Rotten Ralph's Rotten Family: A Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader - Hardcover

Gantos, Jack

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374363536 ISBN 13: 9780374363536

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2014

Synopsis

Rotten Ralph's owner, Sarah, is fed up with her red rascal's behavior. Ralph is tired of Sarah trying to change him. He misses his cat family, which never made him alter a thing about himself. But in this gag- and guffaw-filled adventure for newly independent readers, the world's favorite rotten red cat gets tripped up when he runs away for a journey down memory lane.

About this title

About the Authors

Jack Gantos has written books for people of all ages, from picture books and middle-grade fiction to novels for young adults and adults. His works include Hole in My Life, a memoir that won the Michael L. Printz and Robert F. Sibert Honors, Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, a National Book Award Finalist, and Joey Pigza Loses Control, a Newbery Honor book. Jack was born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, and when he was seven, his family moved to Barbados. He attended British schools, where there was much emphasis on reading and writing, and teachers made learning a lot of fun. When the family moved to south Florida, he found his new classmates uninterested in their studies, and his teachers spent most of their time disciplining students. Jack retreated to an abandoned bookmobile (three flat tires and empty of books) parked out behind the sandy ball field, and read for most of the day. The seeds for Jack’s writing career were planted in sixth grade, when he read his sister’s diary and decided he could write better than she could. He begged his mother for a diary and began to collect anecdotes he overheard at school, mostly from standing outside the teachers’ lounge and listening to their lunchtime conversations. Later, he incorporated many of these anecdotes into stories.  While in college, he and an illustrator friend, Nicole Rubel, began working on picture books. After a series of well-deserved rejections, they published their first book, Rotten Ralph, in 1976. It was a success and the beginning of Jack’s career as a professional writer. Jack continued to write children’s books and began to teach courses in children’s book writing and children’s literature. He developed the master’s degree program in children’s book writing at Emerson College and the Vermont College M.F.A. program for children’s book writers. He now devotes his time to writing books and educational speaking. He lives with his family in Boston, Massachusetts.

Jack Gantos and Nicole Rubel have created the Rotten Ralph Rotten Readers, which launched in 2001 with Rotten Ralph Helps Out. Ms. Rubel lives in Aurora, Oregon.

Reviews

K-Gr 2—Ralph's fans will welcome this new addition, though the adventure rolls out in the usual way and predictably ends with the naughty feline showing a momentary display of sweetness. In this episode, Sarah has to decline a party invitation because she can't find a single cat sitter in town willing to spend time with Ralph. His reputation has impacted his best friend's life, and she sends him to his room, demanding that he change his ways. Ralph waxes nostalgic about the good old days when he lived with his own cat family. But a visit to the family farm reveals relatives just as rotten as he is and reinforces the fact that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Some readers may be perplexed by the difference between Ralph's vividly depicted childhood memories and reality. The transformation makes sense only if one assumes that the pictures in Ralph's mind are candy-coated, and this recognition may prompt some meaningful discussions about human behavior and also serve as a lesson in inference. Rubel's signature cartoon illustrations contain all the humor one could want in this latest chapter book about the incorrigible yet charismatic cat.—Gloria Koster, West School, New Canaan, CT

Sarah, disgusted after every cat sitter in town refuses to stay with Rotten Ralph, asks him why he’s so rotten. Ralph wonders too. He misses his doting mother and decides to return to his family, but after he arrives, all his other relatives play mean tricks on him. Mystery solved! There’s plenty to enjoy in this droll, satisfying story, from Ralph’s zany kitten/baby pictures to the unnerving scenes of a reformed Ralph cleaning up his act and his room (“he even cleaned the fish tank without eating the fish”). Expressive, wildly colorful illustrations amplify the humor. Another winner in the Rotten Ralph Rotten Readers series. Grades 1-3. --Carolyn Phelan

Edition details

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374363536
• ISBN 13: 9780374363536
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Rubel Nicole
• Number of pages: 48