The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash by Trinka Hakes Noble

I remember having this book read to me both in school and out. Stephen Kellogg illustrated the book and his pictures are always fun and full of vivid imagery that helps kids picture what is going on, as often the books he illustrates for are full of wild and crazy events! I have an autographed book of his somewhere at home. One day in elementary school he came to a book fair and met all of his fans. Anyways, on to the book! It is a crazy recount of a field trip to a farm told by a girl to her mom. The mom starts off by saying, "How was your class trip to the farm?" and the girl replies, "Oh...boring...kind of dull... until the cow started crying." I can just picture the giggles and bewilderment in my class as they see the picture of a cow crying in the speech bubble above the girl's head. They'll be wondering, "Why would the cow be crying?" This is how every two pages of the book play out. A strange occurrence is mentioned and you're left wondering how it could have happened then a following explanation is given of what actually went down. This is basically the worst field trip ever from the teacher's standpoint. The students throw corn and eggs at each other, a farmer runs into haystacks with his tractor, a boa constrictor (that Jimmy sneaked in his bag) ate the farmer's wife's dirty laundry, and all the students just make a general mess of things. The teacher is often shown in the background laying on the ground covered in eggs with her mouth open in absolute terror. As the kids are finally shuffled on the bus by the teacher the kids realize Jimmy's boa was left on the farm, but that was OK with Jimmy since he had himself a new pet pig! At the conclusion of the book you see the girl and Jimmy taking the pig on a soap box derby race and the farmer and his wife sitting in the living room with their new pet, the boa, it curled up at their feet and the wife knitting a large "sock" outfit for it.

Needless to say, this book is a lot of fun to read to a group of kids. Perhaps the author was venting some of her frustration through writing, as this class truly is the most rambunctious group of kids you've ever seen. I would probably read this all the way up to 2nd or 3rd grade. It stimulates the mind with vivid imagery and exciting events. If any kids grew up in a farming community or have relatives that own a large plot of land this book would be particularly funny. It shows that even the dullest of situations can be livened up with a little humor and excitement! This would probably be a good book for the first day of class, maybe after an introduction since I'm a big animal fan. There are many subject applications that this could incorporated in. I could have the kids count the number of eggs being thrown, or have them practice their consonant sounds by mimicking the snake's hissssssssssssssssssss. Students could talk about any pets they might have or had, read the book as a group, then draw a picture about their favorite animal. Since this is a good example of what not to do on a field trip, I would be sure to stress the importance of listening to me just in case the book gives them any smart ideas!