Mrs. Pidgeon has been reading Aesop's fables to her secondgrade class. What's a fable? Well, it's a story that has animalsas characters, and it teaches you something important, and...Once again it is Gooney Bird Greene who knows how to turn lessons into fun. She has an idea. A fabulous idea! What if each child creates his or her own fable, and tells it to the class? One by one Mrs. Pidgeon's students create costumes and stories and morals and excitement. Everyone except Nicholas. What on earth is making Nicholas so unhappy? Leave it to Gooney Bird, of course, to help him solve his problem . . . in a truly fabulous way. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Gr 1-3-Gooney Bird Greene returns for a third installment. Here, her second-grade class is learning about fables. In typical Gooney fashion, the precocious child takes over her classroom by suggesting that everyone write a new fable. Mrs. Pidgeon encourages her enthusiasm by letting her direct the project, and each subsequent chapter is dedicated to a student's work, including one fable about a T. rex done as a rap, concluding with, "Big mean nuthin' if you don't do school!" Given the age of these children, they are amazingly adept at writing, reading, and giving presentations, and they run into only minor glitches with their fables. While it is refreshing to hear from the other members of the class so clearly dominated by Gooney Bird, their creations lack the zest that hers usually have. Fortunately, her eccentric outfits and words of wisdom are peppered throughout to keep the story moving along while Thomas's characteristic black-and-white illustrations provide nice visuals. Full of new vocabulary words and information about fables, this slightly didactic first chapter book is a must for Gooney Bird fans.-Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information