Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair

By Patricia Polacco

Book Overview

In this rollicking, book-loving adventure, the children of Triple Creek take charge to keep hope alive and give their town the greatest future of all. From master storyteller Patricia Polacco, author of Thank You, Mr. Falker, comes a tribute to the power of books and the children who love them.

Everyone in Triple Creek loves TV. Everyone, that is, except for Eli's Aunt Chip, who doesn't even own one. In fact, the townspeople love their TVs so much that Aunt Chip has taken to bed in protest for the past fifty years

It's only when Aunt Chip learns that everyone in town has forgotten how to read that she decides she can rest no longer. She teaches Eli to read, and the other children are so amazed at this magic that they want to learn too. But when they go to the old dam to get more books, they and the other townspeople get a surprise they never expected.

A charming yet powerful story, for any family, kid, teacher, or librarian who truly believes in the power of books.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399229434
• ISBN13: 9780399229435
• Release Date: March 1996
• Publisher: Philomel Books
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.9" x 11.3"
• Age Range: 5 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Kindergarten to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Gift of reading

In the town of Triple Creek, television is the only source of entertainment and information. In fact, the teachers have even been replaced with educational programming. The library was torn down to make way for a television transmitter. For fifty years, the town has not read a book, but has instead used them to prop up buildings and fill in potholes. So long they have been without books, that they have actually forgotten to read.When Eli begins visiting his Aunt Chip, she teaches him to read. The most wonderful gift in the world. His enthusiasm spreads and soon all the children are begging to have Aunt Chip teach them to get stories from a book. When the adults learn of what is happening they respond at first in fear and anger, but eventually want their children to teach them to read.Why 5 stars?:Polacco has a wonderful way of making her characters a little zany, but still real enough to be believable. The watercolor illustrations give the soft feeling of her words. Most importantly, the message of the importance of books and reading is something that purveys through most of Polacco's works. This book deserves to be a part of your home, school or classroom library. Read it to, and with your child. Let him or her know that you value reading and they will too.

A good book for reading

In Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam affair, Patricia Polacco teaches you that you shouldn't watch more t.v. than read. I thought this book was excellet. I recommend this book to people that like t.v. because maybe this will teach them a leason to STOP WATCHING T.V.! My favorite part of this book is when they destroyed the t.v. tower.

A great book on the importance of reading!

This book is a wonderful story about what happens when people no longer read. It has great imagery--books being used for table legs and to prop open doors, even as a dam. I used it in my seventh grade language arts class, following it up with a discussion of why reading is important. Even though it's a picture book, my seventh graders really got into it.

Great for Say No to TV week!

This is a great book for talking to children about the importance of books and ties in perfectly with Say No to TV week! Our other favorites for Say No to TV include Library 'Lil and Shel Silverstein's poem, Jimmy Jet and the TV Set.

What a wonderful book to use to teach students!

What a wonderful book to use to teach students a variety of concepts! I used this book to start a lesson in computers. Students listened to the book and then we discussed some concepts: Value of books How TV can take over one's life Importance of reading Team WorkAfter this the students tracked their activities for 7 days - 24 hours a day. We then created spreadsheets with this information and finally graphed our information - using excel or other spreadsheed program. At the end of the session, I had some thought provoking questions that they needed to answer in small groups based upon their graphs and spreadsheets. They loved it!!