Cute. The small loved this one.

I liked this book by Mo Willems. This book is different than the other books, it is a "chapter" book. Willems breaks this book down into chapters with the things that go on in alligators day. First he misses Amanda and wants her to bring him a surprise. Amanda's surprise to alligator was her scaring him. Alligator tried everything to get her back, but nothing worked. Finally alligator put his thinking cap on and got Amanda by tickling her. Then alligator had a price tag stuck on him and he was disappointed to find out he was only worth seven cents. Amanda made him feel better when she told him he was in the sale bucket waiting for her. One day, Amanda went out with her grandpa and she brought back another stuffed animal friend, panda. Alligator did not like him at first but then they developed a friendship and they were inseparable. ( )

In "Hooray for Amanda & Her Alligator!" Willems seems to be sparking the theme of imagination. Imagination and creativity in children's books is something that is very important to me. In each of his books, he uses either animals, or a mix of humans and animals to portray the stories and lessons. "Hooray for Amanda & Her Alligator!" has a table of contents and six short chapters that divides the story into parts. In each part is a tale of the adventures of Amanda and her stuffed alligator at home. Children are guaranteed to love these stories because they're filled with emphasis and lots of personality. ( )

This story follows the relationship between Amanda and her stuffed alligator. This picture book is separated into six different chapters, but the story is continuous, and not six different stories. Amanda's alligator hates when Amanda is not home to play with him, and she suggests that he do things like reading. One day, Amanda comes home with a stuffed panda bear, and the alligator is jealous, but he soon learns that the panda can keep him company while Amanda is away. The illustrations in this book were simple, yet effective. The theme of this story is not to push people away to quickly, as they can become good friends.

I think I would use this story to introduce longer Narrative writing. The plot is continues, but broken into chapters. I think this book would be a good model for what I would expect my students to imitate. ( )

Very short stories (6 and a half) where Amanda interacts with her pet (stuffed) alligator, playing tricks on each other, but the alligator has to wait for her all the time. He is disappointed when he finds out that he was bought in the sale bin for only 7 cents, and feels even worse when she comes home with a brand new pet from the zoo. He is jealous at first, but not forever.