Synopsis
Rotten Ralph's birthday activities include searching Sarah's closet for his present, squirting toothpaste into her slippers, and popping the balloons, but when Sarah finally becomes annoyed, Ralph realizes he has gone too far. Read by the author.
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About the Author
Jack Gantos: "While I was in college, I began writing stories about animals. When I first met Nicole Rubel she was a painting student... We had a friend who thought we had a similar sense of humor. So we teamed up and began working together on picture books ... At first I thought children's books had to be sweet, warm, and gentle ... After [several] failures, I was very frustrated. Then I remembered what one of my teacheers told me. He said, 'You should write about what you know:' I was sitting at my desk and I looked down on the floor and saw my lousy, grumpy, hissing creep of a cat that loved to scratch my ankles, throw fur around the house, and shred the clothes in my closet. So I wrote the first draft of Rotten Ralph." Jack Gantos lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Author and illustrator Nicole Rubel has a degree in fine arts from the Boston Museum School and has taught ceramics, silk screening, and mural design to children. Booklist has described her artwork as "busy, brightly colored paintings, done in child appealing primitive style, filled with subtle, humorous touches." Ms. Rubel lives in West Linn, Oregon, with her husband and parrot.
Reviews
PreS-Gr 2-Jack Gantos' badly-behaved cat returns in Happy Birthday Rotten Ralph (HM, 1990). It's Ralph's birthday, but will his latest pranks cost him the party that was planned? Of course not. Rotten Ralph can get away with anything, because he is loved, even when his behavior is-well, rotten. Jack Gantos reads with expression, while lively background music plays. Readers can follow along, enjoying Nicole Rubel's busy, colorful illustrations. One side of the tape contains no signals, while the other uses a cat's meow to encourage readers to turn the page. Audio quality is excellent. This will be a hit with those who love Rotten Ralph.
Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary School, Federal Way, WA
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Spring has sprung with a bouquet of book-and-cassette titles. Despite his rotten behavior, Ralph the cantankerous red cat is feted by his owner, Sarah, in Happy Birthday Rotten Ralph by Jack Gantos, illus. by Nicole Rubel. The lively story, read by the author, features rambunctious background music, "meow" page-turn signals and the plastic case with handle familiar to fans of the Houghton Mifflin Carry-Along Book and Cassette Favorites series.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
[Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with NOT SO ROTTEN RALPH.]--Jack Gantos's books have an anarchic streak, and these Rotten Ralph stories are no different. Ralph is not a good cat, but he gets away with it because his owner, Sarah, loves him just the way he is. Gantos reads with just the right mischievous tone, so that despite Ralph's rotten behavior, you can't help but feel sorry for him when he thinks his birthday party's been cancelled, or root for him to return to his rotten old ways after being reformed by Mr. Fred's Feline Finishing School. Touches like playful and ever-so-slightly devilish Klezmer-inspired back-ground music, cat's meow page-turn signals, and sound effects that punctuate Ralph's antics add to the charm. And Nicole Rubel's colorful illustrations beg to be scrutinized for all their funny details. J.M.D. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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