Federica - Hardcover

Ritchie, Scot

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 155498968X ISBN 13: 9781554989683

Publisher: Groundwood Books, 2017

Synopsis

When Federica invites the animals from the park back to her house, chaos ensues!

Federica’s busy family can’t keep their house clean! To get away from the buzzy, buggy mess, she escapes to the peaceful park where she can spend time with her animal friends…which gives her an idea.

She brings home sheep and goats, spiders and dragonflies, a toad, an owl, and some raccoons. Then she takes her family to the park for a picnic, and while they’re gone, the animals chomp the overgrown grass in the backyard, eat the garbage and catch the pesky bugs overrunning the house. After a peaceful afternoon at the park, Federica’s family comes home to a clean house ― and raccoons doing the dishes!

Scot Ritchie’s warm art and original story bring a fresh perspective to the busy-family challenge of keeping the house clean, while featuring a clever and resourceful young girl who knows that, sometimes, letting nature back into our lives is the best answer.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3
With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7
With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3
Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events

About this title

About the Author

SCOT RITCHIE is an award-winning illustrator and author with more than eighty books to his credit, including Tug, P'ésk'a and the First Salmon Ceremony, Federica and Owen at the Park. His books have been translated into many languages including French, Korean, Indonesian, Polish, Finnish, Arabic and Dutch. Scot has worked with the National Film Board of Canada and has exhibited his illustrations at the National Gallery of Canada. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Reviews

PreS-Gr 1—Federica is a small girl with a big problem. She lives in a messy home with quirky parents too busy to clean. To escape all the dirt, clutter, bugs, and vermin indoors, Federica visits a nearby park. The park inspires her to solve the problem. Bring the creatures who live at the park to her home to do what they do naturally—eat, chase, and lick. To start with, she brings in sheep and goats, graciously asking her father's permission first, and he distractedly assents. Spider and dragonflies, toads and owls, and, lastly, raccoons follow Federica into her messy home, up the stairs, and into her bedroom. For the second part of her plan, the girl asks her mother if the family, including her baby sibling, can picnic. As soon as the family members leave, the herd of creatures go to work, chomping up bugs, mice, and garbage; eating overgrown plants; and even cleaning the dishes with their tongues. When everyone gets home, the house is sparkling clean and, to the surprise of Mum and Dad, the helpful creatures are still there. They go back to the park, and Federica and her family visit them, but only after taking time each day to keep the house clean. Ritchie has created ink and computer rendered comiclike illustrations. The first two pages, a double illustration of a very messy family kitchen, perfectly set the mood for the entire book. With goggle-eyed bugs and household items strewn about, children will enjoy pointing at items in the illustrations and naming them. Plenty of conversational prose breaks up the longer passages and keeps the story engaging. VERDICT Children and caregivers are sure to savor this tale of a problem-solving girl; a strong choice for picture book shelves.—Mindy Hiatt, Salt Lake County Library Services

Edition details

• Publisher: Groundwood Books
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 155498968X
• ISBN 13: 9781554989683
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32