Rylant, C. (1995). Gooseberry Park. Harcourt Brace.
In my never ending quest to study the craft of author Cynthia Rylant, I read this chapter book selection entitled Gooseberry Park. This book has a few illustrations per chapter, some of which are full page, and others enhance the edge of a page. Although chapter books are typically known for their content and not much at all for their illustrations, Rylant’s appealing animal story is truly enhanced by the wonderfully humorous sketches done by illustrator Arthur Howard, who also illustrates for her Mr. Putter and Tabby series of easy readers. The facial expressions and body language tell the emotion of the depicted characters in an entertaining way. Touches are present of one of Rylant’s small crafting “trademarks” of using trademarked items, like a Mars bar or Oreos, or the names of real television shows which ties into the illustration of Norm from This Old House on the TV screen (which is particularly more funny to me as an adult.) Another crafting element Rylant continues to use is the whispering of ideas in parentheses to slightly continue a thought, for example: Stumpy spent her time as usual: housekeeping (well, a little); food collecting (she didn’t trust Murray’s hand-to-mouth existence); and admiring all the new treasures her children were bringing home. A third styling of Rylant also exist: her short and incomplete sentences that serve as purposeful punctuation of an idea, like: “And busy. Quite busy.”
The main storyline involves a man named Professor Albert who bought a hermit crab for a pet as a retiree who needed something more in his life, and then later on heard that a neighbor had a litter of puppies. Well, the professor ends up acquiring one, naming it Kona, who ends up making friends with a squirrel named Stumpy. Stumpy also befriends a quirky bat named Murray who delivers the comic relief of the story. Stumpy becomes a mom to a litter of babies, and when a bad ice storm hits the town, Kona becomes fret with worry about his friend and her babies who live in the park named Gooseberry Park. Kona, with the help of Gwendolyn the hermit crab, cracks out of the house and sets off to rescue Stumpy and her little ones under Murray’s guidance in the park. Once they make the treacherous journey back to the house, they join back up with Gwendolyn and go about stealing food from the professor’s kitchen to nurse the babies to good health, until the winter weather eases up. The point of view of the animals is the main focus of the story, and the semi-clueless professor who is not quite as sharp as the animals is still appealing. A fun, descriptive read aloud to share with the class!
In my never ending quest to study the craft of author Cynthia Rylant, I read this chapter book selection entitled Gooseberry Park. This book has a few illustrations per chapter, some of which are full page, and others enhance the edge of a page. Although chapter books are typically known for their content and not much at all for their illustrations, Rylant’s appealing animal story is truly enhanced by the wonderfully humorous sketches done by illustrator Arthur Howard, who also illustrates for her Mr. Putter and Tabby series of easy readers. The facial expressions and body language tell the emotion of the depicted characters in an entertaining way. Touches are present of one of Rylant’s small crafting “trademarks” of using trademarked items, like a Mars bar or Oreos, or the names of real television shows which ties into the illustration of Norm from This Old House on the TV screen (which is particularly more funny to me as an adult.) Another crafting element Rylant continues to use is the whispering of ideas in parentheses to slightly continue a thought, for example: Stumpy spent her time as usual: housekeeping (well, a little); food collecting (she didn’t trust Murray’s hand-to-mouth existence); and admiring all the new treasures her children were bringing home. A third styling of Rylant also exist: her short and incomplete sentences that serve as purposeful punctuation of an idea, like: “And busy. Quite busy.”
The main storyline involves a man named Professor Albert who bought a hermit crab for a pet as a retiree who needed something more in his life, and then later on heard that a neighbor had a litter of puppies. Well, the professor ends up acquiring one, naming it Kona, who ends up making friends with a squirrel named Stumpy. Stumpy also befriends a quirky bat named Murray who delivers the comic relief of the story. Stumpy becomes a mom to a litter of babies, and when a bad ice storm hits the town, Kona becomes fret with worry about his friend and her babies who live in the park named Gooseberry Park. Kona, with the help of Gwendolyn the hermit crab, cracks out of the house and sets off to rescue Stumpy and her little ones under Murray’s guidance in the park. Once they make the treacherous journey back to the house, they join back up with Gwendolyn and go about stealing food from the professor’s kitchen to nurse the babies to good health, until the winter weather eases up. The point of view of the animals is the main focus of the story, and the semi-clueless professor who is not quite as sharp as the animals is still appealing. A fun, descriptive read aloud to share with the class!
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