From: Denise <deeceebee>
Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 07:12:26 -0700

Just got caught up with the humor postings and don't find Florence Parry Heide's books mentioned. When my son was about 10, he and I used to laugh til we cried over some passages from Heide's "The Shrinking of Treehorn." We still refer to the scene in which Treehorn is trying to tell his mother that he is shrinking while she is baking a cake. The cake falls and her response in essence is, "First the cake, and now this." Heide manages to take a serious subject and make it funny. This book from his childhood is one he will always keep. My son always enjoyed subversive humor, even at a rather young age, including such writers as Roald Dahl, James Marshall and Jon Scieszka. As a high school student, he found Scieszka's "Stinky Cheese Man" to be brilliant.

Also no mention of Shel Silverstein's poetry. I picture two 5-year-old boys recently reciting their favorite poems during a National Poetry Month celebration. They were laughing so hard, they could hardly talk.

Glad to hear Cresswell's Bagthorpe series named. These were loved by my daughter.

Denise Sciandra Fresno, CA
Received on Tue 21 May 2002 09:12:26 AM CDT