CM Magazine: Simply Ridiculous

________________ CM . . . . Volume I Number X . . . . August 18, 1995

Simply Ridiculous
Virginia Davis.
Illustrated by Russ Willms.
Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1995. 32pp, cloth, $14.95.
ISBN 1-55074-107-1.
Preschool - grade 2 / Ages 3 - 7.
Review by Brian Rountree.

excerpt:

In a village far, far away, there lived a young man who was sometimes a little silly. . . .

And so the fun begins. Willy and his wife are going to have a baby. Willy goes off to ask the Wise Old Man what kind of baby they will have. Later on he returns to consult him on a name for the baby. On his way home Willy loses the name but is astounded that an old woman passing by would know his child's name.

Virginia Davis has rewritten this Ethiopian folk tale that children as early as grade two will enjoy. Older readers will have a good opportunity to make their reading aloud entertaining to a younger audience.

The whimsical watercolour illustrations by Russ Willms will surely be enjoyed by the readers. He gives his characters a vibrancy and vitality whether they appear alone on the text page or extending beyond the borders of a traditional picture. (Willms previously illustrated Brewster Rooster by Berny Lucas.)

Simply Ridiculous can be used in a variety of ways: as a storybook; as an example for artwork; as an examination of age and youth; or in a study of the many folk-tales from around the world involving "a young man who was sometimes silly."

Recommended.

Brian Rountree is a teacher-librarian in Thompson, Manitoba and is currently Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian School Library Association.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - August 18, 1995.