PICTURE BOOK - What REALLY Happened to Humpty?: From the Files of a Hard-Boiled Detective by Jeannie Franz Ransom

Illustrated by Stephen Axelsen

2009 Charlesbridge

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.90

My rating: 5

Endpapers

Title Page

Illustrations

1^st line/s:  "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall./ Humpty Dumpty had a great fall./Humpty Dumpty was pushed."

My comments:  This book cracks me up every time I read it (I love all the word play) and it works perfectly as an introduction to the mystery genre for my fourth graders.  This goes into my picture-books-with-a-little-more-intricateness/intricativity (how's that for taking a little touch of freedom with words? Try saying intricativity three times fast!)

Goodreads:  Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. Or, as his brother Detective Joe Dumpty thinks, was he pushed? This case isn't all its cracked up to be. Suspects are plenty (as are the puns) in this scrambled story of nursery rhyme noir. Was it Little Miss Muffet? There's something not right about her tuffet. Or could it have been Chicken Little, who's always been a little cagey? Or was it the Big Bad Wolf, who's got a rap sheet as long as a moonless night? Joe's on the beat and determined to find the truth. Readers of all ages will delight in the word play and hilarious illustrations in this mystery of what really happened to Humpty Dumpty on that fateful day. 

42. Punished! - David Lubar

For: Middle Grades (4-6)
Darby Creek Publishing, 2006
96 pgs.
Rating: 4

David Lubar is a kick. Try reading his blog without laughing. Sleeping Freshman Never Lie is still one of my favorites. And this not-too-lengthy story is fun and a perfect read-aloud for my fourth grade class. I shall begin the year with this! (And I've got to admit, the cover illustrations is a hoot, too!)

Logan tells this story about himself and his plight. One day he is a little too rude in the library, and an interesting gentleman puts a spell/charm/jinx/hex on him as PUNishment. Well, the kids can't say more than three words after that without including a pun. He just can't. So he discovers the steps he needs to take to rid himself of this charm. Those steps include upclose and personal dealings with oxymorons, anagrams, and palindromes. Right up my alley! Loved it. What a blast reading this aloud to the class, having them partake in a few wordplay challenges (let's include alliteration, similes, personification, onomotapoeia....) Terrific fun!