A Beloved Canadian Author

Don't you know that one of the great perks of being a teacher is summer vacation? Even though I didn't teach last year, I still took great joy in our summer getaways! We have been busy in Oregon and Canada (not to mention that we moved into a different apartment-two thumbs down to moving!), so I apologize for my lengthy absence. I also apologize for cutting Kevin Henkes Week short. I can't believe I would do such a dreadful thing to my favorite author! Rest assured, dear friends--there will be a continuation!

For today I thought it would be appropriate to highlight an author from whence I've just come--Canada. His name is Robert Munsch, and I bet you've all read this book of his:

You know, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." It's a tender one, with a particularly sweet ending. I won't say much more, because I'm just positive that you've all read it and probably half of you have it memorized. If you haven't read it, you should. Truthfully, though I like and recommend it, it's not my favorite of his.

My favorite title by Munsch is called The Paper Bag Princess.

Elizabeth, the protagonist, is not your average princess. As the story begins, Munsch describes her as a beautiful princess with expensive clothes set to marry a prince named Ronald. But then a dragon smashes the castle, takes Ronald, and leaves Elizabeth with her clothes burned off and all alone. The only thing around is a paper bag, which becomes her new outfit. She determines to find the dragon and save Ronald. When she finds the dragon, she is not intimidated, and promptly outsmarts him, leaving her to rescue Ronald. The ending of this book is not your average princess-story ending, and I shall not spoil it for you. But it is HYSTERICAL and you will love it! (And you will LOVE Elizabeth!)

While in Canada last week, my cousin Christina introduced me to this new book of his, called Zoom!

It's a great story about a girl who is in a wheelchair, and convinces her mother to get her a new, faster, more powerful chair. But it's not powerful enough for her, so she gets the bigger one. But that one's not fast enough either, so she gets the better one, and so on and so on. It's rather comical and what Mr. Cropper and I love about it, is that for once the handicapped (is that term still PC or not?) character isn't some slight, sad little thing where the moral of the story is "Aw, that's so nice that the kids were nice to the poor girl in the wheelchair."* Instead, she's got a feisty personality, and zest for life and loves the power and exhilaration of these machines. Very cool. Christina and I recommend it.

*Blogger's note: That's not a bad moral to have! I just rather enjoyed Munsch's different take!

Get to know this clever author--Robert Munsch. You will love him!