The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash

Noble, Trinka Hakes (1980). The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash. New York, NY: Dial Books for Young Readers.

A young girl is telling her mother the whole story of her class trip to the farm. The little girl leave no detail untold. She tells her that Jimmy took his pet boa constrictor without the teachers permission and this lead to a whole swarm of far fetched events. Each thing she says seems more silly and made up. Each thing happened because of this boa constrictor (including eating the farmers wife's wash!) In the end, becasue of all these crazy events, they had to get back on the bus in a hurry. Unfortunately, Jimmy left his boa constrictor behind. Fortunately, a pig from the farm got onto the bus so now Jimmy can have a pet pig instead. (Note: A great book for cause/effect)

The illustrations are good. It seems a little dated to me (or maybe because I realized the book is older than me). There are many details in the book but they don't seem to catch my attention. The best picture in the book for me was a picture of the class in the bus on the way home from the farm. With a pig sitting next to Jimmy, the teacher is plugging her nose and the bus driver looks confused.