Joni and the Fallen Star: Helping Children Learn Teamwork

by Cindy Jett Pilon, John Hazard (Illustrator)

Overview

“I am terribly sorry to bother you", says the captivating little star, Alkaid, “But I seem to have fallen out of the sky and really need to go home”. So begins the adventure of Joni and the Fallen Star. Experience firsthand with Joni, who with the aid of her classmates combine their individual special talents: building, math, painting, etc. to help the little star back into the heavens. Will their teamwork be successful, and what have the children learned in their efforts?

Joni and the Fallen Star is a heartwarming, luminously illustrated addition to the successful “Let’s Talk Series”, that is destined to become a family favorite, promoting social skills, utilizing creativity and fostering teamwork that are important skills for young children on their pathway to becoming tomorrow leaders.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780882823539
Publisher:	New Horizon Press
Publication date:	06/01/2011
Series:	Let's Talk Series
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Cindy Jett Pilon has an active psychotherapy practice in Washington, D.C. She has a Master’s of Social Work from Catholic University of America. She lives in Reston, Virginia, with her husband and daughter.

John Hazard is an animator for the Nickelodeon network and its Web site and draws the newspaper strip Schmooze and Lose. A graduate of the Pratt Institute, he lives in Manhattan, New York.

Editorial Reviews

PreS-Gr 2—These books are intended to teach lessons about life; when those values are part of the title, it's hard to avoid being hit over the head with the message. In the first book, a tiny ant doesn't have the strength to climb the wall that leads to his home when carrying something heavy. Because of this, he's the only ant in his colony that has never given his queen a gift. One day a bird drops a feather and Ace is determined to carry it up the wall to his queen. He picks it up in his "pincers" (a term used three times—lobsters have pincers, ants have mandibles) and lugs it upward. Cheered on by his caterpillar friend, Ace is successful. In Joni, readers learn of the plight of a star that has fallen out of the sky and desperately wants to return to his constellation, the Big Dipper. Joni tries to throw him back, but doesn't have the strength. Eventually, she assembles a team of classmates, all with the individual skills needed to build a catapult to hurl Al back into the sky. Both books are forced, cutesy, and contrived to prove a point, and the cartoon art fails to engage readers. It will take a skilled actor/reader to present these books with sincerity.—Maggie Chase, Boise State University, ID

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