Just Me & 6,000 Rats: A Tale of Conjunctions

by Rick Walton, Mike Gordon (Illustrator), Carl Gordon (Illustrator)

Teachers and parents know that teaching is more effective when kids are having fun. Rick Walton’s Language Adventures Series combines entertainment and education with eight newly revised picture books that cleverly teach grammar and usage. Kids will love the silly stories, funny illustrations, and witty wordplay. Teachers and parents will love the new definitions at the beginning of the book and activities at the end that allow kids to apply what they’ve learned. Titles in the series include • Around the House, the Fox Chased the Adventures in Prepositions • Bullfrog Adventures in Verbs and Objects • Herd of Cows, Flock of Adventures in Collective Nouns • Just Me and 6,000 Adventures in Conjunctions • Once There Was a Bull . . . (Frog): Adventures in Compound Words • Pig Pigger Adventures in Comparing • Suddenly Adventures in Adverbs • Why the Banana Adventures in Idioms Rick Walton is the author of more than sixty children’s books, including this best-selling language arts series. His books have been featured on the IRA Children’s Choice list, Reading Rainbow, and CBS This Morning. More than 150,000 copies sold! Conjunction-junction, what's your function? Author Rick Walton knows, and he's delivered another delightful children's book in the language arts series to teach budding new readers all about them. Conjunctions are used to link words, phrases, and clauses, but who knew that they could be so clever! "After the game we decided to see a play. The city is famous for its plays. We entered the theater. We had trouble finding just the right seats, AS . . . . . . all the seats were already filled, SO . . . . . . we sat on people's laps. We don't know why everyone decided to leave early, THOUGH. . . . . . it might have been that the show was about cats. Who wants to see a show about cats? We left the theater. And then the rats saw the sign, "Museum of Fine Arts". Rats don't read well. They insisted we go in BECAUSE . . . . . . they thought it said, "Museum of Fine Rats."

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction

36 pages, Paperback

First published July 26, 2007

About the author

Born and raised in Utah, Walton is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormon Church. He served as a missionary to Brazil from 1976 to 1978, soon after he graduated from high school. Later, at Brigham Young University, he became president of the Brazil Club. In 1980, he graduated from Brigham Young with a bachelor's degree in Spanish and a minor in Portuguese, the language spoken in Brazil.

Walton's education continued after he obtained his degree. In 1980, he went back to Brigham Young for one semester of graduate work in business, but chose not to follow that career path. Deciding to become a teacher, he earned certification in elementary education from Brigham Young in 1987, as well as certification to teach gifted and talented students. Up to that point, he had held a number of jobs, including a year with the parks and recreation department of Provo, Utah. In 1987, he began teaching sixth grade at a local public school, then switched to a private school.

Also interested in computers, Walton would later publish several items of software. He left teaching to accept a position as software designer for IBM in 1989. In 1994, he turned to freelance software design and writing. He also returned to Brigham Young University once again, this time to earn his master's degree in English, with an emphasis on creative writing.

Walton's wife, Ann, with whom he has written many of his books, is a computer programmer. They were married in 1983, and have five children. With Dumb Clucks! and Something's Fishy! in 1987, the Waltons began writing books.

Reviews

[Cheryl]

I didn't care for this. It's a funny story, which gives lots of examples, and it has a couple of exercises, but it doesn't actually explain what the heck is going on. When I was a child, we only learned And, But, and Or (and sometimes Nor). My son was the right age to use this when it was new, and he admits that he was never taught much more than that. This has Until, and Although, and a bunch others.

Well, I learned that there are different kinds of conjunctions. I had to look at several websites to find one that included all the different ones in this book. I'm not saying this is the best or most complete website, but it might be a good one for homeschooling families who actually want to go into more depth: https://www.crowdcontent.com/resource....

Can't rate because I'm not the target audience and no longer teach... just don't know if this would work with kids.

[Suzanne Lorraine Kunz Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a clever tail of conjunctions! We all know that And, But and Or are conjunctions because of "Conjunction Junction" in School House rock. But this fun book takes learning conjunctions to the next level.

**Talking Points: What would you do if someone showed up with 6,000 rats? What other animals - or insects - would bring that same response? Can you write a story using all the conjunctions in this book? It seems like the boy with that rats gets to do everything he wants to do because of the rats. Is this kind or thoughtful? If you had 6,000 rats ruining your situation what could you do to help make things better? The officials of the town draw some boundaries? What are some healthy boundaries that you've set in your life or others have set to help keep the rats of life out?

**Essential Oil Pairing Tip: I'm choosing Thinker as the essential oil blend for this book. Sometimes unexpected things happen - like having 6,000 rats show up - and we have to think our way out of the situation - or the rats in our lives win.

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

And, but, until, even though, since, although, neither/nor, yet, as, so, though, because, if, either/or -- what great words (ahem, CONJUNCTIONS) to use to build a story.

This was a perfectly silly addition to our POTTER PETS "RATS" story time. The large format and cartoon-like illustrations work very well with a group of children.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tongue-in-cheek humor with examples of conjunctions on every page.

[Angel Torres · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was very fun and entertaining.
It's nice, simple and educational.
Good stuff.

[Jaime Lyerly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The rats are charming, but I don't know how it would teach conjunctions to kids. The rats are more important than grammar.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very cute book about a boy and his 'friends'. The group visits a large, unnamed, city and seem to have a very nice time indeed. I'm going to try to use this in a storytime (for older preschoolers) as I think it would be a hit. As a bonus, each page ends with a conjunction; an accessible little learning treat for readers/listeners.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This week my son has been studying conjunctions in school....and who would have thought there was an actual picture book all about conjunctions? And it is really funny...and ironic...and an excellent way to slip in a little conjunction practice without kids knowing they are learning! But a little warning...you will have "conjunction function, what's your function" stuck in your head all day!

[Keegan Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one. It's another good possible school/homeschool book because it uses conjunctions so much. The rats just really add character to the story and make it funny throughout and particularly at the end.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story about conjunctions goes beyond "and, but, and or". Funny story and illustrations with emphasis on several different types of conjunctions including: and, but, until, even though, since, although, neither & nor, yet, as, so, though, because, if, AND either & or.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite Rick Walton books. Who doesn't want to read a language arts book with page-turn surprises involving thousands of rats?

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has lots of conjunctions and was a fun little read - probably best for ages 4-8 years or so.

[Juliej · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, cute way to get the lesson across - a book all about conjunctions. Got a thumbs up from an 8 year old.

[Karissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great to introduce/discuss conjunctions.

[Jennifer Ho · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be really funny as you teach children about conjunctions. I think children will love it as you read it to them.

[Syd · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the little boy with his rats going around getting everything 'cause the people were scared of the rats.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a fun way to introduce conjunctions.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect for Story Time, it will delight the children and horrify the Moms. I know I get shivers at the thought of a day spent with 6,000 rats.

[BookCupid · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great way to learn conjunctions and see just how bad rats have it because they are ugly, or potential plague carriers. If you read this make sure to keep an open mind.

[Carrie Gelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very amusing!

[Naomi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another book focusing on the disgustingness of rats vs. showing their positive elements. Poor story partnered with crappy, mediocre illustrations.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good read-aloud for teachers who want to show how writing can be improved by adding conjunctions.

[Beyond the Pages with Eva K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!!!