Ginny Louise and the School Showdown - Hardcover

Tammi Sauer (www.tammisauer.com) grew up on a farm and graduated from Kansas State University with a B.S. in Elementary Education. She has ten kid-friendly picture books to her credit, including Nugget & Fang, Me Want Pet! and Oh, Nuts!. In addition to being a writer, she has taught summer school, pre-kindergarten, and the middle school electives Creative Writing and Storytelling; she also spent two years serving as a library media specialist. Tammi lives in Edmond, Oklahoma with her husband, son, and daughter.
Lynn Munsinger has introduced several beloved characters to children over her long career, e.g. Tacky the Penguin and Wodney Wat. Among her many hits she created a line of best-selling books with Laura Numeroff that began with What Mommies Do Best/What Daddies Do Best. She divides her time between Killington, Vermont and Plymouth, Massachusetts.

K-Gr 2—Every class has that handful of kids who can raise havoc in the classroom. In this story, it is the Truman Elementary Troublemakers—Destructo Dude, Cap'n Catastrophe, and Make-My-Day May. Similarly, every class has at least one student who is forever cheerful, oblivious to the bad attitudes that may surround her. Enter Ginny Louise. It doesn't take long for her inability to find fault in her classmates and her infectious cheeriness to change the attitudes of toughest bullies in school. Sauer, a former teacher and library media specialist, is no stranger to the school environment. Her experience has helped her to create a realistic story that will appeal to its intended audience. Advanced language will lead to discussion and help listeners expand their vocabulary. Additionally, the book is filled with metaphors, making it a perfect addition to not only a unit on bullying but an ELA unit on metaphors. Munsinger brings Sauer's vision to life with soft, realistic illustrations of animals, recognizable from her previous works, that are truly believable as elementary students. Readers and listeners alike will think this book is one hundred times more pleasant than "ticks in a taco." VERDICT A strong purchase for both school and public libraries.—Betsy Davison, Cortland Free Library, NY