Rachel Parker, Kindergarten Show-Off

by Ann M. Martin, Nancy Poydar (Illustrator)

Five-year-old Olivia's new neighbor Rachel is in her kindergarten class, and they must overcome feelings of jealousy and competitiveness to be friends

Genres: Picture Books, Friendship, Childrens, School, Kids

38 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1992

About the author

Ann Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.

Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.

Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.

Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.

After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...

Reviews

[Kortney Biggs]

This story is about a little girl, Olivia, who has a new neighbor moving in next door that is the same age, Rachel Parker. Rachel is the new student in Olivia's class. Olivia starts off being friends with Rachel, but quickly becomes jealous when she notices the things that Rachel has, but she does not. This is a story about how easily young girls can become jealous of one another.

If I were to use this book in my classroom, I would use it as an example to show that each individual is different. I liked that it demonstrates hat children can have differences, yet are still able to work together with one another and become friends.

[Caroline Petty]

This book very accurately describes how children interact with each other both at school and home. Because it relates to children so well, they will find it both amusing and engaging. It is a story that teaches that it is normal to feel jealous of someone or have negative feelings toward someone, but that we must also become acquainted with them before we pass judgment. It is a lesson in learning to appreciate our peers for who they are, and that if we can see them for their positive traits, we may become lifelong friends.

[kb]

What do you do when you feel overshadowed by the new student? How do you deal with comparison and envy? How do you build a friendship that started on the wrong foot? Oh I luv children's lit—all the precious life lessons seem so subtle but when they hit, they hit to the core~ The illustrations in this book are so lovely, too.

[Cassidy Brooks]

I'm not going to lie. I am not a huge fan of this book. I feel that for it's audience (Kindergarten) this book is not a great book for them. It's got a good plot, but the fact that it is such a long book and there are so many words, it could easily be reformatted as a beginners chapter book.

[kim]

too long

[Andrea Sherrell]

I loved this book!!! I like the pictures and the conversation between the characters.

It made being in kindergarten a simple time. I love the clothing the children were wearing.

[Joseph Sings]

Very well-written and fun to read; it feels like it's narrated by a real child. And the illustrations are quite nice, too

[Heather]

This book was a great learning book. I used this last year when I taught Kindergarten. I really loved reading it again. It was great to give examples of a little girl being a copy cat and also a show off. In Kindergarten it is hard to relate to characters, so I am not sure if many of them could relate their behaviors to Rachel Parker. It was good to be able to reference this book when we did have show off behaviors that came up and really focus on not bragging:) This book had a great moral and I really liked that it was great for the Kindergarten age.

[Dani]

This book has a lot of dialogue in it. Many students have a hard time figuring out how to incorporate dialogue into their story. I think this would be a great book to read with the students when teaching them about dialogue. I love that is uses many different words for the word "said." This is was always difficult for me when writing something with dialogue. I could never think of other words for "said."

[Molly Toomey]

Olivia is in kindergarten. When Rachel Parker moves in next door, Olivia realizes that maybe she's not as great in kindergarten as she thought. She competes with Rachel in all aspects, from the pets they have, the clothes they wear, the books they can read, etc. She soon comes to realize, however, that working along with Rachel on tasks helps them both become better at what they're doing. A great book to share in kindergarten to have kids understand the struggles that they may be feeling.

[Dolly]

An all too painfully true story about rivalries, jealousy and competition among school-age friends. This is a good book to read to young school children, discussing the ways that some of the anger, tears and frustration could've been avoided. Our girls enjoyed this story, although I hope they didn't learn the one-upmanship the book displayed so vividly.

[Sandra Vicars]

Cute story depicting the interactions of 2 precocious children who compete for attention, trying to outdo each other. Jealousy rears its ugly head and a fight ensues. The story can be used to help children understand conflict.

[Matthew]

This is a good book for teaching mutual respect between two students. It's not a terribly long book, and it's a little bit funny at the same time that it's showing how the two girls learn to get along.

[Kaylynn Johnsen]

This is a great book for kindergartners. I loved it. The classes I read it to loved it. My kids loved it. Fabulous.

[Kim Foy]

This is a hilarious book of friendship. Rachel Parker moves into the neighborhood and is in class with Olivia. At first, they do not like each other at all, but before long they become great friends.

[Hayli Wrigley]

Kids can relate to this book so easily. It is easy for them to get caught up in an unspoken competition and get in fights over it. This book would be a great tool for them to get a good moral.