Benny and Penny in the Big No-No!: A Toon Book

A 2010 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award winner graphic novel by Geoffrey Hayes. The illustrations are thorough with finely detailed characters and background. Moreover, the characters are drawn as likable and wholesome. Benny and Penny are sister and brother who are in their backyard peeking over the fence trying to see the new neighbors. They hope they can make friends, but then start looking for their dirt pails. While searching for Benny’s pail, the brother and sister conclude that the new neighbors probably took it. Benny and Penny end up in the neighbor’s yard and see the lost pail. Suddenly, they hear giant footsteps and see a little girl playing. A few missteps happen and a mud fight occurs between Benny, Penny, and the little girl neighbor. Benny and Penny make it across the fence with the pail only to see a pail exactly like Benny’s sitting in their sandbox. Realizing they made a terrible mistake; the siblings take the pail back to the little girl and they all end up becoming friends. Author Geoffrey Hayes writes a series of book about Benny and Penny such as Benny and Penny How To Say Goodbye, Benny and Penny Lost and Found!, and Benny and Penny in Just Pretend. Each book has a similar theme about overcoming obstacles and learning a positive.

Teachers can use this book in an ELA class as a discussion on conjecture and inferences based on Penny and Benny’s assumptions. Correspondingly, ELA teachers can have students create their own fictional graphic novel using inferences.

Hayes, G. (2009). Benny and Penny in the Big No-No!: A Toon Book. Toon Books.