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The frazzle-haired schoolboy in Cali and Chaud’s (I Didn’t Do My Homework Because…) latest picture book has an excuse for every delay that happened to him before school.
He couldn’t eat breakfast because gigantic black ants ate it. Ninjas attacked him on the way to the bus stop--but that didn’t matter because the bus was mistaken for a banana, so a King Kong-sized ape grabbed it.
Not letting these delays deter him, he heads out to school on his skateboard, but he’s kidnapped by mole people through a sidewalk manhole. He does escape from their underground lair but then he shrinks and falls into a pond.
His tall, lanky female teacher interrupts his outrageous story several times to ask if that is why he was late for school, but the student says no and continues his tale. The almost full-page illustrations show how he was caught up in a parade with elephants, how he finally ate some breakfast with fairy-tale Gretel (they eat the gingerbread house) and how he used his gadget belt to escape from a giant spider web.
Tagging along with the uniformed boy is a concerned-looking pet wiener dog. To add to the fantastical aspects of the story, the authors include appearances by Yeti, Bigfoot, and dinosaurs. If the boy’s story is to be believed, the teacher needs proof. “I see…and how am I supposed to believe this story?”
Observant readers will have noticed proof in the boy’s brown leather backpack. If they missed that, they will see the proof staring back at the teacher as she demands an answer from the boy.
This book is not as wide or tall as a regular picture book, therefore it may attract older children who are learning to read as it doesn’t look as “babyish” as picture books.
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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to School...