Entertainment Discourse-

Gila Monsters at the Airport was a book my father read to me when I was a little girl. It's about a boy who's moving to the West Coast with his family. He is from New York city and he doesn't want to move even in the least bit. He is extremely happy there. He's imagining all about how awful and scary it is going to be there. His friends fill him up with all sorts of stories.

In Arizona he imagines, scary Gila monsters meet you at the airport. He thinks he'll have to take a horse to school and be forced to sit on a cactus. He is very worried that they don't play baseball there. This book is meant to talk to kids about their prejudices about different places. I can see how this book would be a big help talking to your child about moving, being older now I can recognize this rhetorical purpose of the work.

Looking back at the book, I can see why I enjoyed it as a kid. It is easy to read, with only a few words on each of the pages. It sort of lyrical so the works well for being read aloud. The illustrations are also really really great. They are simple but very well done, and so funny. I think I'll probably read this book to my children if it's still around then. I think it has a positive message about acceptance and it also manages to be pretty educational about Gila Monsters and the landscape of Arizona.