Genre: Fiction/Picture
Book
Suggested age: 5-12
Author: Janet
Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel
Illustrator: Janet Stevens
ISBN: 9780439023092
Publisher: Scholastic, 2005
Following the
disgusting display of shoppers rioting during Black Friday in the US, I came across The
Great Fuzz Frenzy and saw the parallel social commentary and just had to share.
It happened one day
when a hapless Golden Retriever loses his beloved green tennis ball into a
prairie dog burrow. What happens next will
be remembered for all time among the Prairie Dog community as the time when the
“whole prairie was abuzz about fuzz” that turned into, “a fuzz fiasco”. It was The
Great Fuzz Frenzy! When Pip discovers the allure of the “fuzz”,
it quickly becomes a race to see who can own the most fuzz and be the most
creative with it; but, the fuzz runs out and the prairie dogs turn against one
another in a greed driven frenzy. When their greed hits a climax it takes
the threat of hungry eagle to rally the prairie dogs to unite and save their
fellow dog. Once the excitement dies
down, the community vows to be fuzzless forevermore thus ensuring the reader of
a happy ending. However, as the reader
turns the page, a familiar character is reintroduced into the story……
This story is just
chock-full of tongue in cheek references such as, “they came, they saw, they
picked” and silly name calling by the self-proclaimed prairie dog leader, Big
Bark. As much as I enjoyed reading this
book silently to myself, I have to assert that to really appreciate the brilliance
of the writing; one must read it out loud, to an audience of primary
students. Dust off your Monty Python accent
and give this story 150% of your enthusiasm as it rightly deserves!
The artful
illustrations done by Janet Stevens often find themselves too grand for the
book and demand pull out pages. The fill
every inch of the page allowing the text to craftily fit itself in and amongst
the prairie dogs which is quite fitting
based on the amount of dialogue bouncing back and forth among the inhabitants
of the burrow. The dark earth and rocks
that comprise the burrow often have ants, beetles, and earthworms cleverly
embedded to remind the reader that this story, is indeed, loosely based on
facts ; ) Stevens also uses a variety of
shades of brown that somehow make her mostly monochromatic illustrations lift
right off the page. It also serves to
highlight “the fuzz” which is consists of a day-glo neon green fabric.
I see being able to
use this book in the library and classroom (and of course, at home!) to show
novice readers the art of voice, clever tongue-in-cheek wit, the amusement of
writing with consonance, and of course, the broader social implications of the
tale of The Great Fuzz Frenzy.
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