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Rotten Ralph
Rotten Ralph Feels Rotten (1 Hardcover/1 CD) (Rotten Ralph
Rotten Ralph the cat's love of food from trash cans has given him an upset stomach, and it's up to Sarah to get him to understand his bad eating habits are to blame. Read by the author.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
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About the author
Jack Gantos
81 books549 followersJack Gantos is an American author of children's books renowned for his portrayal of fictional Joey Pigza, a boy with ADHD, and many other well known characters such as Rotten Ralph, Jack Henry, Jack Gantos (memoirs) and others. Gantos has won a number of awards, including the Newbery, the Newbery Honor, the Scott O'Dell Award, the Printz Honor, and the Sibert Honor from the American Library Association, and he has been a finalist for the National Book Award.
Gantos was born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania to son of construction superintendent John Gantos and banker Elizabeth (Weaver) Gantos. The seeds for Jack Gantos' writing career were planted in sixth grade, when he read his sister's diary and decided he could write better than she could. Born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, and raised in Barbados and South Florida, Mr. Gantos began collecting anecdotes in grade school and later gathered them into stories.
After his senior year in high school (where he lived in a welfare motel) he moved to a Caribbean island (St Croix) and began to train as a builder. He soon realized that construction was not his forté and started saving for college. While in St. Croix he met a drug smuggler and was offered a chance to make 10 000 dollars by sailing to New York with 2,000 pounds of hash. With an English eccentric captain on board they set off to the big city. Once there they hung out at the Chelsea hotel and Gantos carried on dreaming about college. Then, in Jacks own words, "The **** hit the fan" and the F.B.I. burst in on him. He managed to escape and hid out in the very same welfare motel he was living during high school. However, he saw sense and turned himself in. He was sentenced to six years in prison, which he describes in his novel -HOLE IN MY LIFE-. However, after a year and a half in prison he applied to college, was accepted. He was released from prison, entered college, and soon began his writing career.
He received his BFA and his MA both from Emerson College. While in college, Jack began working on picture books with an illustrator friend. In 1976, they published their first book, Rotten Ralph. Mr. Gantos continued writing children's books and began teaching courses in children's book writing. He developed the master's degree program in children's book writing at Emerson College in Boston. In 1995 he resigned his tenured position in order to further his writing career (which turned out to be a great decision).
He married art dealer Anne A. Lower on November 11, 1989. The couple has one child, Mabel, and they live in Boston, Massachusetts.
www.jackgantos.com
Gantos was born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania to son of construction superintendent John Gantos and banker Elizabeth (Weaver) Gantos. The seeds for Jack Gantos' writing career were planted in sixth grade, when he read his sister's diary and decided he could write better than she could. Born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, and raised in Barbados and South Florida, Mr. Gantos began collecting anecdotes in grade school and later gathered them into stories.
After his senior year in high school (where he lived in a welfare motel) he moved to a Caribbean island (St Croix) and began to train as a builder. He soon realized that construction was not his forté and started saving for college. While in St. Croix he met a drug smuggler and was offered a chance to make 10 000 dollars by sailing to New York with 2,000 pounds of hash. With an English eccentric captain on board they set off to the big city. Once there they hung out at the Chelsea hotel and Gantos carried on dreaming about college. Then, in Jacks own words, "The **** hit the fan" and the F.B.I. burst in on him. He managed to escape and hid out in the very same welfare motel he was living during high school. However, he saw sense and turned himself in. He was sentenced to six years in prison, which he describes in his novel -HOLE IN MY LIFE-. However, after a year and a half in prison he applied to college, was accepted. He was released from prison, entered college, and soon began his writing career.
He received his BFA and his MA both from Emerson College. While in college, Jack began working on picture books with an illustrator friend. In 1976, they published their first book, Rotten Ralph. Mr. Gantos continued writing children's books and began teaching courses in children's book writing. He developed the master's degree program in children's book writing at Emerson College in Boston. In 1995 he resigned his tenured position in order to further his writing career (which turned out to be a great decision).
He married art dealer Anne A. Lower on November 11, 1989. The couple has one child, Mabel, and they live in Boston, Massachusetts.
www.jackgantos.com
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 11, 2010
Rotten Ralph doesn't want to eat his vegetables, so Sarah sends him to bed without dinner. She warns him not to raid the refrigerator. Ralph knows he won't because there's no good food in there anyway. After Sarah tucks him in, Ralph sneaks out to the alley and rummages through the trash to find some tasty treats. He eats a green chicken wing, squishy squid, furry fish, a hunk of blue cheesecake, and a carton of chunky chocolate milk. Just as expected, he gets a huge stomach ache. When Ralph wakes up, Sarah discovers that he has eaten from the trash and rushes him to the vet in her little red wagon. Rubel's illustrations are a perfect fit. Ralph is green with sickness and all of the rotten food is floating around in his distended belly. All the way to the vet, he is covered in a quilt and holding his "spit-up" bucket.
Ralph has grown to enormous size because he is so full of rotten food and Rubel's line work on his stomach makes the food seem to protrude out in all directions. When Ralph is at the vet, he has his temperature checked, but only after spitting out the thermometer. Next, the vet checks his reflexes; they seem to be working because Ralph kicks the vet off of his stool. Repeatedly, Sarah warns Ralph to behave. Finally, the vet gives Ralph medicine that makes him throw up. Feeling much better, Ralph returns to his rambunctious and rowdy behavior. The vets think something is wrong with him because he is behaving so badly and they keep him for observation. One of my favorite illustrations in the book is Ralph, lying in bed homesick for Sarah surrounded by "a bunch of sick puppies." I love the fact that Rubel takes Gantos' words at face value and translates them literally; the pun is hysterical. Ralph decides he doesn't want to stay with the vet, because being homesick is worse than a stomach ache, so he escapes. When he returns home he decides to have a healthy snack. Let's just say he interprets "healthy" in his very own Rotten Ralph way.
Ralph has grown to enormous size because he is so full of rotten food and Rubel's line work on his stomach makes the food seem to protrude out in all directions. When Ralph is at the vet, he has his temperature checked, but only after spitting out the thermometer. Next, the vet checks his reflexes; they seem to be working because Ralph kicks the vet off of his stool. Repeatedly, Sarah warns Ralph to behave. Finally, the vet gives Ralph medicine that makes him throw up. Feeling much better, Ralph returns to his rambunctious and rowdy behavior. The vets think something is wrong with him because he is behaving so badly and they keep him for observation. One of my favorite illustrations in the book is Ralph, lying in bed homesick for Sarah surrounded by "a bunch of sick puppies." I love the fact that Rubel takes Gantos' words at face value and translates them literally; the pun is hysterical. Ralph decides he doesn't want to stay with the vet, because being homesick is worse than a stomach ache, so he escapes. When he returns home he decides to have a healthy snack. Let's just say he interprets "healthy" in his very own Rotten Ralph way.
September 11, 2012
Oh, Rotten Ralph! Delighting young readers with gross out humor and bad behavior. Kids who love Rotten Ralph will more than likely enjoy Captain Underpants as step up chapter books.
In this early reader, Rotten Ralph eats a bunch of nasty stuff from the trash cans and ends up at the vet's office. He learns his lesson about healthy eating and ends up making a full recovery.
Teaching tip: Discuss the term homesick.
In this early reader, Rotten Ralph eats a bunch of nasty stuff from the trash cans and ends up at the vet's office. He learns his lesson about healthy eating and ends up making a full recovery.
Teaching tip: Discuss the term homesick.
September 1, 2010
This would be for an advanced early reader or a child ready for first chapter. The series would especially appeal to kids who like some gross humor and fans of cats, naughty bad-tempered cats:) --Rachel
E/easy to read/Gantos
E/easy to read/Gantos
March 7, 2011
My four-year-old absolutely LOVES Rotten Ralph, all of a sudden. I'm not really sure why, as they aren't necessarily the best-written stories out there, but I suppose any book containing a cat drinking 'chunky chocolate milk' at least wins points on the gross-out level.
August 24, 2009
Mommy says: We love Rotten Ralph!
July 14, 2014
High points for the sheer disgustingness of Ralph's diet. No one's favorite Ralph book, though.
September 17, 2014
Jack Gantos strikes again with another awesome book!
April 26, 2016
I thought this book would be good to use with younger children to help them understand the importance of eating healthy. It would be good for health or physical education classes.
June 25, 2012
Rotten ralph is a little stinker! I love him!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews