Epossumondas

In this engaging "noodlehead" story, young Epposumondas just can't manage to bring gifts from his aunt home to his mother. "You don't have the sense you were born with!" he hears frequently. No matter what his friends suggest, this poor possum just cannot get it right. He carries butter home in a hat and drags a loaf of bread home by a string. But by the end of the story, Epossumondas has the last laugh. Cynthia Darlow narrates with gusto. In a nasal tone she is a well-intentioned but hopeless "sweet, little patootie." She has an animated, loving drawl as mother or aunt, and a wide repertoire of voices for each of the animal friends. A.R. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

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.