Winston Willyums and the Whimsical Windup Watch by Lee Gangles and illustrated by Christy C. Robinson

So this is Jeff Hoffman's second book, and the illustrations are just delightful! Our friend Christy did a professional job on these!

And I like this book better than Ferbert (see previous post). It's less redundant and keeps moving and is shorter and to the point. I like the relationship between the grandson and the "geezer" grandfather and friends in the Geezers' Home. It's also a great reminder for adults about how kids might misunderstand or not understand all the words we use with them...

One big flaw for me was using "your" for "you're" not once, but TWICE in this short book. AAAACCHHH! It you're going to win teachers over, you'd better get better editing/proofing going. The principal/principle debate that goes on in the text is handled pretty well, and I can see teachers using that discussion for good.

The bully, the unkind teacher, the principal are all stereotypes but maybe good springboards for discussion. I notice on his website that Hoffman offers teachers the text digitally so they can do read-alouds, etc., for FREE! That's impressive! I think it's an enjoyable read, and better than a lot of the stuff out there. I didn't really LOVE it, though. Clever tricks with the watch as a plot device for changing people...

The real delight though, is the illustrations that Christy drew. They are clever and really enhance the story. Well done here. I'm giving this to the boys along with the other book. I think it's cool for them to read books when they know the author and illustrator.