Why the Possum Has a Large Grin

by Johnette Downing, Christina Wald (Illustrator)

Overview

Move over Bre'r Rabbit, there's a new trickster in town!

When hungry Deer asks Possum how he stays so plump during the long dry season, the sly marsupial gets an idea. It wouldn't take much for Possum to help Deer; he could just climb that ol' persimmon tree and knock down the fruit. But Possum is just plain lazy and he'd rather trick Deer into doing the work for both of them. Once Possum decides to take advantage of his starving neighbor they both become marked forever.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781455616398
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	09/14/2012
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,121,703
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Johnette Downing is an award-winning and internationally recognized singer and songwriter. Her many accolades include eight Parents' Choice Awards, four iParenting Media Awards, and five National Parenting Publication Awards. She wrote and/or illustrated There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Bugs, Why the Crawfish Lives in the Mud, How to Dress a Po' Boy, Why the Oyster Has the Pearl, Why the Possum Has a Large Grin, Macarooned on a Dessert Island, The Fifolet, and other Pelican titles. Downing lives in New Orleans, Louisiana.


Christina Wald specializes in illustration and toy, giftware, and product design. Some of her clients include Scholastic and Hasbro, Inc. Wald graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning with a BS in industrial design. She is the illustrator of Pelican's Annie Jump Cannon, Astronomer and Why the Possum Has a Large Grin. Wald lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Editorial Reviews

Possum convinces hungry Deer to bang his head into a tree full of ripe persimmons, a sight that amuses the trickster so much that his grin sticks forever. Downing (Why the Crawfish Lives in the Mud, 2009) adapts this Choctaw legend, extending the narrative and adding an embellishment. Not only does Possum get a grin, the bumps that rise on Deer's battered head grow into antlers--two origin stories in one. The author begins her tale in a traditional storyteller's manner: "Sometime past, there was one long, long, very long dry season north of Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana." Hints of dialect continue--"go to the top of that there hill"; "hit this here persimmon tree so hard"; and so forth--but, surprisingly given the experience of the writer, a longtime children's musician and entertainer, her narrative feels forced. It doesn't flow smoothly as a read-aloud, and the story arc is flat. Wald's lifelike acrylic paintings focus on the two main characters, often placed against a plain background. They show well. But this Possum has little personality. For a possum pourquoi tale with real child appeal, choose Colleen Salley's Why Epossumondas Has No Hair on His Tail, illustrated by Janet Stevens (2004). Finally, the title lacks the customary background and source information usually provided about traditional material. Nothing to smile about. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews