If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, DON'T!

Most of my grandkids live in the city that is the home of The University of Florida. The university's mascot is the Gator, friend to the fan and foe to the opponent. Even though you see alligators at Lake Alice on campus (from a respectable distance), they don't seem as primeval there as they do in say, Santa Rosa, California. If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, DON'T! caught my eye for the artwork but even better, the book is laugh out loud funny.

Magnolia wants to bring something exciting for a nature show-and-tell at school. Nothing boring like sparkly rocks or hollow sticks. An alligator would be perfect. Her teacher says, "Alligators are trouble". Magnolia knows all about them and promises that the alligator will be quiet and good and won't eat anyone. During spelling, the alligator draws funny pictures and gets Magnolia in trouble for laughing. In art, an airplane lands in the teacher's hair, a result of the alligator giving origami lessons. During math, the alligator seems hungry, so Magnolia gives him three sticks of her favorite gum which he will smack and twirl and get all over the classroom. By this time Magnolia's name has been written on the board with three check marks AND underlined. That means a trip to the principal's office after school. The alligator seems less exciting now. How does Magnolia solve her problem?

Elise  Parsley is both the author and illustrator. Told in the second person, this makes for a great read aloud The AR is 3.7 The Sonoma County Library has three copies.