Good Boy, Fergus!

Good Boy, Fergus! Today in Mrs. Braymer's class we read this book by David Shannon. (He also wrote the No, David! and Alice the Fairy books.) In this book, Fergus does bad things, but his owner still says, "Good boy, Fergus!" The dog begs for spaghetti and meatballs, pees on cars and fire hydrants, destroys a plant in a pot, and doesn't come when his owner calls. Every time, the owner always replies, "Good boy, Fergus!"

While we were reading the book, Mrs. Braymer compared her dog Albert with Fergus. They both like to ride with their heads out of the truck window. Fergus likes to eat fluffy whip cream on the top of his food, and Mr. Braymer hides Albert's allergy pills in whip cream. Both dogs try to hide when it's bath time, and they like to chase cats and motorcycles.

We thought this book was hilarious! Anyone who has a dog should read it.

Tacky the Penguin

Have you ever felt like you didn't belong in a group? That's how it was with Tacky the penguin. Tacky didn't fit in with his penguin companions. He did "splashy cannonballs" instead of graceful dives, didn't march in time, couldn't sing on key, and wore a wild Hawaiian shirt. One day some hunters came to catch some pretty penguins. Instead, they met Tacky. Because he didn't act like all the other penguins, the hunters were scared away. In the end, Tacky saved his penguin companions from being captured by the hunters. 

After we read this story, Mrs. Braymer taught us about point of view. Each group had to write about Tacky from a different perspective: Tacky's, the Penguin Companion's, or the Hunter's. We found out that not everyone in the story looks at it the same way.