Once Upon a Twice

This is an amazing book, full of innovative new words (which, unlike the words in "Jabberwocky", actually *make sense*!) and gorgeous (if slightly scary) pictures.

The story (about a mouse who runs off and almost gets eaten) may be a bit scary for some kids. Use your best judgment.

Age Appropriateness: Intermediate
Genre: Poetry
Review: This was a great example of poetry, because every word at the end of a sentence rhymed and it was in AAAB,AAAB format with the rhyming words.
Comments: -Do vocabulary on the difficult words in the book
- Have students create their own nature

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poems and to create pictures to go along with their poetry
Plot: The plot of this book would be considered progressive or dramatic plot, because the story went in chronological order, establishes the setting, conflict, rising action, climax, and the end when there was no more conflict. For example, the rising action was when the snake was lurking in the grass and the climax was when the snake drug the mouse into the water.
Media: Watercolors

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A young mouse learns the hard way that there are many predators at night.

This book's rhythmic poetry is meant to be read aloud with the lights turned down. It is tale set in a dark reed-filled pond will bring kids to the edge of their seats. The wordplay is delicious, especially the onomatopoeic, whimsical contractions like inbetwiddle, mouncelors, whispercroon,

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furlickt, grasshadowed, scritchscrambles and wanderyonder. This is a delightful read-aloud for both adults and children.

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This is a good book for the kids to find word to add to there Word collections. Also for when starting lessons on poems.

The wordplay is the best part of Doyen's story of one mouse's nighttime adventure. Lots of made up almost words are used and the text falls into a rhythm surprisingly well since it's not always uniform. The illustrations by Barry Moser are done in a night palette of blue, black and green. While

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this palette makes the pictures very atmospheric it also means the book is more suited to a lap read than a storytime as children will want to look closely at the illustrations to find what's hidden in the shadows. In the end, I think this was more fun for me to read aloud than it was for the kids to listen to - an older audience, maybe K through 2nd or 3rd grade, would probably be better than the preschool kids I tried it on. Overall though, I really liked this a lot and hope to find a better use for it in the future.

Used for Once Upon a Night preschool storytime January 2010.

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In her picture-book debut, which follows the story of young mouse-rebel named Jam and his night-time adventures under a bright full moon, Denis Doyen crafts a cautionary tale in poetic language that will delight readers with its tongue-tripping creativity. Words are cobbled to words, and something

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new - the "qui-etiquette" of proper nocturnal mouse behavior, the "preycautions" necessary for small creatures to stay safe - is created. The tripping narrative is accompanied by artist Barry Moser's darkly dramatic illustrations, which capture the sense of danger that builds throughout the story, culminating in Jam's waterside confrontation with a snake.

I enjoyed the wordplay in Once Upon a Twice (including the title itself), I enjoyed the rhythm and rhyme of the text, and I enjoyed the lovely illustrations. Despite all of this enjoyment however, I didn't come away with the feeling that this was a book I'd want to read again and again. Perhaps the conclusion of the story - don't go exploring, and do what you're told, or terrible things will happen to you - had something to do with it, or perhaps this simply suffered from being compared to another rhyming picture-book I read at the same time: Margaret Mahy's delightful Bubble Trouble. Whatever the case may be, and despite its undeniable virtues, this one is just not destined to be a personal favorite.

Still, I truly did appreciate the creativity of Doyen's text, and recommend that readers - particularly children who love poetry and wordplay - pick it up and decide for themselves.

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Clever illustrations and wildly inventive rhymes made this one a pleasure.

I STILL can't get the hang of reading picture books on an iPad. It feels weird.

A young, willful mouse learns a lesson and lives to tell his cautionary tale.The story is written in nonsensical rhyme. Young children will really enjoy the silly rhyming and get a little exposure to poetry at the same time.

I loved the pictures in this book. It has rhyme and rhythm. I guess it is a "Moral" story--the idea being to listen to your elders. The author used a lot of new-made up words that I believe kids would love, words like, inbetwiddle and mousling and riskrascal however there were so many I felt they

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might be confusing if one is trying to teach real words.

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I tremendously enjoyed this creative Caldecott Honor book.

This is a delightful story of a young mouse who loves living without rules. When the full moon occurs, The mouse named "Jam Boy" throws caution to the wind and delights in calling attention to himself by not following the pack.

There is a

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twisting of words, and it takes time to go with the flow, but soon I was laughing at the expressions on the faces of the mice and the rhyming catchy phrases.

Ostracized by the elder mice and banished to go home while the rest of the pack scampers together under a bright full moon, Jam Boy just cannot help himself, and all too soon he is back to his wayward ways.

"Shuns every warning, jumps the fence!
Jamagination in a flurry:
"I won't scamper! I won't scurry!
A clever mousling need not worry."

Furry overconfidence.

And, in his overconfidence, there is danger not only to him, but to the others.

Alone, he sits in the full moon, long tail lazily in the water and then, so full of himself, he does not hear the impending hissing warning of a snake approaching. This defining moment changes him.

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I'm not sure what to think of this. The text is creative, energetic, begs to be read-aloud. The illustrations are Barry Moser's usual good quality - engaging and pretty. However:

It's about a little mouse who makes a narrow escape from death while trying to be bold and explorative.

So, yes, it's

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true that mice should be timid. But since children are accustomed to learning about *themselves* via animals, with this picture-book we'd be teaching children to stay in line, mind their place, and forget about having adventures. Is that what we *want* to teach them?

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