Holy Guacamole! Skippito is here!!

Skippyjon Jones

Written by Judy Schachner

Illustrated by Judy Schachner

Penguin Group, 2009

21 pages

Fantasy/Multicultural

 

                I was working the book fair at my son’s school when the visibly agitated librarian said “I am not going to have enough Skippyjon Jones books.”  Since it seemed to be a big problem, I asked “Who is that?”  “Have you not read any of the Skippyjon Jones books?” she asked.  I looked sheepish and said “No.”  She handed me the first book out of the box, and I fell in love with this little Siamese cat who is convinced he is a Chihuahua.  In this book he goes on a rescue mission to help his amigos retrieve their stolen frijoles.

                The cartoon charcoal and water color illustrations are really cute.  The characters have really big heads and big eyes emphasizing their youth and wide-eyed enthusiasm for the adventures.  The colors are bright and really deep.  The use of blue, black, red and white all pop off the page.  The text is large and bold.  Some of the text uses images to represent words - where the reader recognizes the object rather than the text version.  Much of the rest of the book is written with the text on one page and the illustrations on the other. 
 

                A preschool through first or second grade reader will enjoy this book.  It has bright colors and is easy to read and understand.  He or she will enjoy it more if the Spanish voices and pronunciation are used correctly when read aloud.  For a language arts lesson, the class can incorporate English and Spanish.  This will also go well with any ESL students that may be in the class.  The students can learn from each other.  There are word cards in the back of the book with the word in English, then Spanish, so I would let Spanish children teach the English students as a game.  Using this book in a class lesson for math will be easy because the children can count the beans and amigos Skippyjon has.  This book can also be used as a social studies and geography lesson to teach about banditos and where in the world our sword-fighting Friskito might find them.  Skippyjon Jones has won the following awards:

·         E.B. White Read Aloud Award, from The Association of Booksellers for Children (2004).

·         The New Hampshire State Library's 2005 Ladybug Picture Book Award

·         The 2005 Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award

·         The 2006 Colorado Council International Reading Association (CCIRA) Colorado Children's Book Award for Picture Book

·         The National Education Association also named the book one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children." Based on a 2007 online poll.

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