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Title: Verdi
ISBN: 0152010289
Author:
Janell Cannon
Publicate Date: 1997-04-01
Publish: 1997-04-01
List Price: $17.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $4.25
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.01
Amazon Merchant Price: $11.56
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Splendid Artwork, So-So Story
In the heat of the tropics, several small eggs hatch and tiny 8-inch snakes slither out, swiftly making their way out to the forest to explore and learn. One of them dilly-dallies, mesmerized by his colorful body and confused by his mother's encouraging words to "grow up big and green - as green as the trees' leaves." The Peter Pan of reptiles, "Verdi" is the charming story of a little snake who refuses to grow up.
Once a featured title on the popular children's program "Reading Rainbow", "Verdi" begins by introducing the reader to a just-hatched green tree python who after seeing how crotchety and lazy his elders are decides not to become like them, which means fighting off his inevitable maturation. Born with an eye-catching pattern of black markings littering his canary yellow scales, Verdi is a spry snake that flings himself about the trees, a little too adventurous for his own good. While fretting over the color change in his scales and slithering about, Verdi gets himself into a heap of trouble and is rescued by the adults. As he recovers from an incapacitating injury, he learns some interesting things about his peers and discovers that getting older isn't such a bad thing after all, so long as you remain young at heart.
Cannon's story slyly schools us on morelia viridis while dazzling us with her beautiful illustrations done in acrylic paint and Prismacolor pencils (and I can vouch for that brand, as I own a large set of them - they are EXCELLENT). Her excellence at rendering the anatomy of her star reptile comes from thorough, hands-on research with the help of Clay Garrett, a herpetologist at the Dallas Zoo and Robert Brock of the San Diego Zoo. At the back of the book are some source notes on snakes which include specific facts about the green tree python; these details will be of particular interest to children and adults who are animal and/or biology enthusiasts.
Bottom line: Fans of "Stellaluna" will love this work more so for Cannon's stunning vignettes, the story taking a bit of a backseat. Nonetheless, it is a frivolous and fun tale while being educational at the same time and Cannon's gorgeous depictions of wildlife will transport you to another world.
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2: terribly disappointed
When I ordered this book, the preview pages showed the book to be in English however, the one that I was sent was in Spanish. I am a Speech Pathologist and planned to use it in my classroom but couldn't since all of my students speak English. I was very disappointed that the seller took it upon themselves to change my order and send it in a different language.
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3: Fabulous book, great lessons
My son and I love all of Janell Cannon's books. They're beautifully illustrated and generally have some wonderful lessons in them as well.
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4: A DELIGHT TO THE EYE, GREAT STORY AND KIDS LOVE IT.
This is a wonderfully written story of a young python, a young yellow python, who does not want to grow old a boring like the adult green pythons he see around him. The art work in this slender book is absolutely breath taking. The artist has blended his colors perfectly and created life like studies of these wonderful snakes but not life like situations as far as the snake world goes. This is the charm of the story. Few, if any, want to actually grow older and kids in particular do not want to do and act as "boring" adults. This tale lets the child know that we all can keep our child like wonder and love of fun into our adult years. I read this one to the second and third graders and they catch the meaning of the story quite well with a bit of prompting. They love the pictures, in particular the ones where the author has made the snakes rather hard to spot. I also not that this is one of the more popular books chosen by the children when they have their "read alone time." An endorsement of a children by children is as about as good as it gets. I must say though, adults will enjoy reading this with the children also which I feel is important as kids can sort of sense when your heart is not really in the reading. Recommend this one highly. Very much recommend you add this one to your child's collection or to your school library.
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5: VERDI
Beautifully written and illustrated book for children of all ages with a wonderful message.
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