Pamplinas

by Jon Scieszka

Trying to avoid Permanent Lifelong Detention for yet another tardy arrival, Henry P. Baloney proceeds to tell a rather detailed and dynamic story about a trusty pencil, a wayward truck, and a fickle flock of Astro guys.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Science Fiction, Aliens, Humor, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fiction

36 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Jon Scieszka is an American children's writer, best known for picture books created with the illustrator Lane Smith. He is also a nationally recognized reading advocate, and the founder of Guys Read – a web-based literacy program for boys whose mission is "to help boys become self-motivated, lifelong readers."

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little green Henry P. describes to his teacher the out-of-this-world story of how he came to be late for school. Scieszka uses several languages and some transposition to tell the tale, so this would make for a very interesting read-aloud.

I can't wait to hear this kid's excuse for why he doesn't have his homework . . .

[Just a Girl Fighting Censorship · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a terrible idea.

If you are going to read this book aloud be prepared to stumble and stammer and stare into children's blank faces or furrowed brows of confusion. If you try the "lets guess what each word means" game they might get the first one, pencil, but the rest of the time the only answer to your questions will be crickets. Plot and storyline are suitable for a younger age but the language and concept is more for older children, therefore I don't find it suitable for any age.

Too many strange words, what is the point of including such random foreign EARTH languages? Since it's an alien it makes even less sense.

[MissDziura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jon Scieszka does not disspoint in his charming tale, Baloney (Henry P) written for 1st to 3rd grade readers. Henry P is an other-worldly being who has to explain to his teacher why he is late for school. In the same vain as any excuse story, Henry spins quite a tale that took him from his planet, onto a razzo he could not stop, to a battle with a sighing flosser and a battle with a kuningas. If the words just used are unknown, that is just what Scieszka intended. At first, I found the use of twenty REALLY unknown words to be confusing to the reader, but in his afterword he claims the story is true based on a transmission received from space that translates into languages such as Finnish, Swahili, Welsh and Latvian. In the classroom, I would use this book as a way for students to infer what the unknown words mean using context clues in the text and in the pictures. I would create a game for students to make their best guess and then I would share the translations of these words at the end. I would then have a final reading where the words are replaced with their English translation and have the students determine which version they found most entertaining. Baloney is a great book that is funny and a must read with students.

[Kris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nah. Totally confused my 7-year old, who is a smart kid. I hate when children's book authors write books to amuse themselves without any concern for whether it will make any sense to kids. Plus side...ummm...cute illustrations?

[Dianna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love children's books because they're so creative. But every once in awhile a book crosses the too-much-weirdness threshold, and this one did it for me.

An alien makes up a story for his teacher to explain why he was late. The thing I found the most annoying was that words in other languages were substituted everywhere, which made it a bear to read out loud.

On the bright side, my son loves aliens and he did make it through this book. We liked the pictures.

[Jean Osborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This creative science fiction rendering of a young alien who arrives at school with a tall tale for his teacher about why he is late is a treasure trove of linguistic diversity. The author frames this story as a translation from an alien language into earthen languages that include French, Swahili, Japanese and many others. If used as a read-aloud, students can predict and guess meanings of the non-English words as an exercise in using semantic and syntactic context clues. Younger students could use the "decoder" (glossary) at the end of the book to help them identify and discover these words while the teacher reads. Either way, I think the story has tremendous appeal to young readers as they embark on this outer space odyssey loaded with diverse linguistic riddle and charm.

[Miranda Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was just okay for me. I know it is nonsense and it is supposed to be that way...but I just couldn't connect.

[Christine Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Approximate Interest Level/Reading Level: Early to Mid Elementary

Format: Picture Book

Awards: Notable Books of the English Language Arts (2002)

Henry P. Baloney, young space alien, needs to invent a really good excuse for being late for school before his teacher gives him a permanent life long detention. Luckily, Henry is extremely creative and has a life-saving imagination! In this comedic science fiction tale, words like szkola (for school), piksa (for picture), and zimulis (for pencil) seem like they from another world, but it turns out they are actually from this one. A decoder (or glossary) in the end pages reveals their earthly origins. This book provides the perfect set up for teaching students how to use context clues.

Here is a link to the book website http://www.baloneyhenryp.com/ but don’t get too excited. I was trying to learn more about the illustrations. I found a game, a screensaver, brief author and illustrator bios, and this- “I don't know, just because, none of your beeswax, and flapdoodle poppycock and balderdash are some more of Jon's answers to questions you can imagine on your own.” Scieszka is a funny, funny guy!

[Kathryn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book at all, in any way, shape, or form.

As ideas go, attempting to introduce children to other languages is stellar but not practical when the author stuffs a bunch of random foreign words down a child's throat without an explanation. We grabbed this book thinking it would be a fun alien story but boy, were we ever wrong. The author randomly included other languages through out the text and this made the book extremely difficult to read aloud, not to mention I did not know what was going on since the explanation of the words was included at the ass end. A little warning would have been nice.

I also think that sticking to no more than two languages per book increases the chance that a child will walk away with new knowledge. I honestly thought that the alien dude in the book had a problem. Drugs or lack of oxygen at birth both crossed my mind. My kids probably thought mommy had forgotten how to read.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wish the rationale and decoder were at the beginning of the book but that said it was a very interesting book. Henry P Baloney is exactly as he is pictured on the cover, a green alien from another planet. After being late to school for the umpteenth time, he must explain to his teacher why he is late and it had better be a good explanation. As Henry P is relating his tale, he uses what are unfamiliar and somewhat familiar words to describe his ordeal. The fun of the story is trying to figure out what the words are and using those context clues can certainly help. As the author explains in the afterword all of the words are translated from languages such as Finnish, Swahili, Welsh and Latvian. I can see the appeal for third grade and up children but it would be difficult for younger children I think to follow the story. Overall very cute and imaginative way to highlight various languages.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic story about an alien who is late for school. Not only is it humorous story with eye catching illustrations, it's a perfect story for teachers to use when introducing or teaching context clues. Interspersed throughout the book are words from different languages (which on a first read you might think are made up alien words). As you read the pages to the class, the students get a kick out of using context clues and guessing what the unknown words might mean. At the end, there is a little glossary with each word, what language it is, and the definition.
Great book and a fantastic resource for teaching reading.

[(NS) - Heather Hayman · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this silly and bizarre story about an alien by the name of Henry P. Baloney, he is late for class and faces lifelong detention from Miss Bugscuffle. While he masterminds quite an excuse to explain why he wasn't on time, it is told in a combination of many Earth languages. Children will all be able to relate to this familiar tale and enjoy reading such words as 'zimulus' and 'deski'. Illustrations add to the story in trying to decipher what certain words mean in this wild tale filled with plenty of interest and a unique premise.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Baloney is seven minutes late for class and has to explain to his teacher Miss Bugscuffle what happened. He tells an exciting tale of taking off in a rocket and landing on another planet. I love hiw the words of the story were part of the illustrations. I also loved the decoder at the end that explains all of the different languages used to tell the story. Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith have an amazing imagination and it shows in the way this story was put together. This is a short picture book and would be most likely used with students in K-3.

[Samina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a awesome book about an alien who is late to class and faces lifelong detention. The pictures in this book are filled with beautiful collages that zoom in and out of different pictures. The pictures are so interesting to look at the details of the sketch. I really like this book because it had words like "razzo" and students could use context clues to figure out what the word is. This books is an amazing book that can be used for students in grade 3 and below. Students will have a lot of fun reading this book and spend a lot of time looking at the details of the pictures.

[Shanon · Rating 1 out of 5]

The idea of replacing English words throughout the story with words from many other languages is interesting but makes it impossible to read out loud to children. This was a library book and we only read it once compaired to the DOZENS of times we read most library books. My kids passed right over it each time I asked them to grab a book and I was quite grateful that I wouldn't have to stumble through it again.

[Aimee Fuhrman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite, but potentially funny to a primary aged kid. The outrageous story was someone humorous, but the nonsensical words made it more difficult to follow, and really didn't add anything, in my opinion.

[Relyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't help it, I just do not like Jon Scieszka. Kids do, though. This one was a hit.

[Jacklyn Azar]

During your childhood, have you ever made an excuse about something? Well, I know I did. In this book, a little boy named Henry was late to school, and when his teachers asked why, he made many excuses that did not make sense. He used words that his teachers couldn't understand, but then figured out from his nonsense words. This book was very uplifting and made me smile while reading it. It is a very nostalgic and fun book to read because it shows children's imaginations and a sense of being back in elementary school for me. Major themes I found were playfulness and creativity. Henry uses playfulness to kind of mess with his teachers in a way by not using normal words, but instead using crazy stories about all different things children can make up. Creativity was a key theme because of the stories Henry was telling, and how he told the stories in their full truth, but made it hard for his teachers to understand and eventually get what he was talking about. The main genre of this book is science fiction. Children reading this book could learn how not every excuse is believable and how to be more engaging and fun when talking to other people. I think this book also helps kids not to try and rush their childhood and be silly, which I think can show children not to take anything too seriously and live in the moment. This book was a WOW book for me because it shows how our minds and imagination really come out when we have to make an excuse for something, and how children think they are telling a good story when in reality it doesn't make sense :).

The author used multiple literary devices and other forms of writing craft in this book. First, the author used the writing craft technique of anthropomorphism. An example of this writing craft from this book is when the author uses non-human things, such as aliens, and behaviors towards these non-human things when Henry is telling the teachers his excuse for being late again. This writing craft technique enhanced the quality of this book by making it more fun to read and giving the audience a good laugh from the story. Second, the author used the writing craft technique of hyperbole. This writing craft is used in the book when Henry's excuse is over the top, and shows how children often stretch and do not tell the full truth when they think they are being good at hiding the actual truth. This enhanced the quality of this book by making it more fun for children to read, and making them and me honestly more engaged in reading. I would consider this book to be anti-bias because it shows many different languages throughout the book and helps kids build intentional skills.

[Tiana Valentin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baloney (Henry P.) is the story of an alien named Henry who has been late to school one too many times. Henry P.'s teacher, Miss Bugscuffle, had finally had enough and declared that Henry P. was to have life-long detention unless he had a very believable excuse. Listen to Henry P. go through his story explaining how he misplaced his Zimulis, went on a Torakku, landed in the middle of a razzo launch pad and fell out of a flosser!

Jon Scieszka includes a bunch of nonsense words throughout every page that truly allows the reader to feel like they are on this other planet with Henry. Scieszka keeps us wondering what is going to happen next by his use of "BUT...." at the end of every page. The illustrations on each page are so detailed that we can get lost in them. Overall, I would rate this book a 3 out of 5 stars

This book can be paired with other science fiction books involving aliens such as Earth to Clunk by Pam Smallcomb. While these books may not help teach subject units, they can engage students in read alouds and help students gain a love of reading.

Quote: "That is unbelievable. But today's assignment is to compose a tall tale. So why don't you sit down and get started writing." "I'd love to, BUT..."
This can be found on the second to last page of the book. I would ask students to think about what they think Henry's next excuse is going to be. I could do this in one of two ways: I can either stop here and ask students to simply think about it and discuss it together or I can turn it into a writing prompt that they must complete before finishing the book. Another writing prompt that can be done with the students is asking them to create their own tale on why they were late to school if they were Henry. I feel like this would get them doing some creative writing in an enjoyable way. They could add nonsense words of different places and go through their story however they like.

[Morgan Otis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Henry P. Baloney, an alien schoolkid, is late to school AGAIN! This book follows Henry through his exhilarating past adventures to different planets as he tries to explain to his teacher, Miss Bugscuffle, how he could possibly be late.
This book highlights a lot of the elements children typically associate with outer space like aliens, spaceships, rockets, and planets. My first impression of this book was that it has really unique and colorful illustrations. This book includes a lot what appear to be made up words that are supposed to be alien names and terms. This literary elements helps separate Earth from outer space as well as encourages readers to use their imagination. However, the forward reveals that they are actually real words from different languages. While I like the idea behind this element of the story, it may be difficult for beginning readers to read and pronounce these words, which could cause them to become frustrated and lose interest in the story. The use of all caps when describing the adventures of Henry makes it feel a lot more intense and exciting. This picture book is somewhat set up like a graphic novel. Some pages are set up like a normal picture book, while others have different panels of illustrations and captions underneath the pictures. The design element helps separate dialogue between Henry P. Baloney and his teacher and the actual actions of Henry. This helps carry along the story in a way that is clearly understandable. The facial expressions of the characters is another design element that adds a lot to the story. The great detail and variation helps the reader understand the emotions of the character. The overall impact this book has is its excitement and ability to draw readers in.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered Baloney by Jon Screszka when searching for upper elementary school science fiction books and came across it on a Best Science Fiction picture book list put out by a web-site titled, “What Do We Do All Day.” I had the book read to me through a video> i definitely feel like the adult reader tripped over the nonsense words and could’ve used way more expression. Was happy to find other readers, who did a much better job. This story can be used with younger reader, but will also stretch the minds of upper elementary students. The main character, Baloney, is late to class and is threatened with a life-long detention, unless he gives a good excuse for why he is late. He comes up with a fun story, full of non-sense words. He ends up on a planet where he is taken on a fun adventure. As a teacher, I would definitely recommend having the students figure out these words,using both illustrations and context clues. When I dug a little deeper, I found many lesson plans, revolving around this idea. At the end of the story, the character is let into class and told that they were working on tall tales. He smiles, which adds a little bit of sarcasm to the story. The reader is also told that the nonsense words are combined from a variety of Earth languages. I think it would be fun to send the students off to figure out what languages are combined to create these words. A glossary is given at the back of the book. Both the illustrations and the story line make Baloney a highly recommended book to lower and upper elementary grades.

[Rachel Buonforte]

This is a humorous story as we follow Henry P. Baloney through an unbelievable trip through a wild universe as he create the most elaborate and original excuse ever for being late to szkola. Author Jon Scieszka, tells the story in twenty different Earth languages and the illustrations really make this story out of this world! This book is a great way to show children that reading is fun and that it can take you to a whole new world! The authors use of made up word makes this book fun and challenging as we try to decipher this new alien language. I also like the way it shows an alien child and shows his 'school' life in his world. This book is relatable and easy to follow even though it is in an aliens world. A text that I would pair this with is "Aliens Love Underpants" by Clair Freedman. I would use this text to show another zany text that is very comprehensible to young readers. This book will connect with the ideas of space and aliens and the use of reading to be fun! A delicious quote from this book is "'Well I would have been exactly on time,' said Henry. 'But..'" I chose this quote because this is where his elaborate story began. This quote shows how you can tell that Henry is about to go into a long story that tells of his adventures and why he is late to class once again.

[Alexandra Topitzes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Level: 2.7

Book Level/ Guided Reading Level: L

Baloney is a Science Fiction picture book for children narrated by an alien school boy as he spins a tall tale to his teacher about why he was late for school.

This book would be an ideal read aloud for lower to middle elementary grades, as part of a science unit on space exploration or outer space. The unique invented words in the book could also be an idea for an English Language Arts read aloud lesson where students create their own unique word! Students can do this as an extension of a lesson where they are learning how to look up the meanings of unknown words in the dictionary and will create their own dictionary entries as well, complete with example sentences using the word. On an individual basis, this would be a great book for a teacher to recommend to a student who shows an interest in space and space travel.

Additionally, this text would also be a good mentor text to demonstrate the writing traits of ideas, presentation, and word choice (the use of made up words that slightly resemble the real word in various languages make the word choice in this book especially eccentric and exciting), for students during writing workshop mini lessons.

[Adrianna Laskowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Copyright-2001
Number of Pages- 40
Book Format- Hardcover
Reading Level- Age level: Pre-k-2nd grade; GR: N/A
Genre- Fiction
Lit Requirement- Science fiction

Summary- This book takes you on an adventure through space. Henry P. Baloney is late to class and his teacher says that he will have "permanent lifelong detention" unless he has a good excuse for being late. He says he would have been on time, but he misplaced is "zimulis" (pencil) and it all went out of proportion from there. He went on a crazy adventure through space. He claims he was falling to his death, basically, but remembered he hasn't learned the law of gravity yet so stopped falling and went to "szkola" (school), and that's the reason he was late. His teacher says the assignment that day was to write tall tales and to sit down and start writing, except Henry misplaced his "zimulis."

Response- I though this book was fun, but I also wasn't really a fan. I am not into space and science fiction books. There will, more than likely, be students who love science fiction books and they will think this one is a hoot. There is a lot of decoding of words that needs to be done in order to understand some of the story, but the made up words makes it even more fun for the children.

[Anjanabiswa]

By Jon Scieszka; Illustrated by Lane Smith
Summary: Henry P. Baloney is late to school. His teacher wants an explanation for being late to school (after on to many times), otherwise, he was going to go to detention. Baloney tells of an adventure in losing his pencil, entertaining astro guys, being a king for another planet, and a target in a flying saucer to destroy the school. The teacher lets Baloney go because the class is writing about tall tales today.
Evaluation of Illustrations/Text: The text is written around the illustrations. The text is in the center, side, top, and bottom of the pages. The text is in a medium font, but some words are in large font for emphasis. Some of the text is in yellow because it is a different language. The illustrations fill the whole pages. The color is dull but vibrant.
Strategies for Use in the Classroom:
Locate specific vocabulary words - The words in the story that are yellow are of a different language. The students could see the word and guess what it means by the context of the sentence or the picture. The students can see the words at the end. The story could be retold with the English version of the word.
Paraphrase the story - The students can write/draw the story in their own words to have a better understanding of the story.

[Jemimah Lamadrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story starts off with Henry P. Baloney being late to class once again, and his teacher Miss Bugscuffle threatening to give him a lifelong detention unless he had a good and believable excuse. Henry then starts explaining to her the story of why he was late. The author was creative in making a "new language" for this book, and even though they're not exactly English words, they're not hard to interpret because of the picturebooks alongside them. The "alien" language inside the book is a fun and creative way to make children laugh while reading it. Along with that, it gives children the chance to try translating the "alien" language that Henry uses to describe objects in the book when he was explaining his adventure to get to school. The illustrations are important to the book, which is why they're probably so colorful and detailed. Baloney takes readers on the adventure of going into outer space and onto new planets using Baloney's excuse of why he's late, there's even a glossary, the "decoder" located in the back of the book! This fun, humorous book is definitely worth the read.

[Erum Abbasi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baloney (Henry P.)
Science fiction
(ISBN13: 9780142404300)
By Jon Scieszka, Lane Smith. Cover artist is Lane Smith. Published September 8th 2005 by Puffin Books. Golden Duck Award for Picture Book (2002), Vermont's Picture Book Awards: Red Clover (2003). Age level: Pre-k-3nd grade. This book is about a boy who is late for class and has to make up a story for his teacher. He goes through an elaborate story explaining how he lost his pencil and ended on another planet. When he finally makes it to school seven minutes late his teacher does not believe the made up story. He is told to begin working, but he still does not know where his pencil is.
Language and concepts are little harder for pre-k to 3rd grader. Because the author included other languages all over the text and this made the book enormously complicated to read. First of all we should know the meaning first so we can explain to the kids. It's a fantastic book to talk about context clues with. The illustrator used lines and twirls and quiet colors to keep you attracted. If we ask children that how the aliens look. They would say aliens look green or blue. As we can see the picture on the cover.

[Meg Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary:
This book is about a boy who is late for class and has to make up a story for his teacher. He goes through an elaborate story explaining how he lost his pencil and ended on another planet. When he finally makes it to school seven minutes late his teacher does not believe the made up story. He is told to begin working, but he still does not know where his pencil is.
Evaluation:
I enjoyed this book. I used it in a lesson with my 4th grade students, and they thought it was so funny and weird. We had multiple class discussions about this story using context clues. It is a simple read, but it was engaging for the students.
Teaching Idea:
This book is great for teaching context clues. As a teacher you could read or listen to the story without showing the picture. While the students are listening, have them write down any unfamiliar words. As a class you will make a prediction of what the unfamiliar words might mean. The teacher will read or listen to the story again showing the pictures. This will allow students to use the context clues to figure out the unfamiliar words.

[Chelsie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary: Henry P Baloney is late to class. When his teacher asks him to explain his tardiness or face detention, Henry P comes up with a tale of looking for his zimulis, only to be rocketed to another planet where he becomes their leader. After a snafu due to a language barrier, he narrowly escapes and makes it back to his planet and eventually to class.



This story is rich in words from different languages. Readers are able to connect words to objects they know and use looking at the pictures that accompany the text. Any child who loves learning new words in their own language or others, will love this book. It is also great for students who love books about aliens or outer space. I would not recommend this book for students who do not like words they do not understand. Overall, the use of text and pictures to let the reader know what is going on, whether Henry is looking for his zimulis (pencil), being made kiningas (king) of another planet, or finally making it to szkola (school), makes this book a great read!

[Marissa Ebert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has not won any awards.

"Baloney (Henry P.)" is appropriate for first to third grade students.

This book is about an alien who has a great excuse for being late to school. He says that he accidentally got launched into space, and meets another alien species that he upsets. They attempt to send him back to his home planet, and he ends up defying the laws of gravity and showing up to school seven minutes late.

"Baloney (Henry P.) is a fun book that includes 'alien' language that is not explicitly explained in the book until the very end. This 'alien language' includes words from many different languages, and also a few transpositions. I have never seen a book like this before, and it is a very entertaining story.

Students could be asked to try to figure out what the 'alien language' means by using context clues, the images, and their imaginations. Also, students can learn about the cultures and languages that do appear in this book, after seeing the glossary at the end.