If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, Don't!

Parsley, Elise. If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, Don't! New York: Little Brown, 2015. Print.

Show and tell at school? No problem! Magnolia has it covered. This is a funny account of how young Magnolia’s thinking outside the box for Nature’s Show and Tell has her troubleshooting all day to avoid her alligator getting them into trouble. However, despite the fact that she knows everything is going definitely wrong, she is unstoppable and rocks her show and tell presentation like a boss. This is a story about sticking to one’s ideals and doing the best they can to succeed despite the fact that the odds may not be in our favor.

This can definitely be taken as a lesson teaching book where we can teach our children to think things through before acting on our impulses. Thinking about the consequences of our actions is something everyone needs to learn (or should have learned) at a young age. For example, Magnolia had to stand last in line because she was distracted by the alligator. And Magnolia had to stay in for recess because her alligator was throwing paper airplances! Not fun and definitely not cool but every action has a consequence. Sometimes the things that we really want to do are the things that we really shouldn't do but engaging in those things bring consequences that we might not necessarily feel too thrilled about. My boys thought it was silly. "But mom, why would she want to take an alligator to school?" But at the end, they did learn something valuable. 

Book Trailer