Qué pasa amigos?!? Today is Perfect Picture Book Viernes and nosotros have our computer back!! I am going to work on the post about our vacation over the weekend 😀

Susanna Leonard Hill has a feature on her blog called Perfect Picture Book Friday. It is a list of “perfect” picture books recommended by all sorts of people. I chose this book because I love all of the Skippyjon Jones books, and I noticed there were no Skippyjon Jones books on the PPBF list (for those of you who don’t know who Skippyjon Jones is, he’s a Siamese kitty who thinks he’s a Chihuahua, practices his Spanish and has a BIG imagination)! Josie and I love Skippyjon books because we like reading about Skippyjon’s imagination and the books are just fun to read. PLUS I have been waiting, waiting, WAITING for this book to come out. It all started last November when I was at the Lititz PA Kid-Lit Festival (I am going to the festival again this year – it was great! You can check it out HERE if you are close to it, you should go!)…

Skippyjon Jones was at the festival, but there was also another force, a menacing force…and then…

Skippyjon Jones met Boba Fett!

Boba Fett and friends were there to promote Tom Angleberger’s book, “Darth Paper Strikes Back.” We all thought the picture was pretty funny!

Then, in December I was at an event at the Chester County Music and Book Company (A very COOL independent book store! Click HERE to go to their website) and Judy Schachner was there! I told her how much we love Skippyjon Jones and she told us about the new Skippyjon book she was writing (Cirque De Olé).  Ms. Schachner told me,

“I pretty much take Skippy where I would like to go or someplace that I would like to draw. His next adventure takes him to the circus – a place that I actually did not like to visit when I was young. I never thought clowns were funny and I felt bad for the animals but I loved all the color and sparkle. Who knows what might happen when the kitty boy takes me there.”

Then Ms. Schachner did something really cool and drew one of the new characters from the book in my notebook – meet Putzi Shtrungleboot –

HOW COOL! I told Ms. Schachner about the Boba Fett – Skippyjon picture we took, and she asked me to email her a copy so I did and she sent me a picture of the original Skippy!

So now that I told you all that – ON to PPBF and the muy bueno new Skippyjon Jones book – Cirque De Olé!

Skippyjon Jones – Cirque De Olé

by Judy Schachner

32 pages – ages 4+

Published by Dial; Rei/Com on October 16, 2012

Theme/Topic – Imagination/Bilingual

Opening and Synopsis –  “Skippyjon Jones was a real High-Wire Henry. And that made his mama as worried as a worm in a wading pool.”

Skippito friskito is back-ito and kitty boy is going to the circus with his doggy-pals, los chimmichangas. They sneak into the Cirque De Olé, past the léones, tigres and osos and into the strong dog’s dressing room. Skippyjon’s friends help their chico grow muy grande músculos to disguise him as the stong dog. When Putzi Shtrungleboot the REAL strong dog catches the gang, he is not happy! It is up to Skippito to save the day(ito)!

Why I liked this book – Like I said before, Josie and I LOVE Skippyjon Jones. The books are just AWESOME to read out loud. The rhymes and rhythm of the story is just fun PLUS you learn Spanish along the way. I love that Skippyjon is a cat who thinks he is a dog (his mom is pretty annoyed with that). The story in Cirque De Olé is really fun too. Skippyjon gets sent to his room by his mom for a time-out and Skippyjon’s imagination takes him to the circus. I think it shows kids how you can have a cool adventure by just using your imagination. I think everyone, including Siamese cats and Chihuahuas, will love this book! The copy we bought had a CD in it too with Ms. Schachner reading the book on it. That was cool to hear her read her own book!

Activities and Resources –

I think it would be cool to write your own Skippy adventure! Where will he go next? What will he do now? Who will he meet? Will he ever be happy being a Siamese cat instead of a chihuahua?

Teach your kids some words in Spanish! I found a website called “Spanish Playground” it has all kinds of resources for teaching kids Spanish. Click HERE to go to it.

There are a lot of great activities on the Skippyjon Jones website, click HERE to go to there.

To find more Perfect Picture Books please visit Susanna Hill’s blog HERE

Categories: Age 1-5, Age 6-9

Tags: bibliophile, boba fett, book review, bookworm, Children, cirque de ole, judy schachner, perfect picture book, skippyjon jones, susanna leonard hill