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Summary
Summary
It's Dana's birthday, so she can do what she likes. And what Dana likes to do is pinch. And call people names. And steal her classmates' desserts. You probably know a kid like Dana. What can stop her from being so mean? In this story, it's not what you might expect. Because sometimes, it takes a little creativity (and possibly a very large pet) to change a mean kid's ways. Five short chapters with comical full-color illustrations offer a fresh, fun take onbullying and birthdays (and pet elephants).
Author Notes
Josh Schneider studied illustration at Washington University in Saint Louis. He is the author and illustrator of You'll Be Sorry (Clarion 2007) and Tales for Very Picky Eaters (Clarion 2011).
Tales for Very Picky Eaters won the 2012 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3-Dana is downright mean. Because she gets to do whatever she wants on her birthday, she pinches, takes her friend Anthony's dessert without asking, and name-calls. Dana is an ornery bully until Anthony gives her a white elephant with pink toenails as a gift. It needs endless love and attention, and Dana quickly learns to care about something other than herself. When another birthday girl needs to learn a lesson about how to act on her big day, Dana knows just what to give her. Schneider's watercolor, ink, and pencil illustrations have humor and sweetness: the cover art is hilarious and there is a lovely moment when Dana is depicted lying on a hill, exhausted, and the elephant's trunk is reaching around to take her sandwich. The small details in the artwork add to the character development; the ever-present Band-Aid on Dana's knee along with the horses and unicorns that decorate her room give readers insight into her personality. However, there are also oddities in the artwork: the vacant look in the children's circular eyes can be disconcerting. While this charming early chapter book is more a story about a girl and her pet than it is about birthday shenanigans, young readers are sure to enjoy it.-Laura Lutz, Pratt Institute, New York City (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Dana's supercilious, selfish demeanor makes it clear that her behavior on her birthday is no different from her modus operandi on the other 364 days of the year. Imagine her surprise, then, when her most put-upon peer gives her a very large white elephant as a gift. "Dana would not have given a birthday present to someone who called her an ickaborse and pinched her and ate the dessert out of her lunch." But trying to be a conscientious pet owner results in sleepless nights and hungry days for Dana. Schneider (Tales for Very Picky Eaters) seems to draw inspiration from both O. Henry and Edward Gorey, with deadpan, dead-on writing and meticulously inked, elegantly styled watercolors (the lumbering pachyderm is quite a looker, its whiteness evoked through washes of icy pink and blue). What's more, he pulls off quite the hat trick: he serves justice, subtly (and quite cleverly) lets readers see another side to Dana, and brings the story to a close in a way that both makes amends and pays it forward, Gothic-style. Ages 6-9. Agent: Paul Rodeen, Rodeen Literary Management. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.