The Little Red Pen

I rounded up to 3 stars on this one because of the cool illustrations, and the fact that I have a "thing" for office supplies, especially pens. (I've been known to linger in the "pen" aisle longer than normal, whatever "normal" is. But red marks have a bad repution on school papers, and I had a hard time reconciling that as I read this book, targeted for children.

I've been dying to get my hands on this book ever since I saw it during a spring preview webinar! It was worth the wait.

You know the story of the industrious Little Red Hen, you know, the one who planted the seeds, raised the wheat, milled the flour, and baked the bread without any help from her lazy friends? Well, look out, 'cause here comes the desk set version - the Little Red Pen with her similarly unhelpful friends, Eraser, Pencil, Highlighter, Scissors, Stapler and Señorita Chincheta (don't you dare call her Pushpin!) - and they've got papers to grade! But unlike the traditional story, this Little Red Pen can't do it all on her own. She's collapsed from exhaustion and fallen into "The Pit of No Return!" (aka "The Trash")

With show more puns

"I have another bright idea," said Highlighter.

"What? Me, a bridge?" Ruler snapped. "I'm not budging an inch.”

jokes,

"She's pushing!” "Well, I'm a pushpin!"

and hilarious artwork, The Little Red Pen makes a point and gets an A+ in the grade book!

er.

Highly recommended!
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OH!!! I LOVE THIS BOOK! ANOTHER SISTER-SUCCESS!

The Little Red Pen grades papers. The piles on the desk are huge…overwhelming (in my teacher’s mind!). She calls to Stapler, Scissors, Pencil Eraser, Pushpin, and Highlighter for their help in grading all of these papers, but they take cover in the nearby drawer. The Little Red Pen tells them that if these papers are not graded, “the students won’t learn.” … “The sky might fall.” … “It might be the end of the world.” and more in between!! Excuses abound. “The Little Red Hen” tale is brought back to us on top of a desk instead of in the country making bread. “Not I, said the ….” all over again!

Tank, the lazy, overweight hamster, sleeping away, should be show more helping instead, or so thinks this excuse-laden cast.

With no help, the Little Red Pen goes off alone to grade the papers. As the night wears on, she tires more and more, loses her balance, and falls into “The Pit of No Return,” the wastepaper basket.

The rescue ensues and the papers get graded, but not without much tongue-in-cheek humor and the best,most delightful artwork.

This is a fun book: colorful, bold, silly. A great read-aloud! These wonderful sisters have given us another story which will bring smiles to your faces from each and every page.

Age Range: 6 – 9 Years

Grade Level: 1st – 4th

Authors

Susan Stevens Crummel was a math teacher for 31 years! As part of a Navy family, she lived all over the world. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree (major in Mathematics; minor in Physics) and Master’s Degree (Education) from Texas Christian University. She lives in Texas today.

Her husband, Richard, retired from education after 42 years (high school band director, principal, and superintendent). They have three grown children. You can find her @ http://www.susanscrummel.com

Janet Stevens co-authored this book. (See below for her biography.)

Illustrator

Janet Stevens began drawing as a child. Janet’s father was a Navy pilot, so moving and changing schools often was just their way of life.

Janet graduated from the University of Colorado in 1975 with a degree in Fine Arts. In 1977, she attended “The Illustrator’s Workshop” in New York City, where it was suggested that her characters might find a home in a children’s book. She pursued that avenue and we are blessed to find her wonderful art in libraries and home bookshelves near you! Janet is the author and illustrator of many original stories, plus, frequently, collaborating with her sister, Susan Stevens Crummel.

Janet has received numerous book awards, including a Caldecott Honor Award, Time Magazine’s Ten Best Children’s Books, the Wanda Gág Best Read-Aloud Book, Child Magazine’s Best Books of the Year. Her books have been named ALA Notables, have repeatedly appeared on the New York Times Best Seller List, won many state awards, as well as the prestigious Texas Bluebonnet Award twice. You can find more @ http://janetstevens.com show less

After the children leave, how do the school supplies spend their time? Grading papers of course! Red Pen has an enormous pile to work through, but when she asks the other supplies for help they claim they have no talent for it. But when she falls in the dreaded "pit," each tool realizes that they can use their unique skills to help "save the world." Fun wordplay throughout.

I had mixed feelings about this story. First, I really enjoyed the font manipulations. It allowed me to easily understand who was talking and their personality. I also enjoyed the spontaneous rhyme included in the story. For example, the author writes, "The was might tumble, the floors might crumble..."
Also, the author includes some interesting onomatopoeia like "r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-o-l-l-l-l-l-ll-l-l-l-l onto the floor....." It was nice to read such a story that contained so much expression.

However, I did not care for the actual plot of the story. I was confused why the office supplies needed to grade the papers. Where was the human? And also, what was with the hamster? It all seemed very random and disjointed.

Ultimately, I did enjoy show more the art style. The illustrator used water colors with cartoonist style characters. show less

Summary from Goodreads:

Poor Little Red Pen! She can't possibly correct a mountain of homework all by herself. Who will help her? "Not I!" says Stapler. "Not I!" says Eraser. "¡Yo no!" says Pushpin, AKA Señorita Chincheta. But when the Little Red Pen tumbles in exhaustion into the Pit of No Return (the trash!), her fellow school supplies must get themselves out of the desk drawer and work together to rescue her. Trouble is, their plan depends on Tank, the rotund class hamster, who's not inclined to cooperate. Will the Little Red Pen be lost forever?

Susan Stevens is one of my all time favorite children's author/illustrators. I always anxiously await her next book. This is a delightful new take on the tale of the Little Red Hen with show more beautiful illustrations. Adults will enjoy the humor, but I'm not sure elementary readers will get it.

What I liked about the book: I loved the illustrations. Stevens has done an excellent job giving life and animation to all the office supplies. I liked that there is a moral to the story - working together can get things accomplished. I also loved the humor. It is an excellent gift for educators.

What I didn't like: As I said, I'm not sure young readers will get the humor. But to be fair, even though I spend a great deal of time will elementary students, I am from time to time surprised by what they find funny. I will withold final judgment until I have a chance to share this with my students. I do recommend that you share the original story of the Little Red Hen with young readers before sharing this story.

Recommended for: Amazon lists the reading level at ages 4-8. I would certainly recommend it for adults, but I'll have to test it out with my students before I'm comfortable making a recommendation for students.

Mrs. Archer's rating: 3 of 5 (based on illustrations alone, I would have given it a 5. Janet Stevens is an incredibly talented artist.) show less

My favorite thing about this book are the illustrations! The way that the text is intertwined within the story is so cool. The text itself is fun to read with playful language. I think this would be a perfect read aloud book because the drawings are fun and involved with the playful text.