Product Description

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #395682 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 40 pages

Amazon.com Review
Miss Darling of room 22 is a very special teacher indeed. When asked by her students if they could have "a truly awesome classroom pet," Miss Darling replied, "Yes! Or better yet,/Let's choose a whole pet alphabet." So, from Amanda Anaconda to the zorilla, an unexpected pet (the class thought a zorilla would be a kind of gorilla--"a warmhearted ape with plenty of spunk./Surprise! A zorilla is only a skunk."), room 22 becomes a veritable menagerie of some rather unusual critters. Take the electric eel, for example.

Please don't ask to feel
Our electric eel,
Because, if you bug him,
We cannot unplug him.

Or the octopus, a geometry expert that tries to fold itself into a hexaflexagon. Then there's the surfing newt, the kissing yak ("Yuck!"), and the turkey that, in Thanksgiving-shirking disguise, somehow ends up as the assistant principal.

Judy Sierra, award-winning author of such superb picture books as Counting Crocodiles and Antarctic Antics: A Book of Penguin Poems strikes gold again with this playful collection of animal alphabet verses. Her text is charmingly accompanied by Barney Saltzberg's (creator of such marvels as Mrs. Morgan's Lawn) comfy, cartoonish full-spread pictures, many of which include hints of upcoming animals. Warning: students everywhere will soon be begging their teachers for pet fleas, vultures, and jaguarundi. (Ages 6 to 10) --Emilie Coulter

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3-Classroom pets? Room 22 has an abundance of them-one for every letter of the alphabet, from cat to quahog, from anaconda to katydid. Each 4-to-12 line poem portrays some of the common behaviors and personality characteristics inherent to each creature. There's a lunch-stealing lemur, a bad-smelling warthog, and a parrot that gets sent to the principal's office. Saltzberg's colored-pencil and watercolor cartoons meld well with the humorous tone of the text. Each one-to-two page spread is filled with energy, showing the featured animal and the multiethnic students that populate Miss Darling's classroom. Most of the poems are in rhymed couplets, but a few tamper with the meter. Occasional word choices, e.g., "moose"/"boots," "muscle"/"octopuzzle" are a bit of a stretch. Overall, though, this engaging collection is sure to entice listeners to create a zoo (real or imagined) of their own and perhaps to compose original poems as well. A good choice for animal units, plus useful for early readers still working on their alphabet skills.
Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Miss Darling's students probably had a hamster in mind as classroom pet, but their teacher enthusiastically suggests a whole pet alphabet. There's Claude the Cat and Our Dog Doug, Katy Katydid, Vincent Vulture, and Will Warthog. The pets are presented alphabetically, and each one is introduced by a colorful classroom scene and a clever poem narrated by the students: Amanda Anaconda is "nicer than an aardvark or an ant or armadillo, and at story time, each one of us can use her for a pillow." Saltzberg's humorous double-page spread shows Miss Darling reading from Big Book of Animals as the children lounge in a slithery circle formed by Amanda. A lively choice to introduce or reinforce letter identification, this will also work well in conjunction with a unit on animals or a zoo field trip. Lauren Peterson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Customer Reviews

A Fun-Filled Book of Poems
Miss Darling is an inspired teacher and when her students ask for a class pet, she turns the search into a class lesson, reciting a poem about an animal for each letter of the alphabet. Are they interested in Amanda Anaconda or Boring Beetle Bill...the Quiet Quohog or the Umbrella Bird...? Judy Sierra has written a funny, witty, very imaginative book of poems that will delight and amuse young children, as each letter of the alphabet is used to describe and give a little information about some familiar and many unfamiliar animals. Barney Saltzberg's colorful, expressive illustrations add just the right touch to each verse and children will enjoy looking for the hidden animals in each picture. This is a perfect book for youngsters aged 3-7 and a wonderful addition to all home libraries.

Fun for All!
While most classroom's have a pet, the kids in Room 22 have a pet for each letter of the alphabet. From Amanda Anaconda to a zorilla (what's a zorilla?) we get to meet all of the classroom pets via Judy Sierra's humorous verse. Barney Saltzberg's playful illustrations are a fitting match with the witty text. My personal favorite is 'E'. What's yours?

SO Cute!
This book is so cute. The illustrations are so adorable. I bought this book for my friend's little sister's birthday and she loves it! The story is fun, too!