Author: Judy Butler
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Wisdom wins the race
Susan Lowell adapted a famous fable in her book The Tortoise and the Jackrabbit (1977) to feature creatures of the American Southwest. Her characters are an elderly tortoise and a jackrabbit. I found this book in 2019, worked with it, and set it aside. In 2024, I picked it up again and discovered that Jim…
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But they cheated
The Biggest Snowman Ever by Steven Kroll is the story about a competition in Mouseville to build the biggest snowman. Clayton and Desmond realize that they can win if they work together. I’ve read this story many times. I accepted the message that collaboration has its benefits. Only now do I suddenly wonder why the…
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Salamanders x 2
Salamander Dance by David FitzSimmons (2016) has lovely paintings by Michael DiGiorgio. the Salamander Room by Ann Mazer (1991) has lovely paintings by Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson. Both books teach readers something about the salamander’s habitat, yet they do so in dramatically different ways. Ann Mazer’s story is so clever. It’s a conversation between…
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