Sunday, October 23, 2016

Tony Baloney

Tony Baloney (2011) by Pam Munoz Ryan (illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham) is a fun picturebook that tells a story about a macaroni penguin. Throughout the book, Ryan peppers the story with words one wouldn't expect in a picturebook. Bothersome, parmesan, exasperating and duffel are some of the words included. Some are explained by the pictures, but some are not.

One can't help but almost feel sorry for Tony, who is the middle penguin in his family. Tony suffers the wrath of Big Sister Baloney and has to tolerate the Bothersome Babies Baloney. Tony Baloney tells us about a day in the life of Tony who seems to fall into as much trouble as he causes. In the story, Tony deals with his feelings by confiding in Dandelion, his stuffed animal buddy. Through Dandelion, Tony finally makes a good choice, only to fall in trouble with Big Sister Baloney
yet again!

The illustrations for the story are quite unique. Every page in the Tony Baloney is decorated with either circles, squares or both. Many pages use colorful circles as frames for the illustrations themselves. As for the characters, the illustrator uses offer for each, having them looking at one another. Except for Dandelion, who is drawn almost always using demand. It's as if Dandelion is keeping tabs on your reaction to the story, asking you what you think about what is happening.

The alliteration that Ryan uses throughout the book, stressing the letter B, gives the text a cadence and makes it easy to read. In places, that rhythm almost overwhelms the text, but Ryan always manages to pull it back in time.

My kindergartners and I would first take a picture walk through the book with me asking them what's happening on each page. I would note their comments on sticky notes to see how close they are when we read the story. Then, we would take a word walk, so to speak. I would ask them about certain words and have them guess the meaning. After we get the correct definitions, we would reread once again, noting the words, where and how they are used.

While not phenomenal, and certainly not what I expected from Pam Munoz Ryan, Tony Baloney is definitely worth a read. Should it go in your own classroom library? I'll let you be the judge of that one...

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