The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash
By Peter Lewis,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Raucous story of a wild school outing.
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What's the Story?
A class field trip to a farm turns into a broad comic episode when a student releases a boa constrictor in the hen house. Mayhem (and humor) increases page by page in Trinka Noble's raucous story of how not to conduct yourself on a school outing.
Is It Any Good?
Cause and effect gets spirited, comic treatment in this no-holds-barred romp. The cumulative story gathers energy as it steamrolls right through the poor old farm. Certain elements of the story are left curiously unresolved, though.
The children suffer no repercussions for their rotten behavior: They, and their teacher, simply hotfoot it from the farm, wreckage in their wake. Leaving Jimmy's boa constrictor could certainly be understood by some readers as abandonment, no matter how well the snake is subsequently treated. And the young narrator's blasé delivery of events to her mother is too uncaring, dampening the humor rather than heightening it by contrast. Steven Kellogg's artwork is like first aid for these hanging questions and distractions -- his watercolor washes soften the hysteria, and his pen work is detailed and affecting.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the kids' behavior. What's the funniest thing that ever happened on a field trip you went on? Do you think this class will be taken on another field trip anytime soon?
Book Details
- Author: Trinka Hakes Noble
- Illustrator: Steven Kellogg
- Genre: Humor
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Penguin Group
- Publication date: January 1, 1980
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 2 - 4
- Number of pages: 32
- Last updated: July 12, 2017
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