Rodeo Red 

by Maripat Perkins

Perkins, M. (2015). Rodeo Red. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree.

Rodeo Red and her best friend Rusty, a stuffed hound dog, are living the good life until the arrival of Sideswiping Slim, a new baby brother.  Despite the fact that this "scallywag" does nothing but holler, destroy her things and even steals her beloved Rusty, her parents (the Sheriff and her Deputy) seem "smitten."  When her "city slicker" of an aunt sends her a belated birthday gift, "some sort of varnished varmint" (stuffed cat), she comes up with a plan to outwit her new brother and get her best friend back.

The highlight of this text describing the age old issue of sibling rivalry has to be Perkins’ extensive use of language that seems to come from straight out of the old west.  When punished for trying to retrieve her toy from her baby brother, her mother, “dropped me into a holding cell quicker than you could say lickety-split.  I was madder than a bee in a Sunday bonnet.”

Molly Idle does a great job of combining all the visual elements to convey an image that blends reality with Red’s imagination.  She uses soft, rounded lines and muted pastel colors to add some old west flavor, such as Red’s cowgirl hat, the saloon style doors in the home and even small touches like the sheriff’s badge adorning the mother’s neckline and father’s cuffs. 

Podcast Interview with Maripat Perkins

This is Not My Hat 
by Jon Klassen

Klassen, J. (2012). This is Not My Hat. Boston, MA: Candlewick Press.

Little fish is excited because he has a hat and it fits just right. Unfortunately the hat does not belong to him. It belongs to a much bigger fish who had it stolen right off his head! Unbeknownst to little fish who thinks he is getting away unnoticed, the hat's owner is on his trail. When the witness who said he wouldn't tell spills the beans, things don't turn out quite the way little fish had hoped.

With very basic and minimal text, much of the humor of the story is told through the illustrations, such as in the big fish’s eyes and the crab pointing the way to the culprit.  Though the ending is not specifically stated in the text, the reader is left to infer the outcome based on the pictures.  

The dominant shape in This is Not My Hat is the oval.  Used to not only represent the main characters of big and little fish, ovals are also used to illustrate the underwater setting’s plants throughout the story.  This is significant in that little fish believes he can hide and will be safe in the tall plants.  The shape of the larger fishes’ eye is very telling as well, as you really gain a sense of his thoughts and emotions through even the slightest change in its shape and direction.

Book Trailer for This is Not My Hat

My Teacher is a Monster! 

by Peter Brown

Brown, P. (2014). My Teacher is a Monster! New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company. 

She roars, she stomps, she keeps children in from recess; Bobby's teacher is a real monster.  One Saturday as Bobby is happily going along to his favorite spot in the park, he finds a terrible surprise... Ms. Kirby is at the park!  He feels trapped, what should he do?  He can't run away.  As Bobby forces himself to sit down and make small talk with his teacher, a gust of wind carries off Ms. Kirby's hat and he comes to the rescue.  What happens next is beautiful as teacher and student spend a bit of time together, and Bobby comes to see his teacher as a real person and not necessarily the monster he thought she was.  But honestly, don't we all have a little monster in us?

A student thinking their teacher is a monster is not exactly a new idea.  Teachers have to raise their voices and correct misbehavior and sometimes to children that can come across as “monstrous.”  However, when Bobby accidentally runs into his teacher, Ms. Kirby, in the park and they spend some real time together outside of class, he begins to see her more than just a disciplinarian and “monster”.  The theme of getting to know a person before passing judgment on them is strong and Brown does a terrific job of illustrating how Bobby’s perception of his teacher changes when she goes from an actual green monster to a real person.  

In My Teacher is a Monster, Brown creatively uses shapes to illustrate Bobby’s view of his teacher.  As the story begins Ms. Kirby is depicted as the monster Bobby sees her as, with a large awkwardly shaped green head, big circular nostrils, and sharp, pointy triangular shaped teeth and claws.  As the story progresses and Bobby comes to know his teacher on a more personal level, we see her features begin to soften and round out until eventually she takes on the same shapes and coloring as the children in the story.

Lesson Plans for Use with My Teacher is a Monster!

My Teacher is a Monster! Read Aloud