A Play's the Thing

by Aliki

Miss Brilliant is full of ideas. With her students she celebrates teeth, corn, mummies, spiders -- and plays! Only José isn't interested in "Mary Had a Little Lamb," or being a Brilliant Player, or even his surprise role. But as José learns about drama and tension and working with his classmates, he finds that he, too, has his own special place in Miss Brilliant's class and in her heart. Aliki has created a memorable teacher and a class full of personalities that all readers will want to join.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, School, Cultural

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 6, 2005

About the author

Aliki has written and illustrated many books, both fiction and nonfiction, loved by readers throughout the world. The books were inspired by a word, an experience, or the desire to find out. Aliki lives in London, England.

Reviews

[Randie D. Camp, M.S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aliki is attempting to accomplish a lot with this book. Miss Brilliant has a clever idea to produce a play as a strategy to engage students in content (a nursery rhyme) perceived as “girly” and “for babies”. Jose seems disruptive at times; a teacher could use this book to indirectly address behaviors that influence the learning environment of a classroom. The students are diverse and much could be discussed in terms of diversity (both ethnically and physical characteristics). Issues of bullying are raised. There seems to be something going on with Jose’s family dynamic and other family scenarios could be discussed, as that is something children can easily relate to. Feelings of self-worth or courage to try new things. Furthermore, many elements of the story are noteworthy in their own right: the framed scenes, numerous speech bubbles, the planning/preparation that go into a play, the writing process, and so on and so forth. This book covers many topics for a seemingly simple concept/design.

I do think it is worth mentioning that children do tend to love speech bubbles but they are rather daunting for an adult reading aloud. Despite the book having an excessive amount of "stuff" going on, I still really enjoyed it and I would definitely recommend it to anyone, particularly a class working on a play or going to a play. My son recently went to see a production of “Charlotte’s Web” with his first grade class and they regularly do reader’s theatre, so this book was a fun treat for him too!

[Abigail · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Miss Brilliant's class decides to put on a production of Mary Had a Little Lamb for their families, most of the students join in with gusto, practicing their parts enthusiastically and working hard to help create the scenery and make the costumes. Only José resists, continually cracking jokes at his classmates' expense, and putting down the group project. But on the day of the play itself he too becomes engaged, pleased to see his mother in the audience and to be a part of the project, eventually learning his lesson about being a bully.

Chosen as one of our February selections for The Picture-Book Club to which I belong, where our monthly theme was "Fractured Nursery Rhymes" - the production by the "Brilliant Players" involves a significant revision to Mary Had a Little Lamb - this tale of one class's theatrical production makes for a lovely book in many respects. The premise is interesting, the cast of characters is diverse - the children come from all different racial and ethnic groups, and there is one little girl in a wheelchair - and the artwork is colorful and appealing. Unfortunately, the narrative itself is less successful, being divided between the main text, which is very simple, and the continuous dialogue occurring in speech bubbles, as part of the artwork. I found this divided narrative approach rather distracting at times, and think that the book would have worked better if the main text had been eliminated altogether, and the graphic novel format of the artwork had been allowed to determine the storytelling format as well.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some great concepts - a very diverse classroom, encouragement to be creative, examples of bullying and bad behavior, and a challenge to a difficult student that makes him want to be a part of the group after all.

The problem is in the execution. There are far too many speech bubbles for this book to be read aloud easily, but the subject matter begs to be discussed. I suppose the best way to use this book is to have children read it independently and then discuss it in a group afterward.

We read it together at bedtime and it was okay, but it was more irritating to read than any of the Magic School Bus books. Just too many speech bubbles and too little narrative. The illustrations are nice and we enjoyed talking about the different characters. Three cheers for for Miss Brilliant!

This story was selected as one of the books for the February 2013 - Fractured / Alternative Mother Goose discussion at the Picture-Book Club in the Children's Books Group here at Goodreads.

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't like this story but the illustrations depict diversity very, very well. The book reads like a comic strip which is a little strange given that the subject (a school play) it's really exciting enough for that. It's physical format is traditional hardcover picture book size which is a little strange too for a comic strip story; an attempt at something different poorly executed.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wears its heart on its sleeve. Its diversity and message that bullies are actually hurting inside are so strongly presented that it can be a bit much at times. I appreciate the message, but it comes across as a bit overbearing and naive.

It also only really works as an independenly read book. Its quasi-comic book format makes it basically impossible to read aloud.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't begin to tell you how excited I was to discover this book on the shelf of my local library! As a drama teacher, I am constantly on the look-out for books pertaining to theater for children, and unfortunately, I can say with certainty that picture books about theater and acting are few and far between.

And, this book really breaks down the steps Mrs. Brilliant's class takes to create its own play, from deciding to write an original script by expanding on a poem, to making their own invitations to send out to their family and friends. In theory, it would be wonderful to read this book to a class and then have the students create a play of their own, applying the steps mapped out in the book to their own work.

So, it is because of the subject matter and the details of the process involved in creating theater that I admit I am giving this book one more star than I feel it really deserves. In truth, I've found that this book is very hard to read to any class, and I've tried to read it to a few different age levels.

Most of the problem is the odd comic book formatting---there are ALOT of small little pictures on each page which do not allow kids to focus on a single image and also make it difficult for the kids to see the picture at all, if the class is large. The book is also much longer than any kid who might otherwise be able to appreciate it can possibly have the attention span for. And, one top of all this, Aliki really includes a story line here that I find unneeded in this context: a class bully named Jose.

This book definitely requires the teacher to do some heavy editing.

[Alexandria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books has a cute concept, and is refreshing in the sheer diversity of its cast. But it is too awkward to be read aloud, and I don't mean in terms of content. Most of the story takes place with speech bubbles, much like a comic. Unless you're REALLY good at (and comfortable doing) a range of voices, this is a book best left to the slight older kids who can read on their own.

Unless, of course, you want to go a bit more meta in terms of Shakespeare references and turn it into a play, with the plot revolving around the play-within-a-play.

[Janelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a bit complicated to read with a child. There's the story, and then all of the dialogue in the boxes. It's a lot to try and keep straight. There are also too many characters. I know she wanted to show a full classroom and represent diversity, but I don't know that we needed to know everyone's name and everyone's part. I'm confused about whose story it is, Miss Brilliant's, Jose's, the class's? It lacks focus.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I think it is a great model for teachers as well as students. It showed what a difference teachers can make, as well as how fun and interactive school can be. Parts of the book can be a little hard to read, because there are many individual speech bubbles from the children speaking, but this is also a unique and fun way to read the book. It may be better for a small group or independent reading time.

[Kifflie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a picture book about a class led by Miss Brilliant, who comes up with an idea to stage a play based upon "Mary Had a Little Lamb." All the kids in this class (and a very diverse bunch they are!) are excited. All except grumpy Jose. But even he manages to find his place in this play. It's schmaltzy, and there's probably too many kids to keep track of, but this is a pleasant story with a good lesson. And Aliki's art is always colorful and friendly.

[Bonnie Pohlig · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great model for teaching! This book is the story of how a teacher helps one kid who was a bully by doing a class play. The students learned so much, and the bully realized that being a bully is not ok. The teacher met the needs of an individual student while also helping the rest of the class.

[Tessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

We're doing a little unit on play writing and I'm looking at several books on the subject right now. This one was decent but reads more like a comic book - it's not good for reading aloud as there's too much going on! It worked for talking about all that goes into putting on a play and that it doesn't have to be long or fancy.

[Fives OnTheFly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wonderful book to read before writing and preforming our own pirate play. The kids loved hearing what each member of the class had to say. The "bully" story line had a great take home message that brought up some great discussions about why people bully or act mean.

[Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about a classroom setting. In this book it walks you through the day of class. Their are many different things that the kids do. It shows a lot of what things that kids can expect from starting school. I really do like that it shows even what the kids had to say too.

[Ubalstecha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and positive story of a class play. All about inclusion and trying your best. I plan to steal the idea of serving tests on a silver platter from this book.

[Ezekiel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a little worried it'd be too complicated for a child to really understand the subconversations and plots going on throughout the book, along with understanding the moral.

[Carrie Marie Lawson Brewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about class cooperation and behavior!

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ack!

Great idea -- I can't read the title without wanting to finish the quote -- but ALL over the place. This book is difficult to read alone, and near impossible to read out loud.

[Rani · Rating 5 out of 5]

#YoungReaders #PictureBook #BookReview #ChildrensBooks #amreading When Miss Brilliant celebrates the #achievements of her #students she does it with #Style.