Epossumondas

June 17, 2002
Foolish Jack is cast here as a pampered, over-mothered Louisiana possum in a refreshingly retold version by New Orleans storyteller Salley (Who's That Trippin' over My Bridge?). This familiar story takes on new silliness as the improbable possum-child interacts with his human mother. And what a mother (fans of Stevens's To Market, to Market
will recognize her as the same model)! Stevens, in wickedly observant pencil and watercolor illustrations, characterizes the doting matriarch and her sister as matronly, doughy-cheeked ladies in cat-eye glasses and flowery dresses circa 1952. When the aunt sends cake home with Epossumondas, he scrunches it in his hand and ruins it. His mother chides him, "Oh, Epossumondas, you don't have the sense you were born with!" and advises him next time to carry cake on his head. When his auntie gives him butter, he unthinkingly follows his mother's advice regarding cake transport. "What you got, Epossumondas?" a raccoon asks, as the butter streams down the possum's face. "Butter," he replied. "Hmm. Don't look much like butter to me," Raccoon says drily. Salley narrates the series of mishaps with a storyteller's impeccable timing and a pleasing Southern patois that should inspire many spirited read-alouds. A note at book's end gives an overview of the tale's many incarnations all over the world. Ages 3-7.

Starred review from September 1, 2002
PreS-Gr 3-As explained in a "storyteller's note," this selection is the author's own variant of a classic "noodlehead" tale. Epossumondas is a young opossum who, like Lazy Jack, can never get anything right and transfers the advice that his human mother gives him from one situation to another, with hilarious results. When he carries butter in his hat because that's how she told him to carry cake, Mama explains that he should have wrapped it in leaves and cooled it in the brook. He tries that method on a "sweet little puppy," without much success. All of the elements of a good story are here: the establishment of the character and his shortcomings; the same mistake being made over and over; children's anticipation of what the character will do next; and the punch-line ending. Salley's text rolls off the page (and off the tongue) easily, and is accompanied by delightful watercolor and colored-pencil art that portrays a woeful, diapered Epossumondas and his big round Mama, complete with flowered dress, big red shoes, and purple-framed glasses. A fun storytime choice.-Jane Marino, Scarsdale Public Library, NY

Copyright 2002 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2002
PreS.-Gr. 3. Salley, a noted storyteller, has turned her trademark tale into a giggle-and-guffaw-inducing picture book. This story, known in Salley's Louisiana as Epaminondas, is transformed here with the title character becoming a cheery little possum. His mama and his auntie, however, are human, and Stevens has made sure they resemble Salley, whose flower prints, hats, and big glasses are familiar to many in the children's-literature world. Epossumondas visits his auntie, and each day she sends him home with something. He carries home a piece of cake scrunched in his hands; Alligator allows how it doesn't look much like cake. Mama tells Epossumondas that he doesn't have the sense he was born with and instructs him to carry the cake under his hat. When he gets some fresh butter and puts that under his hat, the trouble (and the fun) begins. Children (and grown-ups) will squeal with laughter, both at the possum's literal interpretations of Mama's advice and at Stevens' illustrations, with their waggish animals and sassy watercolor-and-digital interiors.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)