GUJI GUJI

Guji Guji

Written By: Chih-Yuan Chen

Kane/Miller, 2004

29 Pages

Fiction

           

This book was chosen because I thought the title sounded interesting and the cover illustrations looked as if it would be humorous. The story is about an alligator named Guji Guji who was mixed up at birth and born alongside a duck family. Even though Guji Guji is obviously different then his siblings his mother duck loves him the same. One day, while pondering, Guji Guji runs into an alligator family and learns that he is not a duck. The alligator family tries to convince Guji Guji that he is meant to eat ducks and not live with them; therefore, he should help them eat the ducks. The alligators scared Guji Guji, but he did not want to hurt his family so he comes up with a plan to get back at the alligators. Just because he is an alligator Guji Guji is a duck at heart.

The illustrations in Guji Guji are drawl in primarily browns, whites, and blacks. The text in the story are separated from the pictures, but the art does follow the words nicely.

Guji Guji has not won any awards, but is a cute quick read for children in grades kindergarten and up. I would use this story for character building and in comparing and contrasting. The book could also be used to talk about bullying and peer pressure. For a one on one lesson the story could be used as a topic for children whom are adopted so they could relate with Guji Guji.