Score One for the Sloths
Whoever thought a bunch of slumbering sloths could do so well on a  standardized test? But that's what happens--with a healthy dose of  hoodwinking--in this tongue-in-cheek schoolroom story from comic duo Helen  Lester (on words) and Lynn Munsinger (on sloths).Everything's quietly copacetic at Sleepy Valley Sloth School: "Once in a while  the teacher would remember his job and wake up with a lesson. 'All right, now,'  he would drawl, 'everybody yawn.' Or 'Keep those snores coming.' Or 'All  together, students, let's roll over.'" But one day an energetic young sloth  (they do, apparently, exist) starts mixing things up, much to the annoyance of  her classmates. But her "vim and vigor and vitality" seem to have shown up not a  minute too soon, because she's got to find a way for Sleepy Valley to pass the  ratings board test of the Society for Organizing Sameness (the S.O.S.,  represented in this case by a wild boar in a bow tie).Lester's story is often fun and funny, but the best parts of this book come from  Munsinger's whimsically worn-out sloths--slumped under desks, draped over swing  sets, even stacked up (snoozing) in between building blocks. Score one for the  sloths, indeed. (Ages 4 to 8)--Paul Hughes--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.