Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink

Title: Roses are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink
Category: Picture Book
Grades: 5-7 years
Author: Diane De Groat
Illustrator: Diane De Groat

Publisher: Morrow Junior Books

Date: 1996

Summary:

Gilbert doesn't mind having to write valentines for most of his classmates, but two of them he definitely does not want to do.  Instead, Gilbert writes two mean poems to those classmates and signs the other's name to each one.  His ploy is soon discovered, and soon the whole class is ignoring Gilbert for the trick he pulled.  Gilbert finally decides to apologize and learns it's far better to be nice to others than to be nasty. 

Review:

Kindergarten readers will be able to sympathize with Gilbert's plight and will enjoy the realistic story presented in this book.  They are developmentally able to handle the number of characters in the story and will love the soft, detailed watercolors of Gilbert and his classmates, depicted anthropomorphically here.  The illustrations are large and eye-catching but suit the gentle theme of the story.