A Weekend with Wendell

Wendell spends the weekend with Sophie and her family while his parents are out of town. When Sophie and Wendell play games, Wendell is inconsiderate and makes all of the rules. Sophie asks her parents repeatedly when Wendell will be going home. It's not until Sophie finally stands up for herself that she and Wendell start to have fun playing together. This would be a good book to read in lower elementary classrooms because it speaks to the kinds of problems teachers see on the playground all of the time. It teaches children to stand up for themselves when they feel that they are being treated unfairly by their peers. That being said, I think this book would be a good starting point for classroom discussion about how Sophie stood up to show more Wendell. Are there better ways she could have communicated that she didn't like the way she was being treated? This book is about conflict, friendship, and standing up for oneself. I think it would be best used for opening up discussion in the classroom. show less

A bit predictable for us adult readers, but how many young children understand how to be a friend, how to stick up for yourself, how to negotiate the rules of the games? Well, more will after they share this book with their families. Maybe not Henkes' best, but a winner nonetheless, of course.

This is a funny book for children to hear read aloud and look at themselves. The illustrations by Kevin Henkes are whimsical as are the words. It is a great example of how characters change over time. The book is laugh out loud comical in the way that Wendell treats his friend Sophie as he spends the weekend at her house and how she gets him back. This would be a great book to discuss with children; how to stick up for yourself, what is appropriate or not appropriate in the story, how to handle people who are assertive.

Not my favorite "mouse" book. My nieces adore it, but the storyline seems a bit odd to me.

Wendell comes to visit, and he's a major brat. Okay. Sophie clearly knew this before he came over, why didn't her parents?

The resolution in the book seems a bit forced, that's what it is. Wendell is worse than a brat, he's a bully - he causes trouble and leaves notes saying that Sophie did it, he leaves a note of himself as a monster attacking Sophie before bed (so you can't say that he's just misunderstood or nervous, he's TRYING to scare her), he steals her food and breaks all the rules.

Sophie does deal with this in a sensible way (first trying to ignore him, and finally turning the tables on him and spraying him with water), but I don't see how show more this made her reluctant to have him leave. And in later books (Sheila Rae, the Brave) it's shown in the background that they become great friends. I think that's a bit much.

But my nieces love it. I think they just love seeing the bully get what he deserves and the victim become empowered. show less

This is a funny story about a little mouse named Wendell who stayed with another little mouse named Sohpie while his parents were out of town. Wendell and Sohpie did not get off to a good start. Wendell was very bossy and was continously picking on Sophie, who was more than ready for Wendell to go home. When they played house, Wendell made Sophie be the dog, and when they played bakery, he made her be the sweet roll. Then, one day Sophie turned things around completely. When they played fire figter, she made Wendell be the burning builiding. Eventually, Sopie and Wendell began getting along and having fun with one another. They both did not want him to have to go home.
I think this is a good book to read to children in Kindergarten, show more first grade, second grade, and third grade. I would read this book to students at any time because it has to do with playing fair and getting along with others, which is something I feel that students should be reminded of all the time. show less

I saw this book at my public library and I had to check it out. Kevin Henkes never fails to disappoint, and this book was just as enjoyable as the rest. A Weekend with Wendell is about a mouse named Wendell who spends the weekend at Sophie's house. Wendell was really mean and rude to Sophie. He melted her crayons, he played unfairly, and he was messy! Sophie realized that she wanted to play like Wendell one day, and Wendell realized how he had been treating Sophie. Together, they became friends, and Sophie could not wait to see Wendell again.
This story is essentially about how Wendell received a taste of his own medicine.

Sophie does not enjoy energetic assertive Wendell's weekend visit until the very end, when she learns to assert herself and finds out Wendell can be fun to play with after all.

Very cute. Sophie and Wendell mice. The pictures are very nice detailed colored pen drawings. Excellent book for the shyer student who might feel that the more boisterous students pass them by. It could be used to start a class discussion about ways to play/work with others, especially if you have students who take control and run over others. Fun enjoyable book to read to first grade or for second graders to read. All the Kevin Henkes books are loved at my school.