Quentin Fenton Herter III Illustrated by Giselle Potter "Dazzling"--Kirkus (starred review) Winner of Oppenheim Gold Award Ages: 4 - 9 Farrar Straus & Giroux ISBN 0-374-36170 Available from the author. To order, click here.

What's it about? Quentin Fenton Herter THIRD "was seldom seen and never heard./He always did what he should ought/and NEVER did what he should not." This Quentin cleans his plate and always remembers to say please. But Quentin has a shadow--"never good and always bad." Quentin's shadow spills his pudding on the floor and writes with crayon on the door. "Oh he was bad as bad can be,/was Quentin Fenton Herter THREE." The two Quentins dislike each other, until one afternoon when something very unexpected happens right in the middle of a fancy tea party. The result should delight both good (and naughty) children alike.

Where did the idea come from? My mother once confessed to me she wanted to write a story about a little boy who was so good that he bored his mother to tears. She and I came up with the first line of the story together many years ago.

Anything else? Strangely enough, my own two sons are a little like the two Quentins.

What some reviwers have said: "MacDonald's dazzling verse, as clever as Scheherezade, is a beautiful choreography of words....It's all very merry, with the illustrations providing an unending source of enjoyment while the verse positively scoots along...Laughter will shower down upon readers."- Kirkus (starred review)

"Rollicking...delicious" - Horn Book

"The smoothly flowing text is a joy to read aloud, and it's all very funny." -School Library Journal

"MacDonald's rambunctious romp of a rhyming story...is great fun to read aloud, and Potter's pictures are commensurately wacky and gleeful." -Booklist

Classroom Activities to accompany Quentin Fenton Herter III. Coming soon!