|Image from BarnesandNoble.com|
Meet Mr. Putney’s menagerie of animal friends in this pun-tastic book. Each page features a riddle in question form about the name of one of Mr. Putney’s friends. Turn the page to find out the answer. Can you guess which of Mr. Putney’s friends has cold feet? Why, it’s the socktopus, of course! How about the messiest lunch companion? The slobster!
Agee’s simple, yet quirky style adds a delightful atmosphere to this riddle-filled book. This book is a celebration of puns, rather than a book with animal facts, so the anthropomorphic animals, such as the hyena in a trench coat (a spyena) and the knitting walrus (a woolrus), are appropriate and silly. The text is direct. The answers to the riddles come after the page turns, giving the reader plenty of time to study the illustration and make guesses.
I really love that this book engages kids in word play in such a fun way that they probably won’t even realize it. Read the story slow enough to let the kids guess the answers to the riddles. After you read the story, ask kids to come up with a riddle about a new friend of Mr. Putney’s and draw a picture to go along with it.
This book will be a hit with kids who love to tell jokes. Pair this book with Guess Again! for a riddle themed unit or storytime. Ask each child to tell their favorite joke. Fold a piece of paper in half and have the children write the joke or riddle on the top flap and inside have them write the answer or the punch line. Illustrate and hang on the walls.