Diane de Groat

It's that time of year when everyone in class is expected to create sweet Valentine's cards for their classmates. As Gilbert finds out, it sure is easy when you like someone, but what are you supposed to do when you don't? When Gilbert decides to use his Valentine's to get back at two students who wronged him in the past, things don't go quite as he planned. Check out this heartfelt picture book of friendship and forgiveness to read with your little one before the holiday.

The Bottom Line: show more This sweet tale is perfect for kids in grades K - 2. Students tempted to use their Valentine's to get back at someone might think twice after reading this picture book. Children and adults alike will appreciate the engaging illustrations in watercolor. Highly recommended for school and library story times. show less

Gilbert is excited to go as a martian for Halloween but apparently so is everyone else in his class. His classmates get ready for the Halloween parade and almost everyone decided to be martian. Gilbert is disappointed but as he looks in his bag he realizes he accidentally grabbed his sisters ballerina costume. He was too embarrassed to show his face at first but when they arrive at the party he twirls in front of everyone making it seem like he wanted to be something different. I feel this show more book touches on the stereotypical gender role, using a ballerina costume for sister and an alien for a boy. In the classroom you could read this during Halloween and talk to students about being what they want to be, not what they are told to be. show less

This book shows a great example of a student, Gilbert cannot think of anything until one day he comes up with a great idea and can build on it. I believe the book will help with students’ confidence to let them know it is okay to not know everything and may struggle but they are smart enough to create great ideas and with the help from other. This book is great to share with students when learning about our Earth. I would share this book with my students and do a similar lesson with them show more to help our environment. show less

I liked this book for many reasons. One thing that I liked about this story was the illustrations. The author used very bright colors and filled the entire page with the illustration. I thought that this really enhanced the story because I was able to picture jumping into the story and knowing what my surroundings would look like. I also like that the illustrations portray the characters emotions. For example, when Gilbert is pondering what he should do about writing nice poems to students show more who were mean to him, his facial expressions, particularly through his eyes and mouth, show that he is very upset and unsure of what to do. Another reason I liked this book was because of the plot. Although the characters are animals, the plot is extremely relatable. Many kids face the issue of bullying and I think that this story did a wonderful job of portraying how Gilbert dealt with the situation and what he learned. The plot was suspenseful when Gilbert wrote mean poems and signed another students name. This event kept the reader engaged and wanting to find out if he would get caught. The plot included sad events, such as the bullying, but ended happy with Gilbert resolving the issue. I like that the plot engages the reader by taking them through various emotions. I believe that the main message of this story is that people make mistakes, there are reasons for there actions, and that it is important to give second chances. show less