, a bright moment in their inquisitive lives. STINKY provides that experience for emergent readers.

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