Revisit three wonderful stories from Newbery Medalist Cynthia Rylant and award-winning illustrator Mark Teague--with new cover art and design!
In this easy-to-read chapter book, Poppleton the pig charms young readers with his quirky adventures, whimsical ideas, and engaging community of friends! In three wonderful springtime stories, Poppleton tries his hand at spring cleaning, riding a bike, and staying up all night in his new tent.
These hilarious stories feature simple language, everyday experiences, and beautiful illustrations--perfect for beginning readers!
An author of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for children and young adults as well as an author and author/illustrator of picture books for children, Cynthia Rylant is recognized as a gifted writer who has contributed memorably to several genres of juvenile literature. A prolific author who often bases her works on her own background, especially on her childhood in the West Virginia mountains, she is the creator of contemporary novels and historical fiction for young adults, middle-grade fiction and fantasy, lyrical prose poems, beginning readers, collections of short stories, volumes of poetry and verse, books of prayers and blessings, two autobiographies, and a biography of three well-known children's writers; several volumes of the author's fiction and picture books are published in series, including the popular "Henry and Mudge" easy readers about a small boy and his very large dog.
Rylant is perhaps most well known as a novelist. Characteristically, she portrays introspective, compassionate young people who live in rural settings or in small towns and who tend to be set apart from their peers.
Awwww, these are so cute! Poppleton's reaction to the bike store is how I feel whenever I'm in a baby store. Too many choices and I want to run out screaming! :)
For some reason, Jesse loves books with pigs. I thought he might say that he was too old for this book when I started reading it to him, but listened the whole time and didn't say anything negative.
Poppleton spring cleans his house, only to end up with more stuff than he gave away. Poppleton wants a bike, only to change his mind due to too many choices. Poppleton puts up a tent to enjoy the finer things in life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Rylant writes about activities and problems that are relatable for most young children (riding a bike, being afraid of the dark, etc.). This chapter book series is perfect for emergent readers. My favorite chapter in this book is "Spring Cleaning." Poppleton cleans out some of his things he isn't using. He has a hard time parting with his beloved treasures so he asks his friend, Cherry Sue, to store them for him. When he takes his belongings up to Cherry Sue's attic, Poppleton finds some delightful items that Cherry Sue has been storing just a little too hard to resist. He ends up taking about as many things home from Cherry Sue's attic as he took over there to store. This chapter reminds me of my dear, sweet husband!
A fun series of stories about a pig doing spring cleaning, going out to buy a bike, and camping in his back yard. I especially liked how he went running screaming from the bike store when he was overwhelmed by all the choices. For example:
"Great," said Marsha (after Poppleton had finally picked out the bike he wanted). "What color?" "Red," croaked Poppleton. "What kind of red?" asked Marsha. "Red red," croaked Poppleton. "We have fifteen different kinds of red," said Marsha. "Let me show you." "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!" screamed Poppleton.
Poppleton is a series of short stories about a pig and his llama friend, Cherry Sue. No one does these short beginner stories quite like Cynthia Rylant! She is the master of "feel good" writing, and Mark Teague is a delightful combination with her storytelling. In three short stories, Poppleton does "spring cleaning" which really just turns out to be a trade with Cherry Sue, then tries to buy a bicycle but gets overwhelmed with the decision process, and finally goes camping and stays awake all night noticing the beautiful night world.
Had never heard of this series before it was suggested on goodreads. These are great, very similar in a way to the Frog and Toad series in that they're about the mundane made interesting, and there's this character just being its essential self, which leads to some silliness, and everyone around them sort of rolls their eyes but loves them for it anyway. My two and a half year old has requested this every storytime since we got it out of the library so we'll definitely be taking out more poppleton books in the future
This is a level three beginning reader book intended to introduce children to inspiring and information-based stories. There are three stories with simple-to-follow plot lines all about the same character, Poppleton the pig. The reader will see a rather static character in Poppleton, but I think the lack of depth is appropriate for the intended reader. I think the stories are relatable to children, but I wouldn’t go so far as to consider it inspiring.
I heard about this from the actress, Mary Louise Parker, when she was doing an TV interview. She said that she and her kids read the author's books together at bedtime. I was curious, so I checked it out, and I'm so glad I did because it's one of those children's books that really is written for kids, and the humor is so clever and sweet that adults will be pleasantly surprised and love Poppleton and his friends too.
I have not yet met a young child who doesn't love Poppleton (although I'm sure there must be some somewhere). Sweet stories about Poppleton and his friends for early readers that also work well read aloud to younger children.