Scholastic Reader Level 3: Poppleton in Spring - Softcover

As a child in West Virginia, Cynthia Rylant never dreamed of becoming a writer. In her free time, she devoured Archie comic books and paperback romances and enjoyed the outdoors. But after taking one college English class, she was, “hooked on great writing... I didn’t know about this part of me until I went to college-didn’t know I loved beautiful stories.” And one night, inspired by the Southern writer James Agee, she sat down and wrote When I Was Young in the Mountains. Named a Caldecott Honor Book and an ALA Notable Book, it was an instant success.

Since that night, Rylant hasn’t stopped creating wonderful books. Her stories explore friendship, love, grief, and other mysteries, and often draw on her memories of growing up in Appalachia. “I get a lot of personal gratification thinking of those people who don’t get any attention in the world and making them really valuable in my fiction-making them absolutely shine with their beauty.”

She lives with her many pets in the Pacific Northwest.
Mark Teague is an award-winning children's book author and illustrator whose books include the NEW YORK TIMES bestselling How Do Dinosaurs... series, the LaRue series, FIREHOUSE!, FUNNY FARM, and many other humorous picture books. Mark lives in New York state with his wife and their two daughters.

This fifth storybook about Poppleton, a genial pig, contains three min-tales set in a well-manicured country town populated by a cast of equally genial animal friends of our hero. In the first vignette, Poppleton spring cleans and, inevitably, ends up with more superfluous possessions than he had at the outset. In the second, he decides to buy a bicycle but is overwhelmed by all the choices available in our prosperous consumer society. The final tale, about Poppleton's sleeping out in a tent on a lovely spring night, is the drollest of the lot. The collaboration between author Rylant and illustrator Teague is seamless, and their lightness of spirit is reminiscent of the late Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad books at their best. While not strictly speaking easy readers, text and pictures are so closely knit that graphic clues will help children to decipher unfamiliar words. This paean to the trials and pleasures of everyday life will please Poppleton afficionados, old and new. -- From Parents' Choice®