Herbie Jones and the Second Grade Slippers

August 1, 2006
K-Gr 2 -In this easy chapter book, Mr. S announces that beginning the following day, the children will wear slippers in class. This sounds like fun to most of them, but not to the new kid, Roy, who doesn -t own any. Herbie solves the problem by sharing his slippers and his sister -s old ones -purple mules with tiny flowers -with Roy; each boy wears one slipper from each pair. There -s a valuable lesson here about not laughing at others. The adults (all male) are depicted as sympathetic and cool, and the dialogue rings true. But wouldn -t a savvy teacher be prepared for a circumstance like Roy -s? Better humorous books for this audience include Barbara Park -s -Junie B. Jones - series (Random), Cynthia Rylant -s -Henry and Mudge - titles (S & S), and Kline -s own -Horrible Harry - books (Viking). Sorry, Herbie, this one doesn -t make the grade." -Kate Kohlbeck, Randall School, Waukesha, WI"

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