Lisa V. Werenko

In my opinion this is a great book because of its language and illustrations. This story talks about the “Zwibble” species, and how they want to plan a party for Earth. The Zwibbles resemble dinosaurs but have a pointed star as their tail; they are also made up of a variety of colors. When the Zwibbles decide that they want to throw Earth a party, they decide to invite all of the children, since it would not be a party without them. The forest animals help the Zwibbles prepare for the party by writing invitations, painting a bandstand, and even baking a cake. I love the language in this story because the Zwibbles and animals use many interesting words when they speak. For example It Zwibble, the fairy uses the word “Bee Sweeney” to express his confusion when thinking about what type of present to give to the Earth. Also, Fred the Moose said, “It must be a humdinger of an idea,” when thinking about what the Earth’s present will be. After the Zwibbles and forest animals create an amazing party filled with colorful decorations, a big birthday cake and party games; the children never end up arriving at the party. It Zwibble suddenly remembered that he has forgotten to mail the invitations. Using his fairy powers, It Zwibble shrunk down in size and flew to each child’s home to bring them back to his planet for Earth’s party. I love the illustrations because all of the children are dressed in different colored pajamas, and the Zwibbles each have their own vibrant colored skin. The earth’s birthday present turned out to be a mountain of flower seeds, including beautiful shades of yellow, pink and red. All of the colors in this book are very eye catching, and allow the reader to be more engaged in the story. All of the children were able to take home a bag of flower seeds to plant in their gardens.
I feel that the overall idea of this book is to remember the importance of Earth day, and that simple things can help keep our planet beautiful. The children were given brand-new tools as party favors, to help them plant the flower seeds. As It Zwibble sent the children back home, they took the path of the Milky Way and were able to see how big the universe was. I love how the book ends by stating, “The most beautiful planet is our home!” Even though this story is fictional, it still talks about real ideas about the Earth, the environment, and how lucky we are to live on such a wonderful planet.… (more)