Spring 09 LLED, Altoona discussion

Wiggle N Giggle Award:

This award is for the most hilarious children’s literature book. The book has to include a comical character and event. The book has to contain a never-ending hysterical story line. However, in order to receive the award, the book winner has to contain some sort of lesson to be learned or educational purpose. This book award is geared toward students that are in elementary school (kindergarten – sixth grade). The Wiggle N Giggle Award is open to all genres. It could be fiction, nonfiction, picture book, etc. The award is covering a wide range of readers, from emergent to fluent readers, so I suspect there will be a variety of books.

Children seem to associate better with books that are funny and interesting. It is a lot easier to recall a funny educational story than series of facts in a textbook. According to Griffith, “Literature is ‘aesthetic’; it gives pleasure” (Griffith, 23). The Wiggle N Giggle Award is geared towards an audience who wants to read for fun and meaning.

The final date for nominations will be March 5,2009.

Works Cited:
Griffith, K. (2005). Writing essays about literature. Florence, KY:Wadsworth.

I am nominating "Oh My Gosh, Mrs. McNosh!" for this Wiggle n Giggle award. This book is written by Sarah Weeks. The illustrations are by Nadine Bernard Westcott. This story book is about Mrs. McNosh and her dog. They went for a walk one day in the park, when her dog got away from her. Mrs. McNosh followed her dog through flowers, a lake, a wedding buffet, a stone wall, and a water fountain. Everytime Mrs. McNosh would think that she caught her dog, she caught something else. At once, she gave up and went home crying. As she opened her door, her dog was laying on the floor. Her dog had came inside through the doggy door. This is a hilarious book to read. The pictures are wonderful and make you feel as you are right where the story is taking place.

I nominate "Giggle, Giggle, Quack." by Doreen Cronin for the Wiggle n Giggle Award. The story is about how Farm Browns animals trick his brother into doing all kinds of silly things for them. From ordering pizza and using the good towels to dry the pigs. Students are sure to giggle at all the silly events that take place. Great book for read alouds, independent reading, even guided reading! Every teacher should include "Giggle, GIggle, Quack."in their library.

Genre: Picture Book
Audience: Ages 4-8
Title: A Diary of a Fly
Illustrator:Harry Bliss
Author:Doreen Cronin

I nominate "Diary of a Fly" written by, Doreen Cronin. This book was nominated #1 bestsellers from the New York Times. This book is hilarious. The story is about a fy who dreams of becoming a superhero because she believes that she has all the skills needed. Through her transition she starts school and even makes two best friends, Spider and Worm. The book is told in diary form. It starts off with June 9th. This might be a downfall for some students to grasp the concept because it is not told in an exact order. The illustrations are amazing, it makes you feel like you are in the book. When I read this book I laughed and laughed and laughed. For example, Spider tells fly that he is an important part of the food chain. However, Fly didn't know what the food chain was. Fly actually felt important until worm told him what the food chain was. Than Fly was not so excited. It is the context of the book that makes this book so great. There is also multiple series that goes with this book. I think it would make a great "wiggle and giggle" award but also a great series to put into a classroom!

I nominate "Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!" by Dr. Seuss. This book is one of my all time favorites! Not only is the book funny and entertaining, the illustrations are awesome and the story behind the book is fascinating. Dr. Seuss had begun writing this book, but he died before he could finish it. Jack Prelutsky and Lane Smith took on the project, finished the book, and had it published for him. The story is about Diffendoofer School and its wonderful faculty. Each faculty member teaches something funny in a very quirky way. The lyrical text and made up words are fun to read and listen to. The illustrations are comical as well. Kids love Dr. Seuss and they would absolutely love this book. It would be appropriate for all elementary ages and would be great for read aloud! I feel certain the children would be controlling and taking over the story.

I nominate Timothy Tunny Swallowed a Bunny by Bill Grossman and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. This book is a composition of short, hilarious poems along with an illustration for each one. If you can get past the front cover and the first poem without cracking a smile or laughing you are stronger than I. The illustrations that go along with EVERY POEM are phenomenal. This book is an easy read, and the short poems keep readers' attentions. This could be used for a read-aloud or independent reading in the classroom. It is a must have for every class!

Timothy Tunny Swallowed a Bunny

I nominate "King Bob's New Clothes" by Dom DeLuise. 1996. This book was illustrated by Christopher Santoro. This is a spin-off of "The Emperor's New Clothes" with a hilarious twist. In this story, King Discombobulated (they call him Bob for short) buys into the promises of smooth-talking tailors, Wear and Tear Kannive, until a peasant lad opens his eyes. King Bob finally realizes that he has been walking around naked. This is a superb book with such a comical side. It is hilarious yet still teaches a valuable lesson which is why this should be chosen for the award.
Santoro gives each detail and personality an evenly, brightly lit perspective. The facial expressions are so amusing, you will laugh on each page. When you read this book, make sure you have a tissue ready because you will laugh so hard, tears will start to fly!
This book deserves the Wiggle N Giggle Award because it is truly a comedy worth cherishing.
Please consider this book for your award. Once you read it, you will want to share it with everyone. But again, I remind you, have a tissue handy!

This book was designed for ages 4-8 and would be ideal for a teacher in the classroom because it has a great moral at the end. Although it is a comical book, it still tells a heartfelt story that leaves a good message in the reader's mind.
Again, please consider this very laughable, fun-loving book for your award!

I nominate Somebody Catch My Homework by David L. Harrison and illustrated by Betsy Lewin. This is a very creative and funny mix of poems all about the life for a student. There are poems about missing the bus, a wild chase after homework stolen by a cat, dreaded cursive writing, horrible cafeteria food, the excruciating homework assignment of writing essays, and many more. You will definitely love this book! As we get older, we seem to forget what it is like to be a little kid in the classroom. This is sure to bring back some funny memories, which is why it is so important to read. We can not forget what it is like to be a student if we are to be great teachers.
The pictures work very well with the text, as they are childlike and resemble what the students would draw.
This is a quick and easy read. Trust me, you will not want to put this one down!

For the Wiggle'N'Giggle Award, I nominate Goodnight Opus by Berkeley Breathed as the silliest children's book. This book tells the story of what happens when Opus's Grandma falls asleep reading a story and Opus continues the book but departs from the text. He wishes all kinds of funny things goodnight, including a big purple beast that lives under his bed. He even travels to the milky way, where he finds cows! The illustrations are very funny and colorful but change to black and white when Grandma is awake and keeping control of all the fun. The book is written in rhymes so the story flows nicely as well. I think this book would work well for kids K-4 because it is a fun story that most of them could relate to. At this young age most of them know what it is like to have a bedtime story read to them and have probably imagined putting a twist on one of their own bedtime stories.

A Giraffe and a Half by Shel Silverstein is an excellent choice for the Wiggle n Giggle Award for the most hilarious book in children’s literature. A Giraffe and a Half is a wildly funny rhyming story about a giraffe who gets stretched by another half who can get dressed up and do all sorts of insane tricks that a little boy makes up. At one point in the story, Silverstein’s giraffe and a half is walking around with “a rat in his hat, looking cute in his suit, a rose on his nose, a bee on his knee, glue on his shoe, playing toot on a flute with a chair in his hair,” and so on. Not only does this nonsensical rhyming book contain hysterical events and characters, it also has excellent illustrations that depict the insane things that are happening to this giraffe. Silverstein uses simple but excellent black and white line drawings to show readers exactly what’s happening to this giraffe. This hilarious story will have children in stitches by the end of it, which is why I nominate it for the Wiggle n Giggle Award.

"The Big Brag" by Dr. Seuss! The Hare and the Bear are in a debate to see who is the greatest animal of all, and the Worm "shows" the reader that there's no point in fighting and dwelling on things that don't matter. This picture book shows students courtesy, a behavior that every teacher can appreciate in his/her classroom. Fits grades K-3, is hilarious thanks to the witty little worm, and the battle of the hare and bear, and is suitable for audiences everywhere.

I nominate "Piggie Pie!" by Margie Palatini. This is a comical book about a witch named Gritch who wants to make a piggie pie. The story has a familiar song throughout the text, Old MacDonald, which helps make the story amusing. The humor of the story is brought out by the illustrations done by Howard Fine. Fine creates some amusing places for the pigs to hide, creating humor. Palatini gives Gritch funny expressions, making it fun to read or to be read to. I would say the lesson to be learned in this story would be teamwork and cooperation. All the pigs and farm animals work together in keeping Gritch away from the pigs.

Dear Dom DeLuise,
I am currently a junior at Penn State Altoona studying in the field of Elementary Education. This semester our class is learning about children’s language and literature. We were given an assignment to keep a catalogue of children’s literature books. We were to make our own award and make specific specifications to be an award nominee. The rest of the class was to nominate books for the award. The award that I chose to do was the “Wiggle N’ Giggle” award. This award is given to the most hilarious children’s literature. The literature had to have an educational purpose that could be used in the classroom. After receiving each student’s final nomination for the award, I had to choose which one fit the best. I decided to choose your comical children’s literature, King Bob’s New Clothes.
There are multiple reasons that make your book the most worthy of receiving this award. For first and foremost, your book is absolutely phenomenal. Throughout the book the reader is left with a sense of voice coming from the text. There were uses of other literary elements as well including: dialogue, irony, creative license, figurative language, mood, and a lot of imagery. The story itself connects wonderfully with any audience. Everyone has been tricked once in his or her life. The flow of the story really brings in the reader to want to keep turning the pages to see the next comical element. I enjoyed the historical correlation to “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. You were really able to make all of your characters come alive. According to Ralph Fletcher in Craft Lessons, “if you want your readers to care about your characters, they have to be able to picture them.” You were able to allow the reader to walk in the shoes of the characters in the story and develop a feeling of their individual personalities.
I want to thank you again for your comical book. Congratulations on winning the Wiggle N’ Giggle award and I will be sure to use your book in my future literary classroom.
Sincerely,
Krystal -----
Penn State