Baloney Henry P

Author: Jon Scieszka

Winner of the 2002 Golden Duck Award for picture books, Baloney (Henry P.) is an engaging and relatable story about an alien boy who shows up late for class and is faced with permanent life-long detention if he is unable to come up with a believable excuse for his tardiness. So, Baloney begins a tall tale with words pulled from languages all over the world from Finnish to Swahili. Though young readers may have trouble with some of the unfamiliar words, the idea is to for them to take their cues from the vibrant, cartoonish illustrations throughout the story which give hints as to the meaning of the word. There is also a handy decoder page at the back of the book, which contains an afterword that explains that Baloney's story was intercepted from a deep space transmission. Kids will love the illustrations and will relate to Baloney's plight. Baloney, himself, is a cute, green-skinned, freckle-faced alien boy with huge, pointy ears that immediately pulls you into his tale. Working best as a read-aloud with young children, this book is a superb introduction to the genre of sci-fi as well as a great introduction to language for children from ages 2-4.