| A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever |
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What You Need to Know:
• A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever is a funny, light-hearted book about two friends week spent at the
grandparents house.
• This picture book would make a great read aloud for all ages, individually or in a group setting.
• The volume of text is not overwhelming, and the humor appeals to many levels of maturity.
• The pictures are amusing and cartoon-like for the youngest reader, and the satire is sophisticated enough to be
enjoyed by the older readers. |
Sweet Book Summary:
Marla Frazee has written and illustrated this delightful picture book that chronicles the week Eamon and James (a couple of boys) spend going to Nature Camp, while living with Bill and Pam (Eamon's grandparents). Bill constantly tries to impart his knowledge of Antarctica and his love of birds, penguins in particular, to which the boys seem to pay no mind. Nature Camp tries to teach them the beauty of their surroundings, to which they also seem to pay no mind. ("I think it should be called Sit-Around Camp", says Eamon) After a week of what seems like a lot of sitting around, watching tv, eating and only going outside to attend camp, the conclusion actually has the boys spending an evening enjoying the sunset and moonrise and creating a whole Antarctic community of penguins, icebergs and whales out of beach materials. They did hear what was being taught!
I like Frazee's portrayal of Bill and Pam. They are laid back, happy to have the boys make their own decisions, all the while teaching them and taking care of them, without jamming anything down their throats. They really let the boys have a wide berth, don't force them to do much, and in the end the boys have absorbed it all. Not to mention, the great humor that lies on each page. Frazee pictures are often, comically, in direct contradiction with her text. For example, when James arrives, we see him surrounded by what looks like a year's worth of his stuff and the text reads, "...and finally James arrives, with just a couple of his belongings." The text goes on to read,"...he had never been away from home for an entire week, so he was very sad when his mother drove away," directly above a picture of an ecstatic James waving goodbye enthusiastically. Overall, a winning picture book! |
Author: Marla Frazee Illustrator: Marla Frazee Published: 2008, 40 pages
Themes: Friendship, Family Life, Grandparents, Excellent Read-Aloud, Humor, Camp, Books for Boys |
| This recommendation was written by: Melissa Y. |
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Capture the Flag
