Incredibly, Norton Juster is still writing. (I had a primary school teacher who used his best known story, The Phantom Tollbooth, as a TEXTBOOK!)
Book Title: Sourpuss and Sweetie Pie
Author: Norton Juster
Publisher: Scholastic
Date: 2008
Illustrations: finger-paint-like paintings by Chris Raschka
Length: pages not numbered, but it's short
ISBN: 0439929431
When I saw this picture book on a library book cart, I couldn't believe my eyes. A new book by Norton Juster? Maybe a family member inherited the pen name? No...Scholastic says this really is a new book by the author of The Phantom Tollbooth.
Sourpuss and Sweetie Pie doesn't take long to read, and for adults it doesn't really offer any new insights. Sometimes a little girl behaves like a "Sourpuss" and sometimes like a "Sweetie Pie." Her clothes change to match her moods (Sweetie Pie wears warm colors in swirly prints, and Sourpuss wears clashing or cool colors in stripes or angular prints).
Juster shares lots of samples of things children say in each mood, including a few that can be read either way ("You're my best friend, Nanna. Except for Sara..."). Parents can read through the book with children, giving due consideration to the intonation that could give each line an "angry" or "whiny tone" and the behavior that's likely to make each line even more annoying.
It's not as clever as The Phantom Tollbooth, and it's aimed at much, much younger readers (or pre-readers), but I'm so delighted to find this writer still writing that I had to share the good news. I'm even tempted to add this to the ever-expanding "Child Safety" theme here, because, in certain situations too dire to contemplate, having practiced basic Verbal Self-Defense just might protect your child's safety.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment