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Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee

Name: Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee
Author: Chris Van Dusen
ISBN: 9780811874953

by Chris Van Dusen

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Overview

One winter morning, Mr. Magee and his little dog, Dee, head out bright and early to learn how to ski. But what begins as a pleasant day in the snow quickly goes downhill when a run-in with a curious moose sends them flying through the air and hanging above an abyss! How will Dee and Magee find their way out of this snowy situation? Chris Van Dusen, the creator of Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee and A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee, has craftedyet another fun-filled adventure for Magee fans old and new.

About the Author, Chris Van Dusen

Chris Van Dusen has created illustrations that have been published in magazines and books and printed on T-shirts and greeting cards. He lives in Maine with his wife, two sons, and, naturally, a dog.

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Editorials

From the Publisher

"Fans of Mr. Magee will feel at home with this one."--School Library Journal

"...make[s] a charming and amusing wintertime read-aloud for the primary set."--Library Media Connection, starred review

School Library Journal

K-Gr 2—In his third outing, hapless Mr. Magee and his dog take up skiing. They decide to do a practice run close to home on a "great little hill with a view of the bay." As soon as he takes off, Mr. Magee realizes he doesn't know how to steer or stop. They are heading toward a very large moose who is too stunned to obey the polite request to step aside. Man and dog both duck and slide under the animal and between his legs. The skis snag on a log and man and dog upend over a ravine. Their skis form a bridge across the ravine and the moose uses this opportunity to get to the other side. His weight makes the skis sag and when he leaps off, they spring and flip Mr. Magee again, landing him on solid ground. He and his dog decide that skiing lessons are necessary and return home. The gouache illustrations are clean, crisp, and colorful. Various shades of blue, green, and purple nicely show the chill of the winter day. The rhyming text, with occasional bolded words, scans easily. Fans of Mr. Magee will feel at home with this one.—Ieva Bates, Ann Arbor District Library, MI

Kirkus Reviews

Mr. Magee's gone Down to the Sea and on A Camping Spree (2000, 2003), and now it's time for him to ski. In rhyming couplets, he and his little dog Dee head out for a practice run on a nearby hill. On go the skis (equipped with hysterically antique bindings to go with Mr. Magee's woolen knickers), into the backpack goes Dee and down the hill they go—straight at a moose. The ensuing slapstick is both predictable and very, very funny, with Mr. Magee and Dee limboing under the moose before they end up suspended, heads down, over a crevasse by the skis—across which the moose ambles. The pacing of both verse and shiny, retro illustrations excels, and Mr. Magee couldn't hope to find a prettier landscape to fall down in. (Picture book. 4-8)