Fourth Grade Journey

A Fourth Grade Teacher's Journey Through the World of Books

Sunday, September 7, 2014

The Croc Ate My Homework by Stephan Pastis...

How I Heard About It:  This was a purchase based on the cover.  I was shopping for new books when I came across this particular title.  The title and cover grabbed my attention and I thought I would give it a try.  Flipping through the pages it appeared to be a graphic novel that my students would enjoy.  

What It Is About:  To be honest, I was very surprised once I started this book. I thought it was going to be a graphic novel "story", but soon realized it is actually a collection of short comic strips.  I kept waiting for the story to begin, but it didn't and that is when it hit me that I was actually reading a collection of different comics.  All the comics had several characters in common.  There was a pig, a mouse, some crocs, some zebras, and a few other animal characters.  The comics are about their lives together, and apart, and each separate comic always has a quick punch line.  

What I Thought Of It:  As I mentioned, I was surprised by the format of this book.  I'm not a huge "Sunday Comic" reader and never read comic books as a child.  When I realized that this was a collection of comics, I was a bit disappointed, but kept reading on.  I did chuckle from time to time because there are some pretty funny lines throughout the book.  I'm not sure young readers will always get the humor, but that will probably depend not he individual reader.  Each comic "story" is quite short and made the book a quick read.  I did enjoy the illustrations that went with each comic.  Overall, this isn't the type of book I enjoy, but I was OK with it and glad that I finished it.

Who Should Read It:  The illustrations would be appealing to readers in third grade and above.  I'm not sure young readers will always "get" the story and/or humor used in the book.  I thought many of the jokes were for older kids and/or adults.  Being that it is a comic book it obviously has to be in the actual hands of the reader.  I have added the book to my "New Book" bookshelf so I will be curious to see if my readers pick it up and give it a try.  Happy Reading...

Rating:  3 STARS out of 5 Stars

No comments:

Post a Comment