Today's column was completed with a little help from my friends, the third-graders in Kathryn Lach's class at Oakdale Elementary School in Jordan District. We shared "Verdi" (Harcourt Brace & Company) written and illustrated by Janell Cannon.
"Verdi" is a story of a small yellow tree python who could not imagine why he would ever want to grow to be big and green. All the big green snakes seem lazy, bored and rude. He loved his yellow skin with spiffy black stripes.Everyone tried to warn him that he would change color and when he began to do just that, he tried to hang on to his verve and energy and not become lazy, boring and rude. While he nearly loses his life to a `bottomfeeder' fish, he survives to begin his antics and become friends with new baby snakes.
The third-graders commented on their favorite parts of the plot, the characters, style - both text and illustration - and the author's intent in the story. The moral - not accepting yourself as you really are - was not lost in the discussion of "Verdi" and some were willing to tell the comparison to their own lives.
Following are some of the written comments of the child critics:
"My favorite part of the book was when the three snakes made a flying figure-eight," said Andrew Ainsworth. Kevin Mirzaakbari agreed but added, "I also liked the part when the yellow snake bit the bottomfeeder." Heather Brady wrote that she liked " . . . when Verdi found the two little yellow snakes who looked just like he used to be and they became friends."
Many children commented on the author's writing style. Sarah Zeibig said that Cannon " . . . exaggerated on words" and Kristin Koska listed " . . . the great words such as `dawdle,' `zig-zag' and `dozer.' Ali Siegfried called the dynamic writings as "using a lot of jumpy words."
Colin Levetan admitted that the author "used very much detail on the pages where there was white and tropical rain forest." Tanner Thornton liked that the artist painted each of the characters in the book and Scott Hoskins and James Vincent both liked the borders that she used. James called them radical! Betsy Broadwater noted that the author used the same color on each page and "you can look for things that are camouflaged." "She put lots of talent into the art work," said Sarah Kirkland. Lacey Cook identified the medium that Cannon used and summed up all the comments with an exuberant "The watercolor pictures were great!"
Each of the students identified with the characters in some way, but Chris DeLancy laughed at Dozer "because he is lazy and tired like me!" Morgan Stidman commented that "each of the characters had their own feelings and characteristics."
We had a delightful time talking about how the story was almost like a fable. "It has a moral to it, no matter what you look like and no matter how old you are, you're always yourself!" was Tanners Tuttle's interpretation of the story. James Morgan said it in another way, "I am who I am and I will always be who I am!"
Whitney Waltman made the statement that "the story was just like people, how they want to look different or just not grow up." Jarah Nordin liked "the sureness of the young snake which helped to build self-confidence." Then she added, "Which all kids need."
Janell Cannon wrote "Verdi" so that young readers could become acquainted with snakes in a different way than seeing them as treacherous and threatening. Nicole Meyer liked the author's attempt to do that. "They are not the slimy, wormy `things' that people think they are."
All of the third-graders gave a "thumbs up" to "Verdi." Ryan Olsen summed up the approval by saying, "I think every child should read this book."
So do I! I predict that "Verdi" will be as popular as Cannon's last award-winning picture books "Stellaluna" and "Trupp."