{"id":43937,"date":"2025-04-08T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=43937"},"modified":"2025-04-03T14:35:51","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T21:35:51","slug":"if-you-ever-want-to-bring-an-alligator-to-school-dont-everything-is-teeth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/if-you-ever-want-to-bring-an-alligator-to-school-dont-everything-is-teeth\/","title":{"rendered":"If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, Don\u2019t! \/ Everything Is Teeth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

IF YOU EVER WANT TO BRING AN ALLIGATOR TO SCHOOL, DON\u2019T!<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, Don\u2019t!<\/em>
by Elise Parsley
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
2015, 40 pages, 9.5 x 12.2 x 0.5 inches (hardcover)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy on Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When my kiddo really likes a book, she\u2019ll ask to read it again and again and again, and she\u2019ll only tire of it if something new comes along to replace it. The fact that my daughter has asked to read this book every night for the past two weeks \u2013 and still cracks up at the funny parts \u2013 speaks volumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, Don\u2019t!<\/em> is a wacky, colorful, and delightful tall tale for children ages 4-7. As Elise Parsley\u2019s New York Times<\/em> bestselling debut book, it tells the story of Magnolia, a unique girl who responds to her teacher\u2019s request to \u201cbring something from nature for show and tell\u201d by \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 bringing an alligator to school. As one can guess, havoc ensues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Magnolia tries to convince her teacher that alligators are \u201cquiet and good\u201d and that he \u201cwon\u2019t eat anyone,\u201d but then spends the rest of the story trying to avert certain disaster. The alligator draws funny pictures to make Magnolia laugh, creates paper-airplane origami that winds up in the teacher\u2019s hair, almost eats a fellow student, gets chewing gum everywhere, and eats Magnolia\u2019s lunch. In return, Magnolia gets her name written on the board, followed by several checkmarks and an underline, which guarantees a trip to the principal\u2019s office after school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, Don\u2019t!<\/em> is a delightful and silly read, especially for preschool or primary school children who have already experienced show and tell. Parsley does a magnificent job of capturing Magnolia\u2019s frustration and exasperation with this misbehaving beast. The illustrations, which were digitally drawn in Adobe Photoshop and colored in with Corel Painter, are vibrant, imaginative, and spot-on funny. Magnolia\u2019s exaggerated expressions, especially when she\u2019s mad at the \u201cinnocent\u201d alligator, are priceless and giggle-worthy\u2026even if you\u2019re a grown-up. \u2013 Jennifer Brozak<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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EVERYTHING IS TEETH \u2013 AN UNSETTLING, AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL PEEK AT A CHILDHOOD OBSESSION<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Everything Is Teeth<\/em>
by Evie Wyld (author) and Joe Sumner (illustrator)
Pantheon
2016, 128 pages, 8.1 x 10.3 x 0.7 inches (hardcover)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy on Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything Is Teeth<\/em> is an unsettling, autobiographical peek at a childhood obsession: author Evie Wyld\u2019s fixation with sharks, and with a particular shark survivor named Rodney Fox. This is a small girl with a big internal life; pop culture and her imaginings about sharks are more vivid than real life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Sumner\u2019s art is well matched to the mood of the text. The illustrations are spare, and mostly black and white. The images of books and sharks are vivid by comparison, especially the bright red blood that pops up periodically. And the humans are drawn with big heads and childlike features, which is appropriate for text that reveals an introspective child\u2019s thoughts about grownups. The best lines are about Wyld\u2019s parents, such as: \u201cHe hangs on to his jetlag like it\u2019s the last bit of civilization he\u2019ll see in a long while.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why sharks? One hard-to-avoid theory is that Wyld\u2019s focus on blood is one sign of her apprehension about menstruation, and womanhood in general. She tells two especially memorable stories of washed-up sharks found and cut open. One contained a litter of shark pups, the other some expensive stiletto heels. Stilettos and offspring are potent symbols of womanhood, of course. Thus, becoming a woman, like facing off with a shark, inspires both fear and fascination. I was also a morbid girl who wasn\u2019t so sure about this femininity business, so this odd book strikes a chord. \u2013 Christine Ro<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOTE: The link above sends you to the same book, different cover.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Issue No. 61<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13684,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[31],"tags":[2398],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43937"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13684"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43953,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43937\/revisions\/43953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}