Overview
Rotten to the core!
When Sarah serves up a healthy, home-cooked meal chock-full of fruits and vegetables, Rotten Ralph turns up his nose and refuses to eat. With those overflowing, back-alley trash cans in mind, he has more exciting dinner plans on his menu. Garbage for dinner? Uh-oh! Rotten Ralph's bad eating habits are about to make him feel rotten for real.
In this latest installment in the popular Rotten Readers, Gantos and Rubel team up to capture their feline hero as he's feeling his worst and making us laugh at the same time.
Rotten Ralph comes to appreciate Sarah's healthy cat food after he gets sick from eating out of trash cans.
Synopsis
Rotten to the core!
When Sarah serves up a healthy, home-cooked meal chock-full of fruits and vegetables, Rotten Ralph turns up his nose and refuses to eat. With those overflowing, back-alley trash cans in mind, he has more exciting dinner plans on his menu. Garbage for dinner? Uh-oh! Rotten Ralph's bad eating habits are about to make him feel rotten for real.
In this latest installment in the popular Rotten Readers, Gantos and Rubel team up to capture their feline hero as he's feeling his worst and making us laugh at the same time.
Publishers Weekly
For kids anxious about a trip to the doctor, their favorite feline may offer some assistance, in Rotten Ralph Feels Rotten: A Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader by Jack Gantos, illus. by Nicole Rubel. After he feasts on a "green chicken wing," "furry fish" and a carton of "chunky chocolate milk" from a garbage can, Ralph needs to visit the vet. It isn't long before Ralph's rottenness is back in full swing. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
From the Publisher
"The Magic-Marker intensity of Rubel's palette and the undulating quality of her lines are ideal...Beginning readers will gobble up this third installment of the [series]; unlike Ralph, though, they'll have nothing to regret." — Starred, Booklist"If, as the saying goes, we are what we eat, then Rotten Ralph has an appropriate first name. He's also the perfect star for this cautionary tale about eating junk food. Four short chapters give beginning readers appropriate starting and stopping places, and the illustrations not only parallel the text but also help define a few delicious phrases."
— The Horn Book
"In this beginning reader, Ralph and Sarah are still going strong after almost 30 years together. Ralph's suffering and Sarah's concern are palpable in a series of vivid illustrations that depict his worsening condition, as is their pleasure in being reunited. A great addition to the series."
— School Library Journal
Publishers Weekly
For kids anxious about a trip to the doctor, their favorite feline may offer some assistance, in Rotten Ralph Feels Rotten: A Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader by Jack Gantos, illus. by Nicole Rubel. After he feasts on a "green chicken wing," "furry fish" and a carton of "chunky chocolate milk" from a garbage can, Ralph needs to visit the vet. It isn't long before Ralph's rottenness is back in full swing. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.Children's Literature
Rotten Ralph has returned for another hysterical adventure. This time, Rotten Ralph raids trashcans. He eats squishy squid and licks furry fish. The next morning, Rotten Ralph's breath smells worse than rotten. His stomach rumbles and roars. Sarah makes a pillow bed for Rotten Ralph in her red wagon. She takes him to the vet while Ralph clutches his spit-up bucket. At the vet, Ralph spits out the thermometer and kicks the vet off his stool. Then, Ralph takes medicine to make him throw up. That night, Ralph stays at the veterinarian's but he is homesick for Sarah and slips out of the vet hospital. Rotten Ralph sneaks back to the house just in time to eat a large banana split. Early readers will love another adventure with Rotten Ralph. 2004, Farrar Straus Giroux, Ages 5 to 7.—Mindy Hardwick
School Library Journal
K-Gr 3 -Rotten Ralph prefers to scavenge his food from the garbage cans in the alley rather than eat the healthy food Sarah gives him in this beginning reader (Farrar, Strauss, 2004) by Jack Gantos. The cat becomes ill from what he eats in the trash (furry fish, blue cheesecake, chunky chocolate milk, and more) and he ends up at the vet's office where he behaves terribly. Feeling forlorn and missing Sarah, Ralph heads home, skipping an opportunity to dine from the garbage cans. The colorful and vibrant illustrations by Nicole Rubel add to the humorous tale, and sound effects and music support the story's atmosphere. The author's narration, which can be listened to with our without page turn signals, sets an amusing tone and engages listeners. A fun addition to the series.-Denise A. Garofalo, Astor Learning Center, Rhinebeck, NY