Tag Archives: judith viorst

Friday: Earrings!

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Seems that every girl has a vivid memory of when they got their ears pierced. Mine was at Beadazzled at the mall with that earring-gun contraption that fueled my nightmares for months. My mother’s was at the hands of her uncle, a needle and a well-placed ice cube. (Ack!) No matter the situation, we all remember that fateful day and what it meant to us. For me, it meant long dangly earrings. Earrings with stars. Earrings with unicorns. Even earrings with (now, remember this was the 80’s) feathers. And for the months leading up to my fateful bejewelment, I thought about it constantly and what a rite of passage it was. Judith Viorst (of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day fame) has captured that sentiment perfectly in her book, Earrings! which tells the story of a little girl who will do ANYTHING if her parents would just agree to let her pierce her ears. And with deals like walking the dog and cleaning her room every day for a year, how could those parents resist? For anyone who has ever wanted something so badly they’re willing to even be nice to their little brother, this is the book for you…and a fun read if in fact you have a little one doing some earring wheelin’ and dealin’ right now…

Monday: Lulu and the Brontosaurus

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For those children of the 70’s and 80’s you might best remember Judith Viorst from her fantastic book, “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.” This was a staple of my reading life as a child – and I repeatedly checked this book out from my school library – just adoring the fact that a child could actually admit that stinky things happen sometimes. Viorst has a knack for creating tales that are refreshingly honest and appealing to children and her book “Lulu and the Brontosaurus” is no exception. Lulu is awfully awful. For lack of a better term, she’s a brat. And used to getting exactly what she wants. But when what she wants is a Brontosaurus, her parents have to draw the line. So Lulu revolts with a hearty “foo on you” and skips town armed with pickle sandwiches (yum!). Ironically, guess who she finds in the forest? Yep – a Brontosaurus…who wants HER as a pet. You can’t resist this adorable story, complete with illustrations by the inimitable Lane Smith. So grab a pickle sandwich and settle right in with this delightful chapter book.