April Foolishness

by Teresa Bateman, Nadine Bernard Westcott (Illustrator)

Overview

STARRED REVIEW! "Zany and inventive, the artwork amplifies the story's humor. A great storyhour choice for April Fool's Day or just about any other day."—Booklist starred review

Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award 2005
Booklist Editors' Choice 2004
2007-2008 Volunteer State Master List
Winner, 2006-2007 Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award

It's a spring morning on the farm. Grandma is happy the grandkis are visiting—they've picked just the right day!—and Grandpa is fixing breakfast. Suddenly his grandson reports that the cows have got loose! He thinks Big Brown Bessie just stepped on a goose! "Good gracious," Grandpa says as he pours himself a glass of milk. When his granddaughter shouts the chickens are out, Grandpa cooks up some eggs. Pigs broke the gate" Grandpa fries bacon. Why is Grandpa so cool? Because he knows the kids are trying to play an April Fool's trick!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807504024
Publisher:	Whitman, Albert & Company
Publication date:	01/01/2004
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	852,147
File size:	14 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Teresa Bateman is the author of many books for children, including The Bully Blockers Club and April Foolishness. She is a children's librarian and lives in Washington state.

Nadine Bernard Westcott has illustrated more than eighty books for children. She lives in Massachusetts with her family and one cat.

Editorial Reviews

The pair behind Farm Flu returns to the barnyard for another heapin' helpin' of monkeyshines. It's April Fool's Day, but who's fooling whom? With tight, energetic couplets, Bateman gives voice to the visiting grandkids (aided and abetted by Grandma, it turns out) as they try to convince Grandpa that the farm is in chaos. In their scenario, first the chickens fly the coop, then the runaway pigs use the tomato patch for a food fight and finally, "Grandpa, oh, Grandpa!/ The sheep are all gone!/ I heard that they're munching/ on somebody's lawn!" Westcott, game as ever for upping the ante of any silly scene, comically imagines the renegade grazing but also throws in a pair of sheep who've gone way beyond that-they've commandeered lawn chairs, and one of them grooves to an iPod. Grandpa refuses to rise to the April Fool's bait until his wife delivers the coup de grace: "You'll find, to your sorrow,/ it's not April Fools' Day today,/ but tomorrow!" Of course, everything is normal, and Grandpa realizes that despite his best efforts, he has been busted-big-time. A closing image proves that the group is not mean-spirited but just engaging in a bit of fun. The book's double-edged joke (Grandpa won't be fooled, and so he's more foolish) and the fact that kids love the idea of adult-sanctioned mischievousness makes this a surefire giggle-inducer. Ages 5-7. (Oct.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

K-Gr 2-Family pranks highlight the gentle, teasing relationships in this amusing tale. Grandpa thinks he's wise to his grandchildren's April Fools' Day tricks and ignores their warnings of animals run amok. According to the children, cows, chickens, goats, and sheep are running wild in a glorious celebration of freedom while calm, collected Grandpa methodically cooks his breakfast. Grandma joins in with a hoax of her own to cap the morning. Cartoon artwork closely follows the action as the disarray grows, drawing readers into Grandpa's imagination and disbelief. Bold watercolors, punctuated by ink detail, frame the animals' frolic as described in the rhyming verse. Wake up a storytime about farm life or save this one for April foolishness.-Mary Elam, Forman Elementary School, Plano, TX Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Grandpa's no chump. The grandchildren have come to the farm for the day and they hurtle through the door with all manner of wild news: The cows are loose! The pigs are in the tomatoes! The sheep are eating the neighbor's lawn! "Grandpa, oh, Grandpa! / The goats are all freed! / They're running around / in a smelly stampede!" But Grandpa knows that it's April 1st and he isn't biting, except on a little bacon after he hears about the pig, and an egg after he hears about the hens. Both Bateman and Westcott keep pace with all this: the text alternately hysterical and deadpan, the artwork aflurry one moment and placid the next. When Grandma notes to Grandpa that it isn't April Fools' Day until tomorrow, he heads out the door as if he's been goosed. Grandma triumphs: it really is the fool's day. Okay, so Grandpa is a chump. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews

Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award 2005
Booklist Editors' Choice 2004
2007-2008 Volunteer State Master List
Winner, 2006-2007 Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award

STARRED REVIEW! "Zany and inventive, the artwork amplifies the story's humor. A great storyhour choice for April Fool's Day or just about any other day."—Booklist starred review

"Family pranks highlight the gentle, teasing relationships in this amusing tale…Cartoon artwork closely follows the action as the disarray grows, drawing readers into Grandpa's imagination and disbelief. Bold watercolors, punctuated by ink detail, frame the animals' frolic as described in the rhyming verse. Wake up a storytime about farm life or save this one for April foolishness."—School Library Journal

"Both Bateman and Westcott keep pace with all this: the text alternately hysterical and deadpan, the artwork aflurry one moment and placid the next."—Kirkus Reviews

"The pair behind Farm Flu returns to the barnyard for another heapin' helpin' of monkeyshines…A closing image proves that the group is not mean-spirited but just engaging in a bit of fun. The book's double-edged joke (Grandpa won't be fooled, and so he's more foolish) and the fact that kids love the idea of adult-sanctioned mischievousness makes this a surefire giggle-inducer."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher