the whingdingdilly. bill peet. (138)

as i mentioned in the post for "kermit the hermit".  i can't remember how i know this book but i do.  the story and the images are familiar i just can't recall how i know it.

the first thing i noticed was the dedication page.

and given the story, this dedication is super sweet!  even for an anti-dog person like me.

this is a story about about a dog named scamp.  scamp is sad because he feels he is not as special as the horse across the road.

one day while trotting around like a horse, his owner a little boy named orvie called him " a silly ol' dog".  this hurt scamp's feelings so he ran away.

he walked into a forest and came across a witch.  she knew scamp wanted to be a horse so she helped him out with her magic and turned him into a whingdingdilly!

scamp headed home but scared some pigs so when orvie called out to him, scamp was sure his new look would scare him so scamp hid from orvie.  

eventually, scamp went home.  he heard that orvie was sad that scamp didn't return home.  orvie's day offered to buy him a horse but orvie wanted a dog because they were a better companion.  this made scamp happy and a little embarrassed that he was now a whingdingdilly.

the next day, orvie found scamp as the whingdingdilly and scared off scamp.  scamp ran away and everyone started to chase him.  he went back to the forest to have the witch change him back but she was gone.  then the farmers caught up and a man from the palace of wonders came to take the whingdingdilly to be in his show.  scamp was miserable.  luckily he was up on display, the witch returned and saw that her tulips were ruined!  she decided to get her revenge by turning scamp back into a dog!  

since now he was only a dog, the man kicked out scamp.  scamp then returned home to orvie!!

scamp learned a very important lesson about being happy with who you are and you should not try to be something you are not!

the spooky tail of prewitt peacock. bill peet. (137)

"the spooky tail of prewitt peacock" might be my favorite peet book so far. (also love the pun!)  

sadly prewitt was born with a weird tail. 

his tail only had two eyes.  while all

the other peacocks' tails had many eyes.

phineas' tail had the most eyes so he was the leader.

one day when prewitt was older his tail grew into a monstrosity.

eyebrows grew over the eyes, a mouth formed and the feathers on the side grew out like arms and as a result, prewitt's tail looked like a monster!  the other peacocks were frightened by it. as a result phineas told prewitt that either the tail went or prewitt had to leave.

that night prewitt had a dream and decided he would keep his tail!

the next day, the peacocks decided they would take prewitt's tail.  so they chased him, trying to take his feathers.  they were so caught up in the chase the they ran into an open field.  just then a tiger went to attack them but . . . prewitt's spooky tail scared the tiger away and saved them!!!

afterward, the peacocks wanted prewitt to be the leader, but humble as he was he declined but said thr peacocks could hang out with him, which they did.

i loved this book not only because i thought prewitt's monster tail was amazing!!! but it is also a wonderful

tale (and tail) about how something that makes us "different" is actually what makes us special!  it's important for kids to know that they should be themselves and eventually they will find friends who like them for who they are!

chester the worldly pig. bill peet. (136)

"chester the worldly pig" is the story of an ambitious little pig.  chester knew his fate as meal but wanted more.  chester said "a pig is no better off than a cabbage or a carrot, just something to eat.  but before i end up as so much as sausage and ham, i intended to try to amount to something".  chester had a dream of being in a circus so he taught himself to balance on his snout.

he tried to get the attention from a passing circus train but it didn't work.  chester than decided to go to the circus and so he could be discovered.  and he did!

but he fainted before he did his act and was put into the clown act.  he hated it so he ran away.

chester was then chased by a bear.

and almost became a meal for some hobos.

chester even ended up in the city but discovered that it was not safe for him.

he then returned to a farm and accepted his fate as a pig.

but then a carnival man bought him for the farm because . . . chester was a very special pig!!! he had the map of the world on his belly!!!

so chester ended up a star!!! 

this book caught my eye because i love ending pigs but it turned out to be a great little book about never giving up on your dreams!  i also kind of feel bad because i would have totally ate chester.

kermit the hermit. bill peet. (132)

"kermit the hermit" is another book that i discovered thanks to james franco's horrible book "palo alto".  the kid doing his community service at the library loved bill peet.  i was  disappointed with myself for having read none of his books though "the whingdingdilly" feels vaguely familiar, like i read it or one of my elementary teachers read it to my class.

so i decided to kick off my discovery of bill peet's works with "kermit the hermit" and i was glad i did.  it was an adorable book!

kermit the hermit was a hermit crab and was definitely a "crab".  he was not very nice or friendly and was a hoarder.

one day a dog tried to attack kermit.  but a young boy saved him.

kermit was so grateful for the boy saving his life but he didn't know how to repay him.  so kermit went out walking and discovered a treasure of gold coins in a sunken ship.  he decided that the treasure would be how he could repaid the boy for saving his life!  he then carried the treasure two coins at a time back to his cave.

however, though he had a way to repay the boy, kermit had a problem.  he had to find the boy. he walked around sad because he could not find him when a pelican approached him.  he told the pelican his problem and the pelican knew the boy!  the pelican flew kermit to his house which was the poorest house in the neighborhood.  kermit with the pelican's help decided to fly the coins two at a time and drop them down the family's chimney!  the family, thanks to kermit, became rich!

so sweet right?  and a great example of how helping others can be very rewarding!!