Not So Rotten Ralph [Paperback]

"Not so Rotten Ralph" is one of my favorite books of the series. My five year old brother laughs and laughs each time we read it! The illustrator again adds to the plot with cleaver details - tell your child to pay close attention to the pictures!

Let's get to the offending line right away:

"When they got home, Sarah awarded Ralph with a celebration."

That's it. "Awarded," not "rewarded." If that's proof of our declining educational system and cannot be tolerated, skip the book. If you do, however, you'll be missing one of the funniest of the Rotten Ralph books, with a great story line by Jack Gantos, and elaborate, very creative pictures by the ultra-talented Nicole Rubel, one of my favorite illustrators. Before I get into the specifics, I offer the following teacher- and parent-friendly suggestions for "dealing" with the whole award/reward controversy.

1. Teach the difference between "award" and "reward."
2. Ask about other commonly confused words.
3. Have your students write a story with a "hidden" mistake; ask others to find it!
4. (Older students) Talk about the book publishing industry, and how and why this diction mistake might have happened.
5. Ignore it, because young kids won't notice it, and if they do, their teachers will teach them proper usage later.
6. Explain that cats do not know the word "reward," instead, they always use "award."

Rotten Ralph is a mischievous, fun-loving cat, but he's also willful, a bad listener, and a little on the destructive side. We're not talking felonious feline, just pranks like spraying whipped cream all over the kitchen, spraying the postman with water so that "the mail flew all over" (OK, that MIGHT be a federal crime), and flapping flapjacks and batter all over the kitchen. Sarah, his owner, decides that "Mr. Fred's Feline Finishing School" might teach Ralph a few social niceties. Ralph reluctantly agrees; there's a very funny picture of Fred dragging Ralph into the school while Ralph digs his claw into the floor trying to stay out. While in school, Ralph flouts all the social conventions that Fred (another cat, with wounds from former students) teaches: Contrary to Mr. Fred's direct instructions, he burps loudly and touches and breaks some of the many whimsical objets d'art that Rubel places in the "SELF-CONTROL ROOM."

Finally, in a move that much older students might discuss in terms of HIPAA regulations (see, this is an educational book, even WITH the wrong word!), Fred hypnotizes Ralph into being a good cat. It works too well: When Sarah rewards/awards Ralph with a graduation party, he just falls asleep, instead of being his usual "life of the party" self. In a clever role reversal, certain to get big laughs from your audience, Sarah tries to teach him some of his old tricks. "She chased a mouse. She climbed the curtains. She even ate a goldfish.... She lifted him on the chandelier and gave him a push." Swinging on the fixture (for clinical graduate students: Does this induce a counter-hypnotic state?), Ralph finally realizes how good being rotten feels. He sticks out his tongue at Sarah, and gives a rotten growl. Sarah is delighted to have her Rotten Ralph back, and gives him a big hug. Ralph's glad too, "as he ripped up his diploma."

Perhaps some people really object to this "be yourself, even if it's not socially acceptable" message. However, this is Rotten Ralph, a CAT, and a symbol of those impulses that kids frequently feel, and sometimes act on. WIth Rotten Ralph, they can enjoy these impulses vicariously, acknowledge them in a cozy setting with a safe, limit-setting adult, and enjoy the clever story twists, and colorful, ornate stylings of Ms. Rubel. I predict you and your toddler to young elementary school audience will be awarded with a very positive experience!

This book would be endurable without the text. The low point is on page 24 when "Sarah awarded Ralph with a celebration." The text should read, of course, Sarah rewarded Ralph with a celebration. This glaring error should have been caught by a reasonably capable editor, so perhaps this book was published without being proofread...or perhaps it was published without having been read at all. Sloppy grammar and uninspired story-construction are all too common in fiction, especially children's books, and this insipid story is an egregious example of irresponsible book publishing.

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