Malcolm Yorke

I liked this book for two reasons. First, I felt the illustrations enhanced the story and contributed to the plot of the story. The illustrations in the text were brightly colored and often had multiple illustrations on each page. The illustrations help the audience envision the story in their minds and helps clarify when the text is confusing. For example, as Miss Butterpat is on her adventure, she uses her large blue sweater as part of her costume. The author writes, “She stretched her big, blue sweater and made herself look like an elephant by putting an arm down one sleeve for a trunk, and using the other for a tail. . . some rolled up paper for tusks” (p. 10-11). When reading this, it may be difficult for the audience to imagine how a sweater could be used as part of an elephant costume. Some readers may not be familiar with the term “tusks”. The illustrations on this page show Miss Butterpat stretching her sweater and what the rolled paper looks like on her costume. Because of the illustrations, the audience has a vivid image in their minds of what Miss Butterpat looks like in her elephant costume rather than solely relying on the text. I also like characters in the book. Miss Butterpat’s character was well-developed so that the story was more engaging and easier to understand. Though Miss Butterpat has many adventures over summer, her class thinks she is boring. This is an essential detail of the story that must be well-developed so that the audience can understand the humor in the book. For example, the book ends with Miss Butterpat sharing her crazy summer adventures with her students as she says, “’I wore a beard and pretended to be a sailor, took part in a carnival as a blue elephant, escaped from a boa constrictor, made a hang glide. . .; They all laughed and laughed” (p. 31). Because Miss Butterpat’s character was so well-developed in the beginning of the story, the audience knows that Miss Butterpat is telling the truth and her students don’t believe her because she appears to be a boring person in the classroom. The author developed Miss Butterpat’s character well enough so that the audience can understand the humor in the story. The big message of this story is to not judge a book by its cover.… (més)