Jose AruegoReseñas

This book was pretty good. It is a wordless picture book for Kindergarten ages. I thought the story line was pretty funny and could be appealing to a younger reader. I don't think I would have this book in my classroom because I feel like there are better and newer wordless picture books.

Falling asleep on the back of his carabao one afternoon, a young Filipino boy finds himself transported into the nearby jungle in this charming picture book from Filipino-American author/artist Jose Aruego. There he must confront the asuangs—the ghosts and spirits of the Philippines—that his Lola (grandmother) had warned him about. Guided by her advice on how to conduct himself, Juan manages to safely get through encounters with a Kapre (a sort of cigar-smoking tree giant), a Tianak (a vampiric creature that disguises itself as a baby), and a group of Batibats (bamboo spirits). Eventually he finds himself confronting the fearsome Mananangal, the predatory creature that has been stealing all of the dogs and chickens in his barrio. Able to separate itself from its lower half, the Mananangal is off raiding when Juan arrives, and that clever boy (who knows to listen to his Lola!) devises a way to injure it, upon its return, and thereby save all the captive animals...

I have encountered and enjoyed Aruego's work many times before, both in the artwork he has created for other authors' picture-books—Robert Kraus' Leo the Late Bloomer, Joseph Bruchac's How Chipmunk Got His Stripes, etc—but Juan and the Asuangs is only the second of his own picture-books, after A Crocodile's Tale: A Philippine Folk Story that I have read. I am glad that I finally picked it up, as I found it quite engaging, appreciating the glimpse of various creatures from Filipino folklore, all previously unknown to me. The artwork was colorful, and had a cartoon-like style that wasn't precisely to my taste, but which worked well with the story. I finished the book wanting to read more about all of the creatures mentioned, so perhaps I need to track down a larger anthology of folklore from the Philippines. I'd also like to track down more of Aruego's books. Recommended to young folklore lovers, as well as to any picture-book readers looking for stories with a Filipino cultural background.½

This wordless book shows illustrations about four animals and what they can do. It shows pictures of an adventure the animals go on.

"The Last Laugh," is about a snake who is not so nice to the other animals he sneaks up on. Each page of the book shows cartoon panels with beautiful illustrations of the animals. As the story begins, the snake sneaks up on a bird, a gopher, a mother rat and her baby mice, and then a duck. As the snake sneaks up on each animal, he hisses("Hiss!"). After the snake scares each animal, he laughs (Hee... Hee...) as they run away, except for the duck. As snake hisses, the duck flies into his mouth and the snake swallows him. Suddenly, the snake can only "Quack!" rather than "Hiss". A green and pink snake cross his path hissing. The orange snake quacks instead and they both laugh at him. As he quacks, he attracts a flock of other ducks. The first duck climbs out of the snakes mouth and he happily watches them fly away. The snake is unaware that one duck is behind him. The duck takes a deep breathe and lets out a loud "Quack," which startles the snake. The last page of the book states, "This book is dedicated to bullies everywhere." The message of the story is what goes around comes around.

This is a picture book about a crocodiles attempt to trick a little boy. Through the story, you meet a few characters that help support the crocodile's motivation. This is a folktale that is told in the Philippines. The story includes a ride on the back of the crocodile through the jungle. There is a surprise ending with that redirects the readers thinking. This story is about community and helping one another.
Ages 3rd- 4th grade
Critique of genre- This book is an example of a fantasy because the non-human characters take on human characteristics
Media- colored pencils and water color

A sneaky snake likes to scare all the others around, until he swallows a bird and every one laughs at him. A what goes around comes around lesson to be learned.

A snake goes around scaring other animals with his hissing. When he accidentally swallows a duck, he can now only quack. As a result of his constant quacking, he eventually finds himself surrounded by quacking ducks. In the end, he coughs up the duck. As his new duck friends all fly away, that same duck then scares the snake with a loud QUACK!

When Juan comes across a crocodile tied to a tree, the captive animal promises the young boy a gold ring as a reward, if he will free him from his predicament. But once they are out on the river, the crocodile threatens to eat his erstwhile savior. Clever Juan asks an old basket, an abandoned hat, and a clever monkey if this is fair, hoping to outwit and escape the crocodile.

When I came across this Philippine folk story at the library, and saw that it was written and illustrated by the same team who worked with Joseph Bruchac on such picture-books as Raccoon's Last Race and How Chipmunk Got His Stripes, I immediately picked it up. A cautionary tale that warns of trusting to the gratitude of others, it is a fun little story, with colorful, cartoon-like illustrations. Published in 1972, it does feel a little dated, but readers interested in Philippine folklore will want to take a look at it regardless.

A captivating retelling of a Philippine fable about two elderly boars--one kind and cheerful, the other selfish and mean--who find their actions repaid in very different ways. "The text has a lilt and a gleam of humor...and the illustrations are among this well-know team's most engaging."***SRC Quiz***

This book is a wordless book where the reader does a picture hunt for objects hidden in the pages. The book is full of animal scenes. I would use it in the class room to teach kids about wordless books and how they can be used. They could then have a fun activity of finding the hidden things in the book. Fun interactive book for kindergarten through first graders.

This is a mostly wordless picture book that allows children to tell the story in their own words. The snake character likes to scare other animals by hissing at them. One day, a duck flies into his stomach, causing the snake to quack instead of hiss. The quaking attracts bunches of other sucks to come aggravate the snake with their quacking. The duck inside the stomach flies out and away but he has one more trick to play on the snake. The duck sneaks up on the snake and quacks really loudly at him, scarring him like he had done to all the other animals.

This book was written to interest children in grades K-3.

A cautionary tale about one-upmanship and copycats, simply and hilariously illustrated½

A hilarious book about a snake that bullies animals. He tried to bully a duck but the duck flies down his throat which makes the snake quack.. The snake is teased by every animal he encounters. The duck escapes from the snake's mouth and flies off. The duck sneaks up behind the snake and quakes at him, freaking the snake out!

"Look what I can do" starts out a competition between to water buffalo as they battle to see who can do the most impressive trick. It turns into a big adventure everything happens to the buffalo from getting into a tornado to swimming in waters. This book has two sentences and the rest of it is pictures of what happens to the water buffalo. While this book is not highly impressive, the creative format works for its benefit.

This is mainly a picture book. Each page is a different scene in nature where all the animals are playing hide and seek. It could easily be turned into an ISpy type game where the reader tries to find all the animals hiding on each page.

i liked this book as much as the last wordless, who knew that they could have such a big story with meaning that you can understand with just pictures. this snake vs duck book is really bully vs victim and it gives you that feeling that someone understands where your coming from. the bright colors were wonderful and fit great with all the silly things going on in the book.

Very interesting book describing wierd relationships among animals in the animal kingdom. It is hard to imagine the relationships animals that are so different have with one another and the reasons for their alliance.

As a reader I was dumbfounded as to many of the relationships animals had with one another. The one that was the most interesting was that of the Tuatara (a lizard) and the Sooty Shearwater (a bird). I would have guessed that the Tuatara would be a predator of the Sooty Shearwater, however I learned that the Tuatara is welcomed into the Shearwater's nest because the Tuatara eats all of the bugs that inhabit the Shearwater's nest.

Although I enjoyed the book, I am not certain where it would fit into a curriculum however I would definately have it as a part of my classroom library.

A wordless tale where a clever duck outwits a bullying snake.

This is one of my favorite books from my childhood. Beautifully illustrated.

A beautiful little children's picture book.

In spite of the fun premise and delightful color scheme (LOVE the purple possum with her colorful babies!), this book suffers from weak design. The publisher would have done better to spread the panels over more pages to give the joke time to settle in.

A sly snake with a fondness for sneaking up on unsuspecting animals and making them jump earns both humiliation and a taste of its own medicine in this nearly wordless outing-dedicated "to bullies everywhere." Having frazzled a passing bird, a ground squirrel and a family of opossums, Snake inadvertently swallows a duck and, suddenly only able to quack rather than hiss, not only draws ridicule from other snakes, but attracts a huge flock of other ducks. Ultimately, the first duck climbs out, and Snake happily watches the flock depart-unaware of one remaining bird who is drawing breath to emit a huge "QUACK." Drawn with the bright orange snake and variously colored other animals suspended in small, blank cartoon panels, this is too purposeful to make much impression on dedicated bullies-but it's just silly enough that it may give their victims some vicarious satisfaction and a great belly laugh.(Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2006 (Vol. 74, No. 2))