Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare

Following up on My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother, which detailed her tumultuous childhood relationship with her brother Richie, Polacco once again mines the rich vein of sibling rivalry in this autobiographical picture-book, producing a humorous and heartwarming tale that any young reader with a brother or sister will recognize. Outraged at his dismissive comments about her ballet studio, and convinced that dance requires far more effort than his own preferred activity of ice hockey, Trisha dares her brother to join her class, and participate in their upcoming recital. She is unprepared, however, for his counter-dare: that she join his hockey team...

With its amusing girl vs. boy, brother vs. sister narrative, and Polacco's trademark show more artwork, with its vibrant colors and exuberant feeling of motion and fun, Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare is an engaging family story for young readers. I appreciated the back-and-forth between Trisha and Richie, as well as their eventual discovery that both ballet and ice hockey require skill, and a lot of hard work. I don't know that this is a particular favorite, when it comes to the author/artist's many books, but it is definitely worth picking up - particularly for kids with annoying siblings! show less

This book was so funny. The fact that it based off of Patricia Polacco’s real life dare with her older brother makes it even more humorous. Richie, Patricia’s older brother, was the typical older sibling. He would always play pranks on her and embarrass her. Patricia took dancing and Richie played hockey. This was their time without having to have each other around. Patricia, excited about her upcoming performance, begins dancing around to show her mother. Richie, the typical sibling, insists her can do that with his eyes closed. After arguing back and forth, Richie continued to tease Patricia. At school the next day, Trisha overheard her brother talking about her to his hockey friends. Fed up, Trisha storms over to Richie and makes show more a bet with him. In front of Richie’s friends, Trisha dares him to come to her ballet school and be in the recital. She not only dares him, but she triple dog dares him with skin-do’s and two-ups. Richie accepts, under one condition, Patricia must practice with the hockey team and play in one game. Patricia agrees, the deals are sealed. Patricia plays in the game and Richie dances in the recital. They both realized that the sport the other one is doing is harder than they thought. Riche calls a truce, “Truce, then, Slapshot,” “Okay, Dance King…truce” Patricia responds. When reading this book, by one of my favorite authors, it reminded me of the relationship I had with my little brother growing up. Instead of him playing sports he played chess. I would always dare him to come play during softball practice so that he could maybe one day play baseball. He would always come play softball with my team. Since he would play ball with me, whenever he asked to play chess I would agree even though we both knew he was going to beat me. This is a great book that gives insight on how it can be to have a sibling. You have a love, hate relationship. show less

This is a true story of sibling rivalry. Haven’t we all felt competitive about a sister or brother in our childish wish to be better than someone? In her wonderful, humorous story-telling style, Trisha tells of how the dare began between brother and sister. Richie was the BLACK HOLE in Trisha’s universe. He was always rotten to her, teasing constantly. One evening at dinner, an argument led to the whole episode. He thought ballet was so easy he could do it with his eyes closed and she thought hockey was for little kids. Mom thought they should both just be happy doing their separate special sports, but they couldn’t let it rest. Learning of Trisha’s upcoming dance duet with a boy, Richie got as much mileage out of that fact as a show more teasing brother could. Trisha started to grow irritated after hours of receiving his jibes. She and her girlfriend came up with a dare. In front of all his friends, Trisha dared Richie to be in the ballet recital. Being watched, he had to accept the challenge, but countered with one condition – that she must play in a hockey game on his team!

As the story unfolds, we see both of them practicing for the upcoming challenges. The first big day arrives: HOCKEY game day. The amusing exploits of Trisha on skates include defending her brother when the other team trips him and finding the penalty box to be her favorite seat. Will she end up smashed like a bug? Find out how she earns the nickname, “Slapshot.”

The next big day arrives: BALLET recital day. Richie objects to the costume and turns bright red with embarrassment as he sees the audience. Will he take the whole thing seriously? Will the instructor let him back on stage after his many mishaps in the first number? How does he earn the nickname, “Dance King”?

To really appreciate this story, it should be read aloud with expression. This will cause both reader and hearer to chuckle continuously over the words and drawings of sister and brother. show less

Along with all of Polacco's other books, I loved it. It shows the true relationship between siblings. Siblings have a bond unlike any other. They argue so much but still love each other. They are always there for each other. Richie realizes that ballet is harder than it seems and Patricia is proud of Richie when he does a good job in the recital. Patricia realizes that hockey is harder than it seems and Richie is proud of her when she wins the game for the team. It all started with a dare and then they became closer as siblings. This book is adorable and it kind of reminds me of my sister and I. We used to argue so much and now we are so much closer. No matter how much we argue though we are always there for each other and always have show more each others back. show less

In this book Richie and Patricia are siblings who think down on each other's hobbies. Patricia dares Richie to do ballet. Richie agrees as long as she plays in his hockey game.After realizing each sibling's hobby is not as easy as it looks, both characters have a closer relationship.
This book is funny and very descriptive when it talks about the sibling doing the other sibling's hobby. It would be great to read to a class and discuss that everything is not as simple as it looks. It also shows to be respectful to someone who might do different things.

Ritten Richie and the Ultimate Dare was a humorous book that related to the authors life growing up. Two reasons why I liked this book was the writing and the characters. The writing was humorous and you could picture what the each of the siblings thought about their other sibling. For example, they felt each other was "the wart on my cookie" or "the spider to my cereal." On the other hand the character made this book enjoyable because they were both so different. They both had different hobbies and although they were different they had similarities and that was the main message in this book.

The very silly, true story of the author and her brother challenging each other to participate in the other one’s sport. Anyone with a sibling or a sense of humor will enjoy this story, that has, of course a touching ending.