Read Aloud Hall of Fame #10: DANDY by Ame Dyckman

You need a book. A can’t miss book. A read aloud that will cast a wide net and pull everyone in. This is the idea behind The 100 Scope Notes Read Aloud Hall of Fame.
In each post I’ll share a read aloud that has never let me down. Some will be obvious and popular. Others lesser-known. All will be story time gold.
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Click here to see all the Read Aloud Hall of Fame inductees.

Dandy by Ame Dyckman
So many of Ame Dyckman’s books are Read Aloud Hall of Fame material – Boy + Bot, Wolfie the Bunny, You Don’t Want a Unicorn – the list of storytime hits goes on and on. For me, Dandy is the one that deserves Hall of Fame enshrinement first.
When Sweetie makes a dandelion pet, what will her perfect-lawn-obsessed dad do? Time to get sneaky. But when Dad’s efforts to off Dandy fail, he realizes that a perfect lawn is not as important as he thought.
This book works on so many levels. Kids love the ridiculousness of having a pet dandelion and the over-the-top lengths dad goes to banish the weed. Grownups can relate to the father-daughter relationship. Hilarious with a perfectly sweet ending. I’m always excited when I get to read this book with kids.
Filed under: Read Aloud Hall of Fame
About Travis Jonker
Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.
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