Baloney (Henry P.)

This science fiction picture book tells the story of a little alien named Henry P. Baloney. Henry was late to class and was given the punishment of lifelong detention unless he could come up with a very good and believable excuse. Henry began telling the story of how he lost his pencil and was on his way to school in a truck but he got stuck in the middle of a rocket launch pad. He got stuck in a rocket and tried to use the controllers to bring him to school but instead he ended up on the wrong planet. Henry almost got eaten on the new planet so he used calculations and diagrams to change their minds. He got crowned king of the planet! But instead of saying thank you, Henry accidentally called them “doofbrain.” They planned on sending Henry back to school in a flying saucer, but they wanted to destroy both of them. So Henry used his trusty pencil and erased the door lock and fell out of the flying saucer. He almost splattered on the ground when he realized that falling bodies obey the law of gravity. Henry did not know the law of gravity so he decided it was time to come to school. Miss Bugscuffle, Henry’s teacher, was annoyed and told Henry that his story was unbelievable. But Henry lucked out because the assignment of the day was to write a tale tall. Henry told Miss Bugscuffle that he would write his assignment but he had lost his pencil again.

This was a very cute, action-packed story. I think students would love the story. Throughout the book, Henry uses many different Earth languages to tell his story. There is a decoder or glossary in the back of the book with the twenty words used from other languages. What is interesting is that these words are kind of close to the English language. For example, school is referred to as szkola throughout the story or razzo which means rocket. As a future teacher, I would first read the story using the words in the other language. I would want my students to pick up that there were words that were not English in the book. Then I would read it again allowing the students to guess what they though the words were. They could use the pictures to try to guess what the words are. Lastly, I would read the story again to them using the English words. This would open my students’ eyes to the fact that there are other languages in the world. I would want to do a lesson where we could locate where in the world these languages are spoken. I also could use this book to explain to my students what a tall tale is. They could write their own tall tales of why they might have been late for school or why they didn't do their homework. I also think the way the pictures were illustrated throughout the story was very unique. It reminds me of a cartoon in a way. This book explains perfectly what a science fiction picture book is all about. I will definitely be using this book in my classroom one day. 

Baloney (Henry P.)

Author: Jon Scieszka

Illustrations by: Lane Smith

Year Published: 2005