Baloney (Henry P.)
Bibliography:
Scieszka, J., & Smith, L. (2005). Baloney (Henry P.). Puffin Books.
Plot Summary:
This book is about Henry P. Baloney and why he was late to class one too many times. The story starts with Henry's teacher asking why he was late once again, so Henry goes on to tell her his dilemma before school, or skzola. Henry had misplaced his zimulis but then finding it on his deski in the torakku, the torakku has driven past skzola, so henry had to jump off with his zimulis. Henry landed in a razzo launch pad where he accidentally launched off to another planet called Astrosus. The aliens of Astrosus wanted to eat Henry but charming them with drawings and writing, he was crowned Kuningas of their planet, but he accidentally called them "doofbrains", and had to escape again. Henry was going to be sent away on a flosser but messed with the controls and the flosser unlocked and Henry fell out. He then recalled gravity and realizing he didn't know what it meant as they hadn't learned it in skzola yet, he decided to go to class with seven minutes to spare. His teacher didn't believe him, but at least he was ready to write a tall tale in skzola that day, but he forgot his zimulis.
Personal Connection:
I enjoyed this book, it's cute, funny, a brain teaser, and a classic premise that reminds you and so many other things. I really liked how they used made-up words for common things like a pencil or a desk, it was cool to read the work and by looking at the pictures, interpret the meaning. It also made the story not as easy a read, because you really have to use context clues and follow along to understand. For me at least, it's easy to just read but not comprehend, like I'm able to read the word on the page, but as soon as I get to the next line, it's left my head, the words have no meaning for me sometimes. But in this book, it's interesting because I don't know what a "zimilus" is without being able to look at the page and figure it out myself. I genuinely enjoyed this book, it was kind of a refresher for me to get my brain juices flowing again because in order to comprehend or simply read, I have to know what the words mean, which involves a little extra investigating.
Classroom Connection:
This is a great book to use in the classroom, as it can be used for a lesson of cause and effect, predicting, and even using context clues to find the meaning of something. For an activity on cause and effect, the students could have a race where, in groups, they're given a sheet or list of causes and they have to find the effects, the first group to identify all the effects of the listed causes wins a prize. For predicting, the teacher could use this book in a read-aloud and activate the student's imagination and have them try to predict what happens next and next and next, while probably having some fun and laughs as it's a bit outlandish and would be hard to predict. My favorite usage of the book would have to be using it as a model for using context clues. There are so many silly, made-up words in this book but if the student pays attention to the story and using the images, they can figure out what's being talked about, which is useful in defining words, understanding more meanings, and learning through images and pictures. This book would be a great tool in many ways in the classroom and would defiantly be a fun read for students.
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