Xander’s Panda Party
Hello Friday and Perfect Picture Book Friday:
My choice for this week:
Xander’s Panda Party
Written By Linda Sue Park
Illustrated by Matt Phelan
Clarion Books, September 2013
Fiction
Suitable For Ages: 4 and up
Themes/Topics: inclusion/diversity, animals/panda, parties, zoo
Opening: “Xander planned a panda party. Yes, a dandy whoop-de-do!”
Brief Synopsis: Xander’s plan to host a panda party falls through, since he is the only panda at the zoo, but when he extends the invitation to all of the bears, complications ensue.
Links To Resources: The Smithsonian National Zoological Park page on Giant Panda’s. Diversity in the classroom. PandaCam. (As I wrote this, the PandaCam wasn’t working, but this could be a temporary problem related to the U.S. Federal Government shutdown.)
Why I Like This Book: I heard author Linda Sue Park speak at the Rocky Mountain Chapter of SCBWI speak at the fall Letters and Lines conference. She shared Xander’s Panda Party during her address to the group. I know it’s easy to be impressed by a speaker and her work, but WOW. This is a fun story. It offers a different twist on a party and a zoo story. Plus adds in how to be inclusive, as Xander works through his party invitations. I wanted to get my hands on it to break down the page turns, but the conference bookstore sold out.
Amazon reports the book is 40 pages. The book has a two-page author’s note about the animal groups in the story. The illustrations are soft and fun. I’m traveling this week and as Enzo rebelled against the sheep being held captive in the Kindle, we visited the library with Grandpa. I went straight to the Ps to find this book there! I doubt I’ll be studying it much this week, but we will read it multiple times.
To find more PPBF books, visit Susanna Leonard Hill’s blog.
This is my new blog. I haven’t participated in Perfect Picture Book Fridays since March as I finished website design classes and several project. If you want to keep up with other blog posts, please sign to follow future posts via the RSS feed or by email.