From: steven engelfried <stevene>
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2000 08:40:50 -0700

I'm seven chapters into the Oxenbury Alice with my kids, ages 10 and 12. Getting actual commentary from them about a book is like pulling teeth, so I have to gauge their reaction from other signs, like whether or not they laugh at the funny bits (some smiles so far, but not outright laughter, which seems right) and how disappointed they are when we quit for the night
(not very, especially compared to our last book, "Howl's Moving Castle," but maybe that's not a fair comparison). These kids love fantasy, but have a tendency to get impatient with anything that seems just too silly, so I'm pleased that they haven't taken that attitude with "Alice." I did try this book as a read-aloud with them a few years ago and found they just seemed baffled by it.

As a read-alouder, I'm very much enjoying the Oxenbury layout. I like the leisurely wide-spaced lines and the pictures on most pages. Somehow I feel like this book helps me pace my reading better; each little episode is more distinct, in a way, when it has its own few pages that it takes up. With this story, which has so many twists and shifts, that seems to make a difference, even though I know it's just an illusion and the words would be the same no matter which version I read.

Like Sheila Kelly Welch and her granddaughter, I hope to have more to say when we're done (maybe I can even twist a few quotable statements from my two eager but silent listeners).

- Steven Engelfried, Young Adult Librarian
  Deschutes Public Library System
  545 NW Wall Street Bend, OR 97701
  ph: 541a7p72 fax: 54189)82
  e-mail: stevene at dpls.lib.or.us
Received on Tue 17 Oct 2000 10:40:50 AM CDT