Geez Louise! by Susan Middleton Elya

Geez Louise! by Susan Middleton Elya, illustrated by Eric Brace
Rating: 4 stars

Had any stink bugs around your house in the past few months?  We had, like a bunch of people in the mid-Atlantic, hundreds of these little bugs clinging to our house for a few weeks in early Fall.  They were only a little stinky, but very gross. 

Why am I writing about stink bugs in this blog entry about this book?  Because Louise, of Geez Louise! is a stink bug!  I laughed as I read that for the first time, and kept chuckling throughout this book.  Another funny thing: explaining to Lorelei why the illustrator, Eric Brace, put wafting green squiggly lines behind Louise in every page.  To show the reader that Louise was stinky!  That alone made this book worth a checkout!

But the story is great, and a better reason to go find this non-stinky stinkbug book.  Basically, it's about a bully who gets put in her place (in a good sorta way). 

No one likes Louise the stinkbug because, well, she stinks, except her one faithful friend (Termite Tara).  Louise is a talented ice-skater; it's the one thing she really enjoys.  When there's an ice-skating contest, Louise is excited to finally show people that she's more than just a stinky bug.  But the mean bully Kiki the Cockroach (Boo! Hiss!) is competing, too.  Kiki intimidates everyone into not competing against her, but Louise is brave--and a little nervous, too, of course.  Louise skates first, and does really well.  Kiki skates second, and does okay until she skates past Louise, whose stinkiness affects Kiki's concentration!  Louise wins and Kiki never bullies her--or any other bug--again.

A stinkbug who takes on a bully and, with some talent (the hard-earned kind of ice-skating and the natural kind of flatulence-esque smell), gracefully wins in the end.  Hooray!