Practice Makes Perfect for Rotten Ralph: A Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader

Rotten Ralph

by Jack Gantos, Nicole Rubel (Illustrator)

It's carnival time for Ralph, Sarah, and Percy, Ralph's cousin! Ralph is ready to play games and win prizes. But perfect Percy has been practicing. He keeps beating Ralph and wooing Sarah with his winnings. Fed up with losing, Ralph decides to cheat his way to victory . . . until Sarah puts a stop to it. School Library Journal hails Rotten Ralph Helps Out , the first Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader, as a "wise choice for youngsters making the transition from picture books to chapter books." In this feisty new adventure, the world's favorite come-back cat shows Percy and Sarah that all his practice at losing can make him a winner in the end.

Genres: Cats, Picture Books, Fiction, Childrens

48 pages, Hardcover

First published March 20, 2002

About the author

Jack 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

Reviews

[Kaethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ralph and his perfect cousin, Percy, compete at the fair to win prizes for Sarah. Sarah graciously accepts presents.

Not my favorite.

[Elly Sun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vera says I love this book the best because it was super funny when Rotten Ralph threw the darts onto the clown’s nose and a soda cup. I like it because the orange cat rang the bell on top at the test your strength booth.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

[Shannon Bradbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really fun series for elementary readers. We enjoyed reading about Ralph’s antics .

[Olivia]

Sarah is in an abusive relationship with Rotten Ralph.

[Erin Ramai · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume of the Rotten Ralph Rotten Readers was far too didactic and sweet in comparison to Gantos' other Rotten Ralph books. In this installment, Ralph is at the carnival with his cousin Percy. Before they leave for the fair, Percy practices his aim for the carnival games and dresses himself very prim and proper. Ralph, of course, does neither. Then, predictably, Percy wins prizes at each game and Ralph does not. Because he feels ashamed and fiercely competitive, Ralph decides he must win something for his owner, Sarah. In order to do this, he cheats. But when Sarah finds out, she is less than pleased and tells Ralph he must return everything. The dual messages of the book are painfully clear: "cheaters never prosper" and "practice makes perfect". The book left me feeling flat and disappointed. Gantos has done better work.

[Gretchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book at showing some more realistic reactions to lying. I feel like a lot of the other books have sugar coated their responses. This one actually gave pretty realistic possibilities of how people may react.

[Khris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely adore Rotten Ralph! He is the most rotten, but ultimately lovable, kitty around.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

My kids LOVE me to read these Rotten Ralph chapter books to them. Like, 24/7...... So, they would probably rate them a 5.....

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Percy is a neat cat. He does really well with the carnival games. This makes him cheat at the games. Ralph returns all of the prizes. Sarah is then proud of him for telling the truth.

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good one for kids who need to learn that cheating is wrong.

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Rotten Ralph. I love the unconditional love Sarah has for him. Even though he is rotten, she always says she loves him at the end.