Don't Laugh, Joe is about a possum who is always laughing and having fun. All of his friends love him but his mother is worried about him. She thinks he doesn't know how to play dead. She makes him play dead and as a reward she will give him a bug pie. So he tries to practice and practice but he is always laughing. One day comes a grumpy bear and Joe and his mother drop dead. The bear is shaking Joe and then starts crying because he cant laugh. The only animal that can make him laugh is now dead. Joe wakes up after hearing the story and teaches the bear how to laugh. At the end when Joe's mom brings the bug pie everybody plays dead. The story is funny and the illustration is good. ( )

Mother Possum is in despair because her son cannot learn to play dead with laughing.

This book is about a mother possum and her son. She tries to teach him how to play dead because that's how they escape enemies. But all he does it shout and laugh, unitl one day abear came and he played dead perfectly. Their are little parts where this book is slightly humorous, but mostly is about a survival tactic for possums. ( )

A mother possum tries to teach her son Joe how to play dead, but he doesn't take it seriously. Every time his mother tells him to play dead he starts to giggle. His mother will reward him with a bug pie if he can play dead the right way. When danger approaches Joe does a great job pretending to be dead, but he hurts bears feelings.

Don't Laugh Joe, shows a bond between mother and son. I have a close bond with my daughter. This book shows how a mother tries to protect her son. It’s a cute story. It has large pictures on both sides and the words flow from page to page, and it has a few repeating lines. The pictures show animals that are never read into the story. One moral of the story could be, just because someone is bigger than you doesn't mean they are not nice.

Extension ideas: 1) In the story mother was going to make Joe a bug pie. Students could research what possum really eat. 2) Joe the possum taught bear how to giggle and be happy, not grumpy. Children could write about the time they made someone laugh. ( )