13) When I Grow Up
Written by: Al Yankovic
Illustrated by: Wes Hargis
Scholastic, Inc.
2011
26 pages
Poetry
I chose When I Grow Up because it is a question that is relevant to all children. "What do you want to be when you grow up?" has to be on the list of Most Asked Questions for all students. Al Yankovic does a surprisingly great job of telling the story of a young boy who is very enthused to share his life plan with his classmates. His teacher begins to get a bit restless as he continues on and on about all the things he wants to be when he grows older, but at the end of the book is left with a picture he drew for her with himself as a teacher. The boy explains that his great-grandpa is one hundred and three, and has done many jobs. Since he's only eight, he feels like he has some time to do all the things he wants to do. He does provide some great uncoventional job ideas.
The illustrations in this book are done with watercolor and pen. Each page is a new adventure, with the first few pages showing the classroom the little boy is in. As we progress through the occupations, there become more and more illustrations on a single page. All of the illustrations are comical in some way. You can look at a picture and tell that the little boy is very enthusiastic about his future jobs.
This book is great for all ages I believe. It is a great segway to talk about different occupations. It does actually have a few normal ones, amonst the other quirkier professions. This book would also fit into a poetry lesson. I would use this book as a writing prompt for my class. I would tell them to listen as I read the book, and then we would begin a journal entry on what we would want to be when we grew up. You could take it many different directions.
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