Picture Book

“Chrysanthemum” is one of my favorite books (as far as children’s picture books go). It was an ALA notable book in 1991, and made the Horn Book Fanfare List.

In “Chrysanthemum” a perfect little mouse baby is born, and her parents find the perfect name for her, Chrysanthemum. Chrysanthemum thinks her name is perfect, until she goes to school and is teased by the other girls in her class (who have much more mundane names). Chrysanthemum is crushed and goes home to be comforted by her parents. She is teased every day at school until her music teacher, Delphinium Twinkle tells the children her first name. After that, Chrysanthemum knows her name is perfect.

What I love most about “Chrysanthemum” is the pictures. The story line is sweet, and helps children learn that differences aren’t bad – but the pictures turn this story into a stellar picture book. Henkes uses repetition to draw children into the story, and I enjoy that he uses some more advanced words in places – children can infer the meanings from the story and expand their vocabulary. Words like winsome and jaundiced are rarely seen at all these days, never mind in a children’s book. One interesting little tidbit, Henkes does his own illustrations and ‘hides’ pictures in each of his books. Children can have a blast searching for Chrysanthemum’s seven lost pencils.

Chrysanthemum grows up believing that her name is just absolutely perfect! Until one dreadful day, when Chrysanthemum begins kindergarden. The other children tease her because her name is so unsual and long! Chrysanthemum begins to hate her name and going to school everyday. Kevin Henkes makes the reader feel Chrysanthemum's pain as she is teased daily for her name. This is the perfect story for children about excepting those that different from others.

Chrysanthemum loves her name-until she starts school. The kids make fun of her. She doesn't know what to do. She enlists the help of her teacher, and in the end, everything turns out just fine.

Book level 3. This story begins with the birth of Chrysanthemum. When she is born her parents think she is perfect and decide to give her a perfect name, Chrysanthemum. It seems her father likes to use “big words’ throughout the book and perhaps that is why he felt it was the perfect name for his new little girl. The little mouse loves the way her name sounds when her mom wakes her up. She also likes the way it looks when she writes it and when it is on an envelope. When Chrysanthemum is old enough she goes to school and is confronted with a lot of new feelings about her name. She is the only student with a long name and one that is named after a flower so she get a lot of teasing every day. She becomes sad and doesn’t want to go to school anymore because of how the children are treating her. Then her teacher saves the day and tells the students she likes her name and that her own name was also a flower. Then all the students love Chrysanthemum’s name and wish their own names were taken from the names of flowers. After reading the book Chrysanthemum I want you to give many, varied single words to describe someone’s/something’s feelings to complete the following sentence. I feel __________ when________________ because_____________________. Using as many different feelings as you can think of. Create a picture below each blank that shows your feeling, the event that caused the feeling and why it made you feel that way. Put the pages together and make your very own feelings book. ( )

This is one of my favorite books that I read! I thought it was so cute, and had a great message to children! ( )

Chrysanthemum grows up believing that her name is just absolutely perfect! Until one dreadful day, when Chrysanthemum begins kindergarden. The other children tease her because her name is so unsual and long! Chrysanthemum begins to hate her name and going to school everyday. Kevin Henkes makes the reader feel Chrysanthemum's pain as she is teased daily for her name. The reading level for this book is 3.3. This is the perfect story for children about excepting those that different from others. For more about this author, parents and teachers should visit www.kevinhenkes.com.

I absolutely loved this book. What a great book about a little girl who has trouble with her extremely long name. It's such a cute book that I think many kids would enjoy that are having trouble in school. This is so sweet since at the very end the teacher tells the main character how much she loves her name and how she loves how it is so different. This is a great book and I know that I will own a copy of this book in my classroom library.
www.kevinhenkes.com

Dr. Mundy read us the book, "Chrysanthemum." I would read this book to students kindergarten, first, or second grade. The book is about a little girl who goes to school and everyone makes fun of her name. Her name was Chrysanthemum, and the kids would tease her and tell her no one wanted to be named after a flower. This happened day after day until the teacher said that her name was after a flower too and that she loved Chrysanthemum's name. After this all the children decided they loved her name to and they would love to be name after a flower. I really think that this is a good book to read to students and to dicuss the different diversities in your classroom. Whether students are black, white, green, have blonde hair, or purple hair; they all deserve to be treated with respect. I think that this book would be a wonderful addition to any teachers library. ( )

This is a lovely story about a little girl mouse named Chrysanthemum. Her mother gave her the name because she thought it was a beautiful name, and Chrysanthemum did also until she started school. When the little girl mouse begins school, the children tease her about her name and Chrysanthemum begins to hate it also. They teases her because her name is the same as a flower and it is really long. She seems sad until a new teacher, Ms. Twinkle, tells the students that Chrysanthemum is a beautiful name and that she also has a long name. Ms. Twinkle is pregnant and tells the class she is going to name her daughter Chrysantheum. After this, all the children love it also and quit teasing Chrysantheum.

This story is great to teach acceptance and diversity in the classroom to K-3 graders. It would also be a great book to read on the first day of shcool. www.kevinhenkes.com ( )

Chrysanthemum is a very unique name. Chrysanthemum is a little girl who use to love her name until she came to school. The children teased her and thought her name was too long. Mrs. Twinkle is her teacher and loves her name. Chrysanthemum then starts to love her name again and loves the fact that it is different. I thought this book would be perfect for the first day of school. I would only read it to kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade. This would be good for the students and the teacher since some names can be hard to pronounce at first. ( )

This is a great book for the first day of school. It deals with names and it is a great way to teach students that all students' names are different and unique. Even though names are different, students should accept them and not make fun because it hurts students feelings. This would be appropriate for the kindergarten - first grade reading levels. ( )

'Chrysanthemum' by Keven Henkes is a lovely story about a little girl mouse named Chrysanthemum. Her mother gave her the name because she thought it was a beautiful name, and Chrysanthemum did also until she started school. When the little girl mouse begins school, the children tease her about her name and Chrysanthemum begins to hate it also. She seems sad until a new teacher, Ms. Twinkle, tells the students that Chrysanthemum is a beautiful name and all the children love it also. This story is great to teach acceptance and diversity in the classroom to K-3 graders.

“Chrysanthemum” written by Kevin Henkes is wonderful children’s story about a young mouse. When this young mouse was born, her parents said she was perfect and deserved the best name; her parents named her Chrysanthemum and though it was the perfect name for her. Chrysanthemum loved her name and loved how her name looked written on a piece of paper or on birthday cake. Chrysanthemum was finally able to start school and she was really excited about starting the school year; before she went to school she was so proud of her name, but after the teacher called roll, everyone made fun of her name and this made Chrysanthemum very sad and started to hate her name. One day, the students were introduced to the music teacher Mrs. Twinkle, who told everyone that Chrysanthemum had the most beautiful name and that she was name after a flower, Delphinium. Chrysanthemum’s spirits raised and she loved her name forever. This is a great story to read to Kindergarten to Fourth grade students because it has a good message.

This is a good book to read aloud to younger students. They can appreciate the context of the story and relate to the happenings of home life and school life. It is also a good way to counter unacceptable behavior like making fun of others. It also helps to show children that they can be proud of who they are.

This is great book to read if a child is getting picked on in the classroom. It shows that no matter what your name is everyone should be treated with respect. The pictures are very nice and would be a great addition to a read aloud you could for your class.

This is a very cute book and I would read it to my First grade class. It teaches that everyone should be accepted for who they are and that bullying is not a nice thing to do. Everyone should be confident in themselves, and their names and this book really shows you that this is true.

Chrysanthemum is a great story to share concerning those first day of school jitters. Chrysanthemum has always been proud of her name, until she came to school. She was teased about her name a lot and she wanted to change her name. Her music teacher finally spoke up and made it all better by simply assuring all the children that her name is very unique and beautiful. Also that she, the teacher, has a name similar to it. It's a great discussion opener for discussing unique characteristics or traits.
http://www.kevinhenkes.com/default.as... ****This is a good website with information about all of Kevin Henkes's books and links to other resources and activities. ( )

Genre: Modern Fantasy
Age: Primary
Art: Pen and ink

This is a great story and has is very realistic in manner but because the characters are mouses I chose modern fantasy. The animals in the story are just like humans and they attend school and have conversations. ( )

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes is a delightful tail of a little mouse with a very long name. On the first few days of school it can be hard to have such an unusual name like Chrysanthemum. We learn in this book that every one's name is unique and special in different ways no matter how long or short or different.

Chrysanthemum loves her name until she goes to school and the other kids tease her about it. Her parents tell her that her name is perfect, but she can not decide to believe her parents or her classmates until the music teacher comes to Chrysanthemum's classroom. She tells Chrysanthemum that she loves her name, and in fact is named Delphynium. Chrysanthemum now is sure that her name is perfect. A good website for this book is: http://www.kevinhenkes.com/mouse/02.a...

I thought that this was a great book because a lot of kids get made fun of when they start school for various reasons. This book showed how Chrysanthemum dealt with the other kids teasing her and it shows children that she was okay in the end.

Chrysanthemum is a story about a little girl who grows up loving her perfect name. Her parents love her and tell her how special she is and how wonderful her name is every day. However, when she begins school things start to change. The other children begin to tease her, saying her name is too long and is a flower. She begins hating her name and wishes it were normal and short like everyone else's. Finally, the children meet a teacher that is so fun and that they love to spend time with. They find out that the teacher is named after a flower too! Then, they all wish they were named after flowers also. Chrysanthemum finally relizes that her name really is special and the children learn to get along.
This book would be perfect to read on a first day of school to K-2 graders or when a student may seem out of place or is new. The children will love helping with the repetition and will learn a few good values along the way. ( )

Chrysanthemum is an adorable little book. It is a story about a mouse whose parents names her the most perfect name in the world, Chrysanthemum. They teach her that she is perfect because her name is perfect. Chrysanthemum loves thinks her name is beautiful but her classmates at her new school thinks it is ridicules. Chrysanthemum begins to feel terrible, and her teacher steps in to save the day. This is a wonderful book for children because just like Chrysanthemum, struggle with peer pressure. They will learn to believe in themselves. I would recommend this book for grades kindergarten to fifth grade simply because it conveys such a strong message about being fair and not bullying others. I do not want to spoil the book for you so you will have to find at and see for yourself what a awesome book Chrysanthemum is. ( )

Chrysanthemum is named after a flower and loved her name growing up because her parents always told her it was perfect. After the first day of school, all of the students in her class make fun of her name and she is embarrassed. She is chosen to be the daisy in the class musical and finds out that her music teacher, Ms. Twinkle, is also named after a flower and thinks that Chrysanthemum is an absolutely perfect name. Once the students hear that, they stop making fun of her name. This is a great book to read with primary grade students and share to a class if some students have strange names. ( )

Chrysanthemum has a very unique name and was always told it was perfect for her by her parents. When she starts going to school, the children start making fun of her name and how long it is. It wasn't until one day her teacher told the class her unique name as well. Chrysanthemum then realizes her name is perfect just for her!