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Jeju Reads

Beginners Course

Spring 2012

Reading List

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Kevin Henkes

Wemberly Worried: Wemberly worried about spilling her juice, about shrinking in the bathtub, even about snakes in the radiator. She worried morning, noon, and night. And Wemberly worried about one thing most of all: her first day of school. But when she meets a fellow worrywart in her class, Wemberly realizes that school is too much fun to waste time worrying!

Sheila Rae, the Brave: Sheila Rae is a brave little mouse who is not afraid of anything, not even spiders. But one day she decides to walk home a different way and gets a little lost. Luckily for her, someone is there to save her!

Owen: Owen had a fuzzy blanket that he took everywhere he went. But when he started school, his parents decided that he was

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too old to keep carrying his blanket. Luckily, he was able to come up with a solution that made everyone happy.

A Weekend with Wendell: Poor Sophie has to spend the weekend with Wendell, who always wants to do things HIS way. Sophie has to find a way to show him what it means to be a good friend.

Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum loves her name, but when she goes to school, the other children giggle. “Her name is so long,” said Jo. “It scarcely fits on her name tag,” said Rita, pointing.

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Poor Chrysanthemum; even though her father says her name is “precious and priceless and fascinating and winsome,” how will she persuade the other children in her class? Perhaps Mrs. Twinkle can come to the rescue!

Jessica

“There is no Jessica,” said Ruthie’s parents. But of course there was. She ate with Ruthie, played with Ruthie, and was sorry when Ruthie was bad. Nobody could see Jessica—except Ruthie. When it came time for Ruthie to go to school, Jessica went with her. Her parents hoped Ruthie would find a friend at school who would replace Jessica. They were in for a happy) surprise!

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Chester’s Way

There is only one way for Chester to do things—his own way. “You definitely have a mind of your own,” said Chester’s mother. “That’s one way to put it,” said Chester’s father. Luckily Chester’s best friend, Wilson, likes doing things just the same way as Chester. So all is well. That is, until Lilly moves into the neighborhood. Because Lilly, as we all know, has her own way of doing things!

Lilly’s Big Day

Mr. Slinger has big news. He’s getting married. Married! Lilly has big plans. She’s going to be the flower girl. (Lilly has always wanted to be a flower girl. Even more than a surgeon or a diva or a hairdresser.) But what’s the biggest, the best, the most perfect thing of all? You’re invited to the wedding — so start reading!

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William Steig

Doctor DeSoto: Doctor DeSoto is a mouse dentist who treats all sorts of animals and their ailments. But what will he and his wife do when a fox comes to visit? He claims to have a toothache, but Dr. DeSoto is worried that he is going to get eaten.

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble: One rainy day, Sylvester finds a pebble that will grant him any wish. But he gets scared on his way home and accidentally makes a wish that will change his life forever!

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Rotten Island: What would you do if you lived on an island where everything was rotten? Here, mountains spew lava, the ocean is poison, and plants grow barbed wire.

The Amazing Bone: Pearl is trying to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up, when she discovers a magical bone that can talk and make any noises that it wants to. But will Pearl and her amazing bone be able to outsmart a band of robbers that wants to cook her for dinner?

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The Toy Brother

A big brother and little brother reverse roles-literally-in this Middle Ages take on "When the cat's away, the mice will play." Know-it-all Yorick wants to be an alchemist like his father, so when his parents

leave on a week-long journey, he plays in the lab. Alas, poor Yorick concocts a shrinking formula, and soon he's the size of Lynne Reid Banks's Indian in the Cupboard. While he waits for his father to return and whip up an antidote, Yorick depends on his younger brother, Charles, whom he has always disdained; the two antagonists bond after sweet-natured Charles builds Yorick a dollhouse, saves him from a hailstorm and entertains him by "dress[ing] the goat up in one of his mother's best outfits." The prolific

Steig keeps the Dark Ages light with his penchant for non sequiturs and colorful if challenging words (such as "alackaday" and "transmogrification"). Watercolors of chunky wooden furniture, heavy eating utensils and knee-length tunics set the tone for this costume comedy.

Shrek

Argh, it's Shrek, spitting flame and venting smoke, even uglier than his parents, who kick him goodbye and send him off in the world. He's off on a linear journey to find his true love, foretold by a witch after she recovers from the sight of him. In a maniacal version of the hero's quest, he finds helpers and perils along the way: a dragon, a dream, a donkey, and more. The text rolls right along, here breaking into rhyme, there into knightish talk ("You there, varlet . . . why so blithe?"), there into outright silliness ("Pheasant, peasant? What a pleasant present!") Perfectly pleased with his hideous self, Shrek finally gains entrance to the ugly princess' castle, and after an operatic duet, the two are united, the bride carrying a cactus for a bouquet. The pictures are just as nutty as the story, blending with the text so thoroughly, sometimes echoing, sometimes expanding it, that it's hard to imagine one without the other.

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It's all here for Steig fans: magic, animism, chaos, self-reliance, hope, and fulfillment, and from one offbeat episode to the next, it all hangs together to make Shrek's destiny seem just right.

Patricia Polacco

Thunder Cake: A little girl living on a farm gets over her fear of

thunder, with the help of her Babushka (grandmother), who teaches here how to make Thunder Cake.

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My Rotten, Redheaded Older Brother: Patricia’s older brother Richard could always do everything better. Find out what happened when Patricia decided to wish on a star to become better than him at everything.

Chicken Sunday: The story of three children who don’t have much in common except for the love of an older woman who lives in their neighborhood, and how they save up money to buy her something special.

The Keeping Quilt: Anna’s mother makes a quilt out of scraps of clothes, and it becomes an important family keepsake that gets passed from generation to generation.

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We’re reading.

See you in the summer.