Meet the new girl Gooney Bird Greene, as she walks into Mrs. Pigeon's second grade class one morning in October, wearing pajamas and cowboy boots, and holding a dictionary. The class has been learning about what makes good stories, and they don't seem to be getting it. Malcolm, who has been hiding under the desk doing something with scissors, starts to cry. Seems he's just put a little origami paper star up his nose and can't get it out. As Mrs. Pigeon marches him to the nurse, she commands, "Don't sniff, Malcolm. DO NOT SNIFF. That is an order."

Just a typical day in second grade? You bet. As they read this witty little chapter book, teachers will marvel, "Has Lois Lowry been sitting in my classroom? She has it all just right." And then there's Gooney Bird, the consummate storyteller, who says, "I will tell you an absolutely true story about me." She proceeds to regale the class with five outlandish and enthralling tales about herself, one each day, over the course of a week. There's "How Gooney Bird Got Her Name," "How Gooney Bird Came from China on a Flying Carpet," and "How Catman Is Consumed by a Cow," about her own cat. What a role model she is. Each of her stories has a beginning, middle, and end. She makes the class pay strict attention-"I like to have absolutely all eyes on me."-but she stops for questions and comments. She uses characters and dialogue. Her stories are full of suspense, mystery, and twists, and depend on wonderful wordplay. Gooney Bird mesmerizes us all with her own yarns and demonstrates what makes a good story.

When her classmates clamor for more of her absolutely true stories, she tells them it's time to tell their own, and, of course, that's what your own storytellers will be raring to do in an outpouring of strange but true personal narratives. Kids and grownups who want to become published writers might want to compile a chart of her many on-target writing tips. For more fun with the words and the dictionary, see the sequel, Gooney Bird and the Room Mother, and then follow up with Gooney the Fabulous, where the class learns about fables, and Gooney Bird is So Absurd, where they write some poems. To celebrate Gooney Bird's sublime fashion sense and always outrageous outfits, you could declare a "Dress up like Gooney Bird Day."

THEMES: HUMOROUS FICTION. LANGUAGE ARTS. SCHOOLS. STORYTELLING. TEACHERS. VOCABULARY.