The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash

Rating:
Summary: Think of it as "Memento" done as a picture book
Review: Long ago, when I was young and innocent in the ways of the world, I first heard of "The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash" on the popular PBS television show Reading Rainbow. After LeVar Burton introduced the child viewers to the nature of farms and farm life we listened to a reading of this book and I took a great deal of pleasure in its pictures and storytelling. Unfortunately, television was then (and remains today to be) incapable of displaying this book properly. Like all Kellogg illustrated creations, the story is filled to the brim with tiny delightful details that compete with one another for the viewer's attention. Reading this book on my own some twenty odd years later, I can finally settle down and enjoy this combination of delicate text and fantastic illustrations as I was menat to all those years ago.

A girl comes home to make herself a sandwich and chat with her mom after a long day on a class trip to the farm. The girl's story works backwards at the beginning. Slowly, tantalizingly, she leaks out the details of the trip. After all, it didn't really get exciting until the cow started crying. When asked, the girl admits that the cow was crying because the farmer hit a haystack on top of her. Why did he do that? Well, he was distracted by the pigs that had overrun the bus. And so it goes. Slowly the mother gets the full story of how fellow classmate Jimmy took his boa constrictor (a dew-eyed sweetie pie of a snake) to the farm and how all havok broke loose as a result. In the end, Jimmy left the boa there and adopted one of the pigs that never left the bus. The parting shot is of our narrator, suited up with Jimmy in silver racing outfits, barreling down a park path with the new pet pig in the back seat.

Kids reading this story get the double pleasure of watching chaos reigning in a farm setting and of reading a rollicking good story. Is there anything a kid likes more than to see a teacher covered in eggs? Or to view the cute animals that make up the farm? Kellogg has a way of drawing cats that I've never seen paralled. Who else could draw wide-eyed smiling felines as well as he does? Jimmy and the narrator apparently have a class of only eight children, so as the book progresses you can see how each person reacts to each and every situation. Kellogg isn't afraid of multiculturalism either, making the book a nice read-aloud for a variety of audiences. Originally published in 1980, you do have to contend with the clothing, an odd combination of 80s fashion and 70s hair, but that's the book's sole flaw (if it can even be called that).

If you have kids that enjoy reading about fiascos (and this is an especially brilliant higgledy-piggledy fiasco if ever there was one) then this book's a pip. From the flying eggs, to the screams of the farmer's wife, to the slow exhaustion of the school's bus driver, it reads brilliantly. Credit Trinka Hakes Noble's witty retelling in a format not usually found in children's literature. Altogether the combination of eloquent text and amusing pictures place this book in the higher echelons of picture books. A brilliant, fun, and rousing book.

Rating:
Summary: A Comedic Book Everyone Will Like!
Review: The day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash is a unruley fictional story about an exciting field trip to the farm, and the kid foolish enough to bring along his pet boa constrictor. The animals on the farm have an action packed time as the boa constrictor tries to eat them. Kellogg's illustrations can tell the story with without words, they are every color of the rainbow, and are full of details. This would a great book for elementary school kids. The book hooks you and pulls you in. Older children will have a better understanding of how the story is set up. It is also a great book for kids who like action and readers of all ages.

Rating:
Summary: What a fun and imaginitive story
Review: This book is an engaging tale about a school field trip that went delightfully awry. The vivid illustrations add to the charm of the story, which is being retold to a mother by her little girl who seems completely unphased by the events that had taken place earlier in the day. I find that everytime I read this to a child, I cannot wait to turn the page to see what happens next. An exciting and comical story that is sure to be a favorite of all ages.