Author:Maryrose Wood
Illustrator:Jon Klassen
The story presented in this chapter book is just out of the ordinary! To begin with, the story is about three children who have been raised in the wild and so they therefore have no sense of manners and such. The names of these three children are Alexander, Cassiopeia, and Beowulf. Alexander is the oldest one and tries to keep them in line for the most part but we can tell she needs help. Then Miss Penelope comes into the picture to help out. Penelope is a fifteen year old graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females. She graduated a year ahead on top of her class which makes us believe she is extremely smart. Having graduated, Miss Penelope has to find a job and she goes to Ashton Place for a job interview and ends up staying. Her job is to be the governess of these three innocent creatures and right of the bat this is not an essay task. Knowing it would not be easy, she still takes the challenge and commits to it. Soon she realize that in order to teach them complex material, she first has to eliminate their canine tendencies and this is extremely hard. It is extremely hard because these children had been living under these circumstances for so long that it now seems normal and it’s harder to change their perspectives on certain things. It is nice to see how Miss Penelope has many plans and has hope she would be able to transform the children before the Christmas dinner. In addition, it’s nice to know that the outcome was one that pleased me quite much because it left me suspenseful.
Having said this, I really loved this chapter book and enjoyed it quite much. I mean I have never really liked fiction but I think that the story is structured in such a way that children and adults can relate to and become part of it. I feel like it is a great chapter book to read whenever and with who ever. I mean it can be a read aloud, independent reading, and such. The book itself has many qualities to offer not only to children but also to adults. After reading this book, I feel like adults can use Miss Penelope attitude, techniques, perspectives, optimism towards children. I mean for instance as an educator we can become inspired in the sense that if Miss Penelope was so enthusiastic about helping these children change, maybe we should as well. On the other hand, I feel like children can be exposed to the other side of the story. That is to say, they can see how teachers struggle in educating and how much they care. I feel that many, if not some, students just lack to see how much teachers care and what they go through as a result.
Going along those lines, there are several themes that I found throughout this chapter book story. I mean many of them revolved around important themes such as society, culture, relationships and obviously family. I guess not all of us as readers catch every single theme but we do catch those that relate to us and that is absolutely fine with me. I feel that a child or any reader should extract those themes that apply to them and which help them in some way or another. For instance, I know many friends who simply gave up on their education because they simply didn’t think there was someone out there who cared and supported them. I feel that if they had really this book or something as close to this particular story, they would’ve kept hope which would’ve given them the strength to keep striving higher and higher. I guess I can see the story can actually have the potential to motivate children in many aspects. Like I mentioned earlier, I think this is an outstanding book and even more so because it leaves the children in suspense at the end which makes them want to keep reading. I guess if I were to recommend this book I would definitely do so with no hesitation. J
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