Timothy's Tales from Hilltop School
Rosemary Wells is a favorite author at my house, and my boys thoroughly enjoyed the six stories in Timothy's Tales From Hilltop School.
The first story is "Fritz Tries Again." It's time for the science fair in Mr. Wagweed's class. Fritz has his heart set on building a Superconducting Super Collider. He's not daunted by the fact that there is only one in existence which cost eleven-billion dollars to build, and it doesn't even work. Poor Fritz's doesn't work either, but he comes up with a very "pop"ular Plan B.
How far would you go to get the perfect birthday present for your friend? Would you eat a box of horrible tasting cereal called "Weed and Seed" to get to the prize? That's what Nora does in "Buried Treasure." Although it's small compared to the other presents, the trinket at the bottom of the cereal box turns out to be Yoko's favorite gift.
In "Charles Stands Tall" Charles is determined to be a bald eagle for the class bird show. Claude, who's mad because Charles picked the eagle before he did, does everything he can to discourage Charles' eagle aspirations. He says Charles is too small and too shy to make the eagle's screech, but Charles finds a clever way to make the best eagle screech ever.
Doris is being teased by her classmates. They even begin to call her "Tubette," which is also the title of this story. She nearly falls over at the dinner table after doing twenty-five each of push-ups, sit-ups, and jumping jacks in an attempt to be thin. He father tells her, "You are not fat. You are a beaver." Doris' brother tells her she is strong. Encouraged by her family, Doris dreams of being an Olympic star.
Timothy and Claude have to complete a baking project in "Timothy Takes the Cake." It takes a few failures before the boys figure out how to work together. They make a batch of "car-top" cookies. They mix up chocolate chips, marshmallows, and cereal, and 'bake' the cookies by placing the pan on top of the car hood in the sun. I just wish a recipe had been included in this story. I'm curious to see if it would really work.
We've gone from Bird Week to Bug Week in this book. In the story "Laughing on the Inside," the children are dressing up as their favorite insects. Grace's mother buys her an elaborate peacock feather butterfly costume. The feathers make Grace sneeze, and she learns about teamwork when her classmates save the day by letting her join them in their caterpillar costume.
This book would make a great classroom read aloud. It's also a great book for the home bookshelf as it can calm the jitters, worries, and fears kids have as they face the challenges of elementary school.
