Silly Tilly

by Eileen Spinelli, David Slonim (Illustrator)

Overview

“Tilly is not an ordinary goose. She takes her baths in apple juice. She wears a pancake as a hat. She tries to ride the farmer’s cat.”

But the barnyard animals complain that she’s too silly. When she stops entertaining her friends with her antics, the farm becomes a quiet and unhappy place. David Slonim’s acrylic, pencil, and ballpoint pen illustrations add to the hilarity in this story about a one-of-a-kind silly goose.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761459903
Publisher:	Amazon Publishing
Publication date:	04/01/2012
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	(w) x 11.00(h) x 8.50(d)
Lexile:	AD500L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Author Eileen Spinelli, a poet and creative writing teacher, is the author of many novels and picture books for children, including Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch, and the Lizzie Logan books. She lives with her husband, who is also a writer, in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Editorial Reviews

Is Tilly too silly? This goofy goose "took her baths in apple juice. She wore a pancake for a hat. She tried to ride the farmer's cat. She kissed a fish. Imagine that!” But Tilly's ridiculous behavior wears thin, prompting her barnyard friends to say, "That's enough!” So Tilly stops being silly—for a while. The farm becomes Dullsville. Hetta Hen remarks, "I haven't laughed since Tilly chased the garbage men.” Harvey Goat adds, "Not since Tilly sneezed and blew the fleas from Farmer's coat and set his underwear afloat.”

Finally, Horse rallies the animals to apologize, and Tilly resumes her antics. The outsize, cartoonish illustrations of acrylic, pencil, and pen on linen overflow the pages and embellish the humor with details like the tiny tractors on Farmer's boxers. If kids don't already know the phrase "you silly goose,” they will after laughing at this performance.

Booklist

Silly Tilly is the farm comedian, entertaining all the animals with her goosey, goofy behavior. "She wore a pancake as a hat. / She tried to ride the farmer's cat. / She kissed a fish. Imagine that!" But sometime after she sits on and squashes Rooster's birthday cake, the other farmyard animals get fed up and tell Tilly Goose to end all her silliness: "No more naps in Scarecrow's pants! / No packing piglet off to France. / No yodels at the Harvest Dance!" Weeks later, a very quiet and sedate farm has stopped laughing. "It's dullsville on the farm. No fun!" Apologies are expressed "with quacks and oinks and heartfelt sighs," and soon Silly Tilly's back to her foolishness and the much-missed jovial atmosphere is restored. Slonim's expressive cartoon-style paintings rendered in acrylic, pencil and ballpoint pen on linen actively complement Spinelli's humorous triads, reveling in the ridiculous absurdity. A surefire hit for storytime and shared reading sessions. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews