The Lovesick Skunk

by Joe Hayes, Antonio Castro L. (Illustrator)

Overview

"Move over Pepé Le Pew: A pair of black-and-white high-top sneakers become the love interest of a skunk—much to the chagrin of the boy who's wearing them."— Los Angeles Times

"An upbeat and playful story."— School Library Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781941026045
Publisher:	Cinco Puntos Press
Publication date:	09/27/2016
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 11.60(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	5 - 10 Years

About the Author

Joe Hayes: Joe Hayes is the author of over twenty books for children and young adults. His writing style is storytelling-tested and has its roots in the oral traditions of the American Southwest. Each summer, he delights children and adults alike with his summertime storytelling performances at Santa Fe’s Wheelwright Museum. The rest of the year finds him speaking to thousands of readers around the United States at schools, libraries, and conferences. His book Ghost Fever/Mal de Fantasma won the Texas Bluebonnet Award in 2007. Dance, Nana, Dance / Baila, Nana, Baila, his collection of folktales from Cuba, won the Aesop Prize in 2009. The New Mexico Library Association named Joe the Centennial Storyteller in 2010, a storyteller so good he only comes around once every 100 years!
Antonio Castro L.: Antonio Castro Lopez (L.) was born in Zacatecas, Mexico and has lived in the Juarez-El Paso area for most of his life. He has illustrated dozens of childrens’ books including Barry, the Bravest Saint Bernard (Random House), Pajaro Verde, The Treasure on Gold Street, The Day It Snowed Tortillas and The Gum-Chewing Rattler (Cinco Puntos Press).
In 2005, the government of the State of Chihuahua, Mexico, commissioned Antonio to paint a mural for the government palace. The mural commemorates the anniversary of the Battle of Tomochic.
His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums in Texas, Mexico City, Spain and Italy.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Move over Pepé Le Pew: A pair of black-and-white high-top sneakers become the love interest of a skunk— much to the chagrin of the boy who's wearing them."—Los Angeles Times

"Joe Hayes’s books are always delightful, perhaps because, as I read them, I can almost hear the warm, inviting voice of this professional raconteur… This story celebrates the best of childhood: playful adventures, best friends, and unlikely tales that parents just never understand." —New Mexico Magazine

Editorial Reviews

"Move over Pepé Le Pew: A pair of black-and-white high-top sneakers become the love interest of a skunk— much to the chagrin of the boy who's wearing them."— Los Angeles Times

"Joe Hayes’s books are always delightful, perhaps because, as I read them, I can almost hear the warm, inviting voice of this professional raconteur… This story celebrates the best of childhood: playful adventures, best friends, and unlikely tales that parents just never understand." — New Mexico Magazine

From the Publisher

Joe Hayes comes from the oral storytelling tradition in which a personal anecdote is spun into an amusing twist on some kind of lesson or general point. In this case, the first person narrator is remembering a favorite pair of black and white sneakers he had as a boy. These were ones that he kept stuffing his feet into even after they were full of holes—and smelly enough to make his mother ban them from the house. We learn that despite his love for them, the narrator had to give them up after a camping outing with a friend. The sneakers which he leaves outside the tent get appropriated by a lovesick skunk—that is not a smell even the most loyal kid can put up with. Each page of the story is illustrated by a full page, realistic full color drawing that matches the text. The story is well told and can offer a good model for a writing workshop assignment to write a short personal story. Reviewer: Mary Hynes-Berry

Children's Literature - Mary Hynes-Berry

K-Gr 3—As might be expected in a picture book about a pair of stinky tennis shoes loved by both the boy who wears them and the skunk that discovers them on a camping trip, this story has the flavor of a tall tale told around a homey campfire. Hayes's writing style is somewhat reminiscent of Janet Stevens's, and the vivid paintings, with their slightly exaggerated perspectives, blend well with the tall-tale feel. Although the ending is somewhat lackluster, the idea of stinky shoes and a skunk in love is funny. An additional purchase.—Natasha Forrester, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR

School Library Journal

The duo that created The Gum-Chewing Rattler (2006) concocts a Garrison Keillor–type anecdote sized to fit a picture book. The key character is not a skunk, as the title suggests, but a pair of very smelly sneakers. The bespectacled boy narrator refuses to stop wearing them, even after a mishap with cow pies, until the night he and his pal camp out. When a noise in the night awakens them, they find a skunk ardently nuzzling a sneaker. They watch as a large skunk appears, jealously sprays the sneaker and leaves with "my shoes' new girlfriend" tagging behind him. The innate humor is realistically illustrated with detailed full bleeds but is washed out by the voice of the first-person narrator, which attempts a childlike ingenuousness but achieves instead an unfortunately patronizing tone in print: "I stepped in the cow pie. That's not a pie cows like to eat. It's something that comes out the other end of the cow!" Without the storyteller's oral inflections, too many laugh lines fall flat. What kind of books do skunks read? Best "smellers"—but unfortunately this isn't one. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews