Leon and the Spitting Image

by Allen Kurzweil

Book Overview

This book is about a hotel full of animals. And an evil ice maker. And glass eyeballs -- oh, and really old panty hose and Possibly Fake Hair. But mostly, it's about Leon Zeisel and his epic quest to survive fourth grade, despite his teacher, Miss Hagmeyer, and his archenemy, Lumpkin the Pumpkin, a human tank with a deadly dodgeball throw. Luckily, Leon has friends who will stand by him even if his magical plans for rescue and revenge involve .....

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060539321
• ISBN13: 9780060539320
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

FUN LISTENING FOR ALL AGES

Although he's probably most widely known for his role on TV's "Perfect Stranger," actor Mark Linn- Baker has an impressive resume. His Broadway credits include "A Year With Frog and Toad," "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum," "Doonesbury," and "Laughter on the 23rd Floor." In addition, he is a producing director of New York Stage and Film. Linn-Baker's voice is so dextrous that he easily becomes an imaginative fourth grader or Miss Hagmeyer, a teacher who makes the Wicked Witch of the West look kind and has ears that look like "giant rotting mushrooms." He could probably read a dictionary and make it fun, but that's not necessary as "Leon and the Spitting Image" is a laugh provoking story that will have 4 - 6 graders nodding heads and grinning in approval. Leon Zeisel lives in New York City in a rather rundown hotel where his mother is employed. Actually, being rundown isn't the most interesting aspect of the hotel - it's a hotel for animals. However that's not really a problem for Leon because he's worried about having to repeat the fourth grade. He attends a school that judges students by their skill at handicrafts - an ability definitely lacking in Leon. Plus, he has to face a dreadful bully - Lumpkin the Pumpkin who taunts and torments him with a dodgeball. Leon has no alternative but to come up with something acceptable that he has made with his hands. Believe it or not, he sews a doll that is the spitting image of the mean Miss Hagmeyer. Not only is the image precise, but this doll has magic powers - when moved Miss Hagmeyer does the same thing as if hypnotized. Revenge has never been so sweet or funny. - Gail Cooke

Good plot humorous book

This book is aobut Leon Ziesel and his two friends Lily Matisse and P.W. Leon has just started fourth grade, and has a wired teacher Mrs. Hagmyer that can hear everything you do or say and is obbsessed with sewing. Leon and his classmates are forced to sew. Then leon sews a doll of his teacher. Then he finds out that his doll can control his teacher. He he moves the dolls are\m, then Mrs. Hagmyer will move her arm. THen he uses this doll to make Mr.s. Hagmyyer do ridiculous things.....

This Is A Great Book

My family received Leon and the Spitting Image in audiobook for. My wife and I have three children who were at the time aged 3, 5 and 9 and each one of my children loved the story and couldn't wait to drive to church or to the store so we could listen to part of it. This is such a great story and I think that most anyone could and would enjoy this book. The book on tape was very well done and I would recommend it. Get it! Read it!

Needles Ready!

Needing a book to read at the end of the year to my kids, I e-mailed a trustworthy librarian friend of mine, and this book was on the top of her list. That afternoon, the book was in my hand, and the next day, it was finished. Leon and the Spitting Image was an imaginative, drop-dead funny book that I can't wait to read to my class.Written by Allen Kurzweil, who's better known for writing adult fiction like the wonderful "A Grand Complication", this book is all about Leon, a rather inept, un-dexterous lad who gets the misforunate of being assigned to Mrs. Hagmeyer's class. The Hag, as she is affectionately known, loves sewing above all else, much to the chagrin of Leon. As if in a labor camp, her students are forced to sew "animiles", little animals stuffed with her old panty hose. Leon's cohorts, P.W. and Lily-Matisse, engage in the mystery throughout the book, who is this horrible teacher Hagmeyer, and what can she possibly be doing with the creations?The book is funny on two levels: children will love it for it's low-base humor (although I must admit to chuckling from time to time as well!), and smarter kids and adult will love it for it's sly, occasional puns, and situational humor (like a group of mimes, staying at the hotel that's Leon's home, complaining that their microphone isn't working). Writing a children's book is challenging because you must cover both arenas for a truly entertaining book, but Kurzweil holds up well. It is hardly reminiscent of Harry Potter, but much more in the vein of Roald Dahl.By the end of the story, you don't necessarily want it to be over. Hopefully Kurzweil has in himself a few more books, so we can spend more time with Leon, his pals, a maid, an ice machine, and Napoleon!

A good Book to read

It is one of the best book I ever read. The book started in a hotel where Leon's mom works. Leon collects taxi drivers homelands. He meets a taxi driver named Napoleon and they become friends. He always picks Leon up from school and drops him off. His teacher is very weird all they do practically is sew. There is a locked cabinet in the back of the class and Leon takes a peak. They make critters called animles because the teacher does not want them to call them animals because they will get attached to them. This book is very good and I suggest you read it.