Module Six - That is NOT a Good Idea!

Module Six - That is NOT a Good Idea!

Book Summary

One day, a wily fox meets a very plump goose.  A dinner invitation is extended and accepted.    Will dinner go as planned? Or do the dinner plans involve a secret ingredient? (Don't forget to listen to the baby geese!) From the brilliant mind of Mo Willems comes a surprising lesson about listening to your inner gosling. 

APA Reference of Book

Willems, M. (2013). That is not a good idea! New York, NY: Balzer + Bray.

My Impressions

This is a book to be read and read again.  The first time you read it, you have no idea what is going to happen. So once it is over, you want to go back and read it again with your newfound knowledge. Be on the lookout for the extras that Mo Willems has thrown in- a Knuffle Bunny peeking out of one window; Pigeon on the bridge. Children may be unfamiliar with the the evil villains and innocent damsels of silent movies but this delightfully interactive picture book is a perfect introduction. And who couldn’t love those adorable goslings shouting out their warnings?

What the Professionals Say

Willems, whose Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs also operated on a balance of threat and humor, models this suspenseful picture book after a silent movie. The sequence concerns a dastardly villain, played by a smirking fox in a top hat, and an ingénue, played by a coy duck in a blue headscarf. The fox invites the sweet-looking duck "for a stroll." When she agrees, he asks, "Would you care to continue our walk into the deep, dark woods?" "Sounds fun!" she answers. Each time the duck accepts the fox's invitations, an increasingly alarmed audience of six yellow peeps pops up to shout some version of the title: "That is not a good idea!" This being a Willems vehicle, a sudden twist reveals which character the peeps have been addressing all along. Cinematic conventions, like neatly framed white-on-black intertitles and gauzy iris-eye close-ups of the eyelash-batting heroine, join allusions to classics like "Henny Penny," Rosie's Walk, and perhaps even Mighty Mouse. Trust Willems to blend silents, animation, and comics for a wickedly droll poultry-in-peril yarn. Ages 4-8.

[Review of the book That Is Not a Good Idea!, by M. Willems]. (2014, Spring). Publishers Weekly, 261, 48+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA375948774&v=2.1&u=txshracd2679&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w&asid=b1a589f34a84bd669d76363f9e299910

A Suggestion for Use in a Library Setting

We have a book club for 1^st and 2^nd graders at my library and this would make a perfect book to add to our reading schedule.  We would read the book out loud and then I would also read Chicken Little, in case someone is unfamiliar with the fable. We would discuss silent movies at a very basic level and look at some clips from some of the earlier movies so they would understand the layout of the book. And discuss the name Nickelodeon.

We would brainstorm and come up with a list of things that are good ideas (borrowing a book from the library) and things that are not good ideas (borrowing a book from the library and letting the dog chew it up). Then we would create gosling puppets that will share our “good idea” and “NOT a good idea” advice.

We would end with a game - the kids would toss fox beanbags into a big cauldron.