Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones is set in motion with Skippy over in Mrs Dolly Doohiggy’s garden. Judy Schachner’s Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones is an additional work in the well-liked series featuring that kitty boy, Mama JuneBug Jones and Skippy’s three little sisters JuJu Bee, Jezebel and Jilly Boo. We see Skippy digging in the garden. Mrs Dolly Doohiggy’s garden is where Mrs D’s dog, Darwin, buried all of his bones and NOBODY but nobody messes with Darwin.

Mama JuneBug, her mount filled with wooden clothes pins was hanging wash on the line when her kitty boy dashed right through the sheets as fast as his legs could scuttle. Clutching a bone in his mouth; Skippy had plans to become a world famous paleontologist. In his bedroom Skippy is building a Skipposaurus. Of course his Mama does not have the same opinion and is adamant that Skippy return those bones he has taken to Darwin. A good bounce on his big boy bed and Skippy is ready for adventure, into his closet where he is convinced he will find dinosaurs. Before long Skippy is face to face with his old friends the Chimichangos who are sitting on the rim of a volcano where they are roasting MARSHmallows .

The tale takes a turn when Mount Itchee Gitchee Gumba blew its top, followed by the approach of T Mexito along with a whole gang of other dinosaurios, - big ones, little ones, feathered and bald ones, some were prickly and overflowing with a look that could kill. Most amazing, they all doing the same thing; THEY WERE DANCING A RHUMBA.

Suddenly a Boom, Boom, Boom sounded and a smell filled the air. It wasn’t the dinosaurious that smelled; it was Darwin, and he was knock, knock, knockin’, on Skippy’s closet door. A click and the door opened and out tumbled one poofy tailed Skippy riding on an avalanche of bones. When Skippy came too, Mama Junebug and the little kitty girls sat looking at Skip. He was snuggled under a blankie in a soft kitty bed, ice bag on his head, with a band-aid on his brow. He wasn’t positive just what had happened but he was a tad the worse for wear after that avalanche.

Mama Junebug was pleased Skippy had returned those bones to Darwin. Judy Schachner’s growing Skippyjon series is an Osage County First Grade favorite. One of the perks for a teacher of Little People; we get to read some of the most delightful of all books. And Judy Schachner’s Skippyjon series provides many of the most delightful of all books. In our Osage County First Grade classroom we have numerous of the books making up the Skippyjon series to date.

Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones gives us one more tale to love. I like that Writer Schachner uses imagination, fun, activity and words of Spanish in each of the Skippyjon tales. Osage County First Grade likes learning those Spanish words, and they are learning to use their own imagination to create stories and pictures filled with enjoyment and exhilaration.

Osage County First Grade blossoms and flourishes when they read tales having repetition, and predictability. Writer Schachner’s Skippyjon books ARE written pretty much along the lines of a predictable format repeated in various versions. I like it and Osage County First Grade likes it. We do not want writer Schachner to change anything about Skippy and his Chimichango cronies.

Schachner’s illustrations are perfect for the wording used, I have no doubt the writer has had a long experience with cats in her life. The image of the three little kitty girls flopped on their tummies in the grass watching Darwin sleep could not better exemplify goofy little cat behavior of kittens. Skippyjon’s Spanish and his conduct is pretty representative for children of K-Primary age. I have that often little kids just really are convinced the garble they express with syllables strung together ie Wa wha wha wa wa, or adding an o IS language and makes perfect sense.

Skippyjon’s adaptation of Spanish by simply adding an o here and there makes perfect sense to Skippy and perfect sense to Osage County First Grade. Skippyjon’s mind's eye thoughts are what fuels his antics and his closet bound meetings with the Chimichangos. As with all children invented reality is built on children’s perception of things seen and unseen from life; kids watch TV, see movies, hear parents and others talk and at times come up with some really skewered perceptions at times. But, that IS was imagination is all about. Skippyjon and his imagination is not a lot different than the imagination of any little kid; skewered at times.

I do like that there are bona fide Spanish words and phrases included in the account found in each book; Osage county First Grade delights in learning some Spanish, and use the real language words and phrases as often as they can in daily activities. Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones presents Osage County First Grade occasion for dialogue centered on imagination and actuality, performance of Little People, words paleontologist, sediment, gigantic, dogs, imagination, volcano, stop – drop – roll, avalanche, as well as words of endearment and so much more as we enjoy writer Schachner Skippyjon series.

Happy to recommend.

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Reviewed by Molly’s Reviews

molly martin

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Product Details and Shipping Information from Amazon

Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones

Author Judy Schachner Product Details

Reading level: Ages 4-8 Hardcover:

32 pages

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile; Har/Com edition (November 1, 2008)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0525478841

ISBN-13: 978-0525478843

Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 9.1 x 0.4 inches

Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces

$11.55 In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available. ---------------------------------------------

About the Author: from the author’s website "I was the last child and only daughter born to Edward and Mary Francis Byron on August 20th, 1951 in the city of Waltham, Massachusetts. In 1969, Massachusetts College of Art accepted Schachner as a student, graduating in 1973 with a BFA in illustration Schachner plied her trade in greeting card factories which included working for a time at Hallmark.

Marriage and motherhood put art on hold for a time: Over the years Schachner says she read hundreds of books to her daughters. Inspired by the art and words, Schachner was moved once again to finish a portfolio of children’s writing/illustrations and take it on the road to New York. In 1995 Schachner wrote and illustrated her first picture book.

Today, her children are adults, and Judith Byron Schachner and her husband live in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania where she continues to write and illustrate works for children.