Friendship Day Books

Here's a book about the first day of school that doesn't have the main character dreading her first day of school. On the contrary, Sarah is excited at the thought of making new friends.

But not everyone in the household is as happy for Sarah. In fact, Ralph, Sarah's rotten red cat, is doing everything he can to sabotage her school day: he sets back her clock, draws all over her new school dress and tries to trick her into staying home by faking an illness.

When Ralph gets the bright idea to follow Sarah to school, his antics get her in trouble and keep her from making new friends. Fans of Rotten Ralph--this is the ninth book in the series--know that all's well that ends well, but first-time readers may be a bit put off by Ralph, who seems just a tad too mean.

Rubel's chunky illustrations are colorful and bold. Her rendering of Ralph captures his true spirit right on the money...he's bright red with pointy ears and a devilish grin.

Gantos' book would be a good way to explore the jealousy that younger siblings might feel when an older brother or sister gets to try a new and exciting experience that they don't. Younger children might not recognize themselves in Rotten Ralph and his outrageous tactics, but I'm betting that parents will.

"Back to School for Rotten Ralph" has some of the most vivid, color-saturated illustrations I've seen recently. Nicole Rubel, one of my favorite illustrator/authors ("Cyrano the Bear," "A Cowboy Named Ernestine") draws busy backgrounds, reflecting Rotten Ralph's frenetic activity to keep Sarah from returning to school. It's not that the cat dislikes school; he just wants Sarah all to himself. The time-tested slapstick humor is very easy to understand. Ralph gives Sarah some trick soap and her newly washed face turns orange. Just behind her, so that all is perfectly clear, we see Ralph smiling mischievously, holding a package labeled "orange trick soap."

Ralph's sabotage is not subtle. He draws his face on Sarah's first-day-of-school clothes (and looks only slightly sorry when Sarah angrily informs him "that's not nice..."). He covers his face with whopped cream for that sick "foaming at the mouth" look. "Ralph," Sarah said with a smile, "you look strange, but you'll be alright."

When Sarah finally gets away and arrives at school. Ralph follows in a very unconvincing outfit (he doesn't cover his tail, for one thing!). Ralph's pranks just keep on coming. Some antics are right out of old comics and movies (e.g., tying Sarah's shoelaces together), but also show some malevolent imagination (putting stinky fish bones in Sarah's lunch, again depriving Sarah of the chance to make a new friend). Author Jack Gatos' dialogue is realistic, and Ralph's tricks are both silly and clever. Nicole Rubel's illustrations also help keep the humor fresh and interesting. She shows wide-eyed emotion, adds lots of action and detail, and uses vibrant colors. The foreshortened perspective increases the action, and brings Sarah and Rotten Ralph to the foreground.

Eventually Rotten Ralph's plan to isolate and conquer fails, but Ralph seems to enjoy new friends just as much as Sarah does. Sarah understands, in a way that Ralph probably won't, that his mean tricks are a convoluted way of expressing his love for her. This book is not only very funny and well illustrated, but it shows some complex friendship issues in an understandable, non-preachy way. Slightly older toddlers and early grade schoolers will relate to the feeling of wanting a friend all to one's self, and you can explore feelings and possible solutions with them. One of the best of the `Rotten Ralph' series; Gantos and Rubel have made a more sophisticated yet humorous and engaging book.

Let me tell you a feel-good story. It involves love - the love of a mother for her daughter, and a child's passionate, exhilarated, uncomplicated love for books. This is the true story of Deb Raymer, and her daughter Sabrina, and how I came to know them. This holiday season, I am grateful that Deb has shared parts of her story, and that through her mom, Sabrina has shared a wonderful cast of characters previously unknown to me.

A couple of months ago, Deb asked me to help her find a series of books. All Sabrina wants for Christmas is "Gilbert". Deb needed to order multiple copies of each book in the collection, she explained. Sabrina loves the "Gilbert" books so much, that she reads them to pieces. Literally. While I am always thrilled to see someone who loves books that much, that's not even the best part of the story. Sabrina is mentally and physically handicapped. She has a job at Partners in Progress that she enjoys. Whenever she rides to work on the bus, she has a "Gilbert" book - or two, or three - in her bag, and she "reads" them to the other passengers. Sabrina has memorized her favorite books. Her mother needs to keep buying new copies of them because Sabrina pages through them so much and so often that they fall apart.

Gilbert, the hedgehog, and his sister Lola, are creations from the paintbrush and pen of Diane de Groat. This author/illustrator started working in children's literature by doing the artwork for some well-known children's authors, such as Lois Lowry and Eve Bunting. De Groat started on her Gilbert series in 1996 with "Roses are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink", which is still Sabrina's favorite.

I hadn't heard of de Groat, and Deb gave my literary ego a boost by reassuring me that I'm not alone. Often, when Deb and Sabrina have searched for Gilbert in libraries and bookstores, he is nowhere to be found. So, it's time to spread the word. Diane de Groat has created a fun, inexpensive series with sympathetic characters, situations that kids can relate to, and a little lesson that doesn't come across like a 2"x 4" to the forehead. The titles themselves produce a smile for kids and adults alike. Now there's a Gilbert for every season in a child's life. A reader can start school with Gilbert in "Brand New Pencils, Brand New Books" and end the school year with the companion volume, "No More Pencils, No More Books! No More Teacher's Dirty Looks!" In these final months of the year, we have been enjoying "We Gather Together, Now Please Get Lost" for Thanksgiving, and "Jingle Bells, Homework Smells" for Christmas.

The Gilbert books have been so successful that now his sister Lola has her own series, books for slightly younger children, that often include Gilbert, but from Lola's point-of-view. When Lola can't decide what to be for Halloween, she finally decides to be "a Gilbert", because she knows he's an original. I think Sabrina and Lola are on to something good.

Author,"Hobo Finds A Home"

Gilbert is getting ready to go to first grade. He is very worried about a lot of things. He's worried that his teacher won't be nice. He wonders if he will get into trouble for not eating all his lunch. As the day goes by he finds out that as long as he follows that rules that he teach has things will be fine. He even learns to read better and is able to read to his younger sister.


What did you like or not like about the book?

Children everywhere will identify with his sorrow when the day doesn't go as planned, and will also feel relief when everything turns out all right in the end.


I would recommend this book to kids who are going to first grade. They might have some of the same feelings that the main character in the book has.

Someone got us this as a gift and its one of my kids favorite books. Its so funny and clever and the illustrations are fantastic. The story is hillarious and you'll enjoy reading it as well.

Celeste A Day In The Park is an entertaining and active book. Children seem very captivated by the colors of the pictures. The sentences are some times too drawn out for younger readers. The antics of Celeste are refreshing and a memory stimulator for younger children who like to associate themselves with her. this is an overall enjoyable book.

It is extremely hard to find Valentine's Day stories that do not center on elementary school classmates or adult "sweethearts".

In this sweetly simple book Cornelia Augusta, a human child, uses her imagination and craft supplies to create unique Valentines for each of her four animal friends.

The illustrations are attractive and the story will appeal to the youngest of listeners. Though you probably won't find hearts falling from the sky, have some colored paper and glue available when you read this to children, as this book may well encourage them to try their hand at creating Valentines of their own.

This was another book that I picked up on a whim, and ended up being pleasantly surprised by. The illustrations are great and the story line is touching. And Cornelia Augusta is a very likable and thoughtful little girl, who knows just the right sort of valentine to make for each of her very different friends. A perfect book for Valentines Day!

What a beautiful book! The illustrations are so lovely and delight. I recently brought this book home from the library for my 3 year old niece and we fell in love with it. I like the message for the kids facing first day of school, but mostly I enjoy the illustrations. Superb artwork.

My three year old daughter and I really like this book. She's a big Hello Kitty fan and Jiwon Oh's animal characters are similarly cute and appealing. I love that each page is just stuffed with bright colors, shapes and funky patterns. Every time we read it together we find something new that we didn't notice before. Lots of fun!

All these books are perfect for getting kids to take up reading, I buy them by the bunch and they get read inmediately.

I've read all of the Weird School books and enjoyed them. They are all funny. Dr Carbles is Losing his Marbles is a great book because it's really funny. I liked the parts involving a toupee (wig/fake hair). It gets yanked off of Dr. Carbles head in front of the students at recess and it's hysterical! I would reccomend this book.

Reveiwed by Matthew-8 yrs old

This is a good book for kids that like drama books. Sometimes it gets funny.

My elementary age daughter loved this book. She was so anxious to read about Emma and her school adventures every night before we went to sleep. The book also has wonderful illustrations in the book that kept young readers interested. My daughter is anxious to read more about Emma in other books from this series we have purchased.

There i was today, innocently walking past the picture book display when this adorable little hedgehog (an animal i have always wanted to adopt by the by, unfortunately the cats will not allow me to do so) unavoidably beckons to me from the cover of One Winter's Day (a touch and feel book) by M. Christina Butler and illustrated by Tina Macnaughton.
This is an incredibly cute book as the little hedgehog makes his way through the woods once the wind blows his nest away, playing good Samaritan to every poor little creature he meets. Of course their is a moral (well not really a moral~but it does show that being kind and sweet and selfless and all that will reward you with good karma~maybe saying that life is fair even when we all know that it really isn't) at the end and again i question the wisdom of over-adorableness of wild animals in tales for children but this one just wins over that "awe" factor in me (and tells that cynic to go sulk in the corner for a while).
What can i say?

It's a very sweet story of selflessness. My daughter loves the touch and feel of the hat, mittens and scarf. It's one of the ones I enjoy reading over and over.

Emily is hoping for a Snow Day tomorrow so she doesn't have to figure out what topic to choose for a report for class. But with snow comes -- unfortunately -- boys armed with snowballs. Emily's classmate, Marietta, figures out her own purposeful way around that situation. An interesting twist to the typical Snow Day scenario that should prove fun for young Step 2 Beginning Readers.

I read this book to my 5 and 6 year old boys, and in spite of the fact that it is about two girls, they listened to every word and laughed a lot. We first read "The Shortest Kid in the World" by the same author, which they equally enjoyed. The characters in both books are the same; clever and funny stories about friendship and overcoming certain childhood insecurities. Great books for boys and girls alike - especially emerging young readers. I will read these both to my son's first grade class.

My eight year old daughter loves this series and loved this one as well. The Seven books of the day fairies made a great gift.

This is another delightful story that my grandchildren just love to read! I have the whole set and give them to my granddaughters on special occasions! They always ask if there are more Fairy books to come! Share a magical time with your special child and read these delightful stories together!