Reviews for Leon and the spitting image

The average rating for Leon and the spitting image based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-10-29 00:00:00 Devon Day spitting image noun [From Middle English. See spite. Date: circa 14th century] Perfect likeness of a person; an exact image. Some experts think that "spit" is a corruption of "spirit." Others maintain that the phrase invokes magic - that armred with a sample of someone's saliva ("spit") and a doll made to resemble the person ("image"), a sorcerer could cast all-powerful spells on a hapless victim. _______________________ Leon goes to a strange school where they place great importance on fine motor skills , and his new teacher, Miss Hagmeyer, is all about sewing. In her class, spool work is schoolwork , and the students spend a great deal of time making stuffed animals, or animiles, as the teacher calls them. What's up with that? This was an unusual read. The back cover of the book offers no synopsis, but from the oddly shod foot on the cover, I assumed the story involved a boy discovering that his teacher was a witch. Well, Miss Hagmeyer is something like a witch . . . though it starts with another letter of the alphabet. And, she definitely is not fond of Leon. I was, however. He's bright and funny, and he lives in a hotel where his mom is a concierge. The story . . . well, I'm still not sure about that; the star-count rose and fell as I turned the pages. This book, like every book I read, started out at four stars. I loved the premise, and was curious about what was to come. At around the halfway point, Leon creates his ultimate stuffed animile - a spitting image of Miss Hagmeyer - which he discovers can be used like a voodoo doll to make her do his bidding. My interest level and rating dropped to three stars. It got even worse when Leon and his pals attempt to use the doll to get revenge on the class bully, and end up starting a cafeteria food fight. Kids may love this part, but I was yawning. At this point, I even considered giving up on the book, but I'm glad I didn't because the ending was even better than the one I'd been hoping for. So, back to four stars for Leon and his teacher, who it turns out is not a witch, but just a weird, cranky, out-of-date curiosity in need of special handling. Kind of like a lot of people I know, including yours truly. Come to think of it . . . I do enjoy making stuffed animiles, I mean, animals . . .

Review # 2 was written on 2008-01-24 00:00:00 Dahl Cox Excellent children's book that adults will enjoy. It's about a fourth-grader who lives in a hotel with his single mom, and has a fascination with geography. He learns about the world by asking his taxi drivers where they are from, then tracks their origins on his map at home. He has a couple of good friends, one mean teacher who makes her students learn how to sew and make strange animals, and one bad bully. But what happens at school is nothing short of magical.