Roald Dahl...But Before He Was Famous

I didn't originally think I would have time to read a book today, which left me concerned about my abilities as a role model. Luckily, the oh-so-important thing I needed to do today (go to a surprise party) was pushed back by two hours, so I had time to get in a book and a blog entry.

All of the books I've read so far are either books I bought for my classroom or books that come from my school's guided reading library. This book, The Enormous Crocodile, by Roald Dahl, comes from my classroom library. I bought this my first year of teaching when, after leveling my books, I found that I had exactly 7 N books and 11 N readers. I then went on a buying spree, purchasing pretty much anything that was an N. Normally, I hesitate with buying something by Roald Dahl that I haven't read first, since there can be some kind of racist stuff in his writing, but I was desperate, so I bought it anyway. I also knew that Dahl is a writer most of my kids have probably heard of, but since his most famous writing is higher level, this less-famous book would be a good entry point into this particular writer.

Now I can safely say that this won't offend anybody. Except people who are offended by crocodiles who scheme to eat children.

In typical Dahl fashion, he takes something that should be legitimately terrifying to children (a crocodile who disguises himself as playground equipment so he can eat you) and makes it funny (his plans are foiled at every turn because he was dumb enough to tell all the jungle creatures what his plans were). In the end, the crocodile gets what's coming to him and everybody can be happy.

While this book is not long on depth or meaning, it is an entertaining story for kids to read. The pictures are heavily complementary to the text, which makes understanding a little bit easier. What I did like about the book is that in the opening sequence, all of the information that we gather about this crocodile and his past is done through dialogue. I can definitely see myself using these first pages as a mentor text in writing to help students understand how dialogue can be used to reveal character and move the plot forward. In most of my students' writing, when they use dialogue it is extremely bland and unnecessary to the story. This dialogue is so essential to the story, so it makes for a great mentor to help students see the importance of good dialogue.

Other than that, I think I'll just throw this back in my classroom library and let the kids enjoy it for the sake of enjoying it.