Customer Reviews

Leon and the Spitting Image

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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!

Yes, Leon is another down-and-outter, and yes, the other two main characters are his best friends, a brainy girl (like Hermione) and a fun-loving boy (like Ron Weasley), but the plot is still worthy of a good read. In fact, I couldn't put it down, and I am a middle-aged fuddy-duddy!
One could make the point that there is even a Hagrid-like cab driver who is a beneficent helper, but really, there are more differences than similarities. For one thing, Leon's mother is a presence, and a kind, loving, if harried one. Also, unlike Voldemoort the Irredeemably Evil, the antagonist in this story has some...well, if not *likable,* at least tolerable character traits. In other words, Not All Bad, like most people a ten-year-old meets in Real Life.
A most satisfactory ending has Justice Prevailing, Good Triumphing Over Evil, and the requisite Laughs to go along with it all.
Every 9-12 year old, boy or girl, should read LEON AND THE SPITTING IMAGE. It's *that* good.

Leon Ziesel's teacher is obsessed with sewing. Every week he is assigned a new "Animile", which means in Leon's point of view, a stupid sewing project that is supposed to look similar to an animal. Each time someone in his class finishes an Animile; they turn it in and get their sewing spool moved up a notch on the thread. When the spool reaches the end of the thread, you are considered a sewing master. On the final project, the teacher announces that each person may choose what he or she wants to sew. Leon suddenly has the greatest idea of his life - he decides to make an Animile of his teacher. Sadly, when he is finally finished, the school bully, Lumpkin, steals it and soaks it in Leon's Gym teacher's spit. At first Leon cries because he thinks his masterpiece is ruined, but then he starts to realize that he can possess his teacher simply by moving the doll...

This book had a very funny beginning to get you hooked, which is a very good tactic by the author. It was almost as funny as the scene where Leon uses the doll make his teacher, Miss Hagmeyer, to do crazy jump rope tricks. Although I think this book is very good, I think the plot could have been slightly better if the main part of this story had a better mystery; for example the mystery in this book was why they were making Animiles, but I didn't think that was very important. Although this book is funny, it isn't the best for people who love nonstop humor. The book is mostly about Leon Ziesel and his friends. But at the end of every chapter there is an exciting cliffhanger you can look forward to. If you like funny, exciting, or mysterious books this is definitely the book for you.

The night before Leon Zeisel's first day of school, all that matters to him is an envelope, a confidential envelope. The next day he will be entering 4th grade and he will be face-to-face with Miss Hagmeyer, one of the strictest teachers in The Classical School, who is the mistress of sewing. So Leon enters 4th grade "Where nimble fingers make nimble minds," but after a day of running, he's already got an "Overcast" stitch in his side. Animiles, and animals, are jumbling before him. Will his luck change? Or will he get pricked?

"Leon and the Spitting Image" is full of surprises. The structure and balance of the book gathers all of the strings together and ties them into a knot at the very end. Leon has humor and confidence, as well as disappointment, but his journey needs that fuel to make the book impossible to put down.

I can't understand why anyone would give this book a high rating. It wasn't anything special. The writing was very average, the story not very interesting. I guess after reading better books, I have high expectations.

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!

This is a must read children's book.

Very smart. Witty. On target. Yes, it is mixed w/fantasy but if I told you what made it fantasy it would ruin the book. Dodge ball is the game played in gym class. There is the ultimate bully. Issues w/the 4th grade teacher. The ice machine. Hotel. Cabbies and so much more. Plus the added perk of three friends sticking together trying to over come ...

I will be buying this for my nieces and nephews this year. Great, cannot put down read.

Leon lives in a world that is far from normal. He resides in a hotel that is regularly inhabited by the strangest of pets and is tortured each night by the Ice Queen, an ice machine with definite personality disorders, determined it seems, to prevent sleep. But Leon's life is about to get even odder - he's entering the 4th grade at a school known for its unorthodox teaching methods.

Enter Miss Hagmeyer, a teacher with ears like a bat, who changes the eyeballs on her cloak to suit the day's lessons and whose hair is rumoured to be a wig held on by Velcro. She's obsessed with sewing and the Middle Ages, and any student wishing to pass 4th grade must master the "Heavenly Stitches of Virtue" and create seven animiles (stuffed animals) to her exacting standards. How Leon navigates the year and comes into his own will delight readers of all ages.

Allen Kurzweil has created a world of magical realism but has kept his hero, and friends, as truly ordinary children facing realities of life to which his readers can relate. Leon lives with his single Mom who works long hours, faces torment by a bully at school and struggles with lessons. The chaotic world around him infuses Leon's story with enchantment and captures the imagination quickly, making this a heart-warming as well as delightful tale.

Leon lives in a world that is far from normal. He resides in a hotel that is regularly inhabited by the strangest of pets and is tortured each night by the Ice Queen, an ice machine with definite personality disorders, determined it seems, to prevent sleep. But Leon's life is about to get even odder - he's entering the 4th grade at a school known for its unorthodox teaching methods.

Enter Miss Hagmeyer, a teacher with ears like a bat, who changes the eyeballs on her cloak to suit the day's lessons and whose hair is rumoured to be a wig held on by Velcro. She's obsessed with sewing and the Middle Ages, and any student wishing to pass 4th grade must master the "Heavenly Stitches of Virtue" and create seven animiles (stuffed animals) to her exacting standards. How Leon navigates the year and comes into his own will delight readers of all ages.

Allen Kurzweil has created a world of magical realism but has kept his hero, and friends, as truly ordinary children facing realities of life to which his readers can relate. Leon lives with his single Mom who works long hours, faces torment by a bully at school and struggles with lessons. The chaotic world around him infuses Leon's story with enchantment and captures the imagination quickly, making this a heart-warming as well as delightful tale.

Fabulously Funny! Delightful array of original characters populate this novel. The setting shifts from the wacky 1-star hotel that Leon lives at with his mother to his private school with the sewing curriculum and the motto, "nimble fingers make nimble minds," by a cab driver named Napoleon. The language is rich, wonderfully clever, figurative and overflowing with layers and metaphors. A great book to read-aloud with you kids or listen to the audio verison masterfully read by Mark Linn-Baker. One the best kids books, I have ever read.