From the beginning of this adorable story, it is very clear that the little mouse named Lilly LOVES school, especially her snack-bringing, glasses-wearing, artistic teacher Mr. Slinger. However, when Lilly's grandmother buys her a special purple plastic purse that plays a jaunty tune when opened, Lilly cannot resist the urge to share it with everyone in her class. Despite Mr. Slinger's requests that she be considerate of her classmates, Lilly opens the purse in the middle of class. Unamused, Mr. Slinger promptly takes it away. Lilly then decides that she no longer likes school, especially not Mr. Slinger, writes him an angry letter with a mean picture, and stuffs it in his bag. However, once she gets home, guilt overtakes her, and she draws a new picture of Mr. Slinger with a story about how he is the best teacher ever. Then, the next day, with her purple plastic purse in hand, she and Mr. Slinger dance together, Lilly shares her own snacks with the class and concludes that she wants to be a teacher when she grows up.
I have never read a "Lilly" book before, but this book is evidently one in a series, and I am very tempted to read the other ones now! I found this book both enchanting and great for creating teachable moments. Sometimes it is challenging for students, especially younger ones, to understand why they can't share their awesome dinosaur toy RIGHT NOW or talk about their super-fun weekend RIGHT NOW, but with this story, the concept of being patient is made more approachable and easy to understand. It also reinforced the idea that a great teacher can sometimes say no to what you want and still be a fabulous teacher.
The illustrations also really added to the story. In particular, I loved how I could see the pictures that Lilly drew of Mr. Slinger, both the angry one where she called him "fat" and "mean" and the new one where she called him "nice" and nominated him for principal. I also really loved how there were lots of tiny illustrations that showed the subtle differences in Lilly's emotions and had little quotes about what she and her classmates were thinking. All in all, rubber duck definitely recommends Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse!
One of the really cool things about this book is that it's been adapted to the stage, I'm not sure if they still do it, but when my sister was younger we went to see this performed by the Kennedy Center's Theatre for Young Audiences for her birthday. It would be such a cool experience to take a class to see something like that.
ReplyDeleteI think it is great that you can find stuff that relates to children and teachers in this book. These book sounds really fun meaning the series probably is also.
ReplyDeleteCute story! A fun way to show children that though it may not seem like it, teachers have reasons for their actions; they are not out to ruin their lives. :)
ReplyDelete