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Rotten Ralph
Back to School for Rotten Ralph
Afraid of being left alone, Rotten Ralph, the nasty red cat, follows Sarah to school and tries to prevent her from making new friends
40 pages, Library Binding
First published September 1, 1998
2 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
About the author
Jack Gantos
81 books551 followersJack Gantos is an American author of children's books renowned for his portrayal of fictional Joey Pigza, a boy with ADHD, and many other well known characters such as Rotten Ralph, Jack Henry, Jack Gantos (memoirs) and others. Gantos has won a number of awards, including the Newbery, the Newbery Honor, the Scott O'Dell Award, the Printz Honor, and the Sibert Honor from the American Library Association, and he has been a finalist for the National Book Award.
Gantos was born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania to son of construction superintendent John Gantos and banker Elizabeth (Weaver) Gantos. The seeds for Jack Gantos' writing career were planted in sixth grade, when he read his sister's diary and decided he could write better than she could. Born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, and raised in Barbados and South Florida, Mr. Gantos began collecting anecdotes in grade school and later gathered them into stories.
After his senior year in high school (where he lived in a welfare motel) he moved to a Caribbean island (St Croix) and began to train as a builder. He soon realized that construction was not his forté and started saving for college. While in St. Croix he met a drug smuggler and was offered a chance to make 10 000 dollars by sailing to New York with 2,000 pounds of hash. With an English eccentric captain on board they set off to the big city. Once there they hung out at the Chelsea hotel and Gantos carried on dreaming about college. Then, in Jacks own words, "The **** hit the fan" and the F.B.I. burst in on him. He managed to escape and hid out in the very same welfare motel he was living during high school. However, he saw sense and turned himself in. He was sentenced to six years in prison, which he describes in his novel -HOLE IN MY LIFE-. However, after a year and a half in prison he applied to college, was accepted. He was released from prison, entered college, and soon began his writing career.
He received his BFA and his MA both from Emerson College. While in college, Jack began working on picture books with an illustrator friend. In 1976, they published their first book, Rotten Ralph. Mr. Gantos continued writing children's books and began teaching courses in children's book writing. He developed the master's degree program in children's book writing at Emerson College in Boston. In 1995 he resigned his tenured position in order to further his writing career (which turned out to be a great decision).
He married art dealer Anne A. Lower on November 11, 1989. The couple has one child, Mabel, and they live in Boston, Massachusetts.
www.jackgantos.com
Gantos was born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania to son of construction superintendent John Gantos and banker Elizabeth (Weaver) Gantos. The seeds for Jack Gantos' writing career were planted in sixth grade, when he read his sister's diary and decided he could write better than she could. Born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, and raised in Barbados and South Florida, Mr. Gantos began collecting anecdotes in grade school and later gathered them into stories.
After his senior year in high school (where he lived in a welfare motel) he moved to a Caribbean island (St Croix) and began to train as a builder. He soon realized that construction was not his forté and started saving for college. While in St. Croix he met a drug smuggler and was offered a chance to make 10 000 dollars by sailing to New York with 2,000 pounds of hash. With an English eccentric captain on board they set off to the big city. Once there they hung out at the Chelsea hotel and Gantos carried on dreaming about college. Then, in Jacks own words, "The **** hit the fan" and the F.B.I. burst in on him. He managed to escape and hid out in the very same welfare motel he was living during high school. However, he saw sense and turned himself in. He was sentenced to six years in prison, which he describes in his novel -HOLE IN MY LIFE-. However, after a year and a half in prison he applied to college, was accepted. He was released from prison, entered college, and soon began his writing career.
He received his BFA and his MA both from Emerson College. While in college, Jack began working on picture books with an illustrator friend. In 1976, they published their first book, Rotten Ralph. Mr. Gantos continued writing children's books and began teaching courses in children's book writing. He developed the master's degree program in children's book writing at Emerson College in Boston. In 1995 he resigned his tenured position in order to further his writing career (which turned out to be a great decision).
He married art dealer Anne A. Lower on November 11, 1989. The couple has one child, Mabel, and they live in Boston, Massachusetts.
www.jackgantos.com
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 11, 2010
This text is published by HarperCollins Publishers. All of the previous Rotten Ralph books were published by Houghton Mifflin. Although from my ratings you can tell I enjoyed some of the texts published by Houghton Mifflin, the HarperCollins book is superior. Unlike the Houghton Mifflin texts, this book has endpapers which show Ralph swinging upside down, being buried by Sarah at the beach, stealing a scoop of ice cream off of Sarah's sugar cone, hula dancing, hitting Sarah in the forehead with a suction cup dart, ripping the petals off of flowers, tying Sarah's shoelaces in knots and more. The pages have a gloss rather than a matte finish, which makes Rubel's already vibrant colors shine. Lastly, the size of the text is larger in this book, which I feel is friendlier to readers in the early primary grades--the Rotten Ralph books' intended audience.
*Spoiler Alert* In this latest edition to the Rotten Ralph books, Sarah is returning to school after summer break. She is excited to make new friends, but Ralph wants to be Sarah's only friend. To keep her from going to school, Ralph steals her book bag, breaks her pencil points, and turns back the hands on her alarm clock. Sarah is already late, so Ralph pretends to be helpful by giving her soap to wash her face, but it's trick soap and Sarah's face turns orange. Next, he draws his face all over the front of her new dress. Then he feigns sickness by squirting whipped cream around his mouth and painting purple spots on his fur, moaning and groaning. But Sarah is not fooled and leaves for school. Ralph decides that he can be Sarah's school friend. He dresses in some of Sarah's clothes and packs himself a lunch.
Once he arrives at school, Ralph ties Sarah's shoelaces in knots to keep her from going out for recess--a place she is sure to make friends. Sarah spends the entire time trying to untie the tangled mess. Then at the library Ralph keeps stealing the books Sarah wants to read off the shelves. When she yells at Ralph, the librarian makes her sit by herself. At lunch, Sarah sits next to a friendly-looking girl and asks if she wants to share lunches, but when Sarah pulls her lunch out, it's rotten fish. The girl runs away holding her nose. During a drink break Ralph pushes Sarah from behind, which creates a domino effect making all the kids fall down. Sarah, of course, is blamed. Sarah's teacher suggests that she's trying too hard to make friends; she needs to relax and let friends come to her. In music class each student takes a turn singing. When it's Sarah's turn, Ralph opens his mouth to sing and lets out a "MEOOOW!" Finally, Sarah realizes why she has had such bad luck all day. Everyone is excited to have a cat in class and Sarah makes a bunch of friends. When they go home Ralph is worried that because Sarah has made new friends, she won't be friends with him anymore, but in the end, Sarah reassures him that he'll always be at the top of her list.
*Spoiler Alert* In this latest edition to the Rotten Ralph books, Sarah is returning to school after summer break. She is excited to make new friends, but Ralph wants to be Sarah's only friend. To keep her from going to school, Ralph steals her book bag, breaks her pencil points, and turns back the hands on her alarm clock. Sarah is already late, so Ralph pretends to be helpful by giving her soap to wash her face, but it's trick soap and Sarah's face turns orange. Next, he draws his face all over the front of her new dress. Then he feigns sickness by squirting whipped cream around his mouth and painting purple spots on his fur, moaning and groaning. But Sarah is not fooled and leaves for school. Ralph decides that he can be Sarah's school friend. He dresses in some of Sarah's clothes and packs himself a lunch.
Once he arrives at school, Ralph ties Sarah's shoelaces in knots to keep her from going out for recess--a place she is sure to make friends. Sarah spends the entire time trying to untie the tangled mess. Then at the library Ralph keeps stealing the books Sarah wants to read off the shelves. When she yells at Ralph, the librarian makes her sit by herself. At lunch, Sarah sits next to a friendly-looking girl and asks if she wants to share lunches, but when Sarah pulls her lunch out, it's rotten fish. The girl runs away holding her nose. During a drink break Ralph pushes Sarah from behind, which creates a domino effect making all the kids fall down. Sarah, of course, is blamed. Sarah's teacher suggests that she's trying too hard to make friends; she needs to relax and let friends come to her. In music class each student takes a turn singing. When it's Sarah's turn, Ralph opens his mouth to sing and lets out a "MEOOOW!" Finally, Sarah realizes why she has had such bad luck all day. Everyone is excited to have a cat in class and Sarah makes a bunch of friends. When they go home Ralph is worried that because Sarah has made new friends, she won't be friends with him anymore, but in the end, Sarah reassures him that he'll always be at the top of her list.
October 16, 2015
Holy shit is Ralph an asshole. This is basically a book about an abusive relationship. No matter how many rotten things Ralph does, including destroying her clothes and stalking her at school, this little girl always takes him back. She has no agency in this relationship. I'm not sure what message kids are walking away with besides, "It's cool if my friends are terrible to me."
January 17, 2015
I love that Rotten Ralph is such an unapologetic dick.
August 22, 2019
Books like Back to School for Rotten Ralph are the reason I never buy a book for my grands unless I've read it first.
I hated this book and would never consider buying it for my grandchildren. The title character is a vicious and an abusive bully. The ending does not make up for the ugliness of this horrible book that is wholly inappropriate for ages 4 and up that is suggested on Amazon.
NEGATIVE stars, if is was possible but we'll have to settle for <1
I hated this book and would never consider buying it for my grandchildren. The title character is a vicious and an abusive bully. The ending does not make up for the ugliness of this horrible book that is wholly inappropriate for ages 4 and up that is suggested on Amazon.
NEGATIVE stars, if is was possible but we'll have to settle for <1
July 31, 2018
Ralph (a rotten cat) doesn’t want Sarah to go back to school because he’s afraid she’ll make New friends and will forget about him. So, he follows her to school and sabotages her first day.
September 25, 2023
More adventures of Ralph and how he wrecks the lives of people around him. A great read for kids to learn about consequences for actions.
August 29, 2013
Sarah’s first day of school is today and her cat, Rotten Ralph, is trying to ruin her day. When Rotten ralph found out it was Sarah’s first day of school he didn’t want her to leave because he feels that she will make new friends and forget all about him. Rotten Ralph does so many different things to stop Sarah from going to school, but she ends up going anyway. So, Rotten Ralph comes up with the idea of dressing in Sarah’s clothes and pretending he is a student at her school. When Rotten Ralph gets to the school, he ruins her day even more. Later that day, Sarah and her classmates realizes that Rotten Ralph was the one behind all of the terrible things going wrong. They all meet Rotten Ralph and think he is so cool and they become friends with him as well. This “first day” of school is actually a little different than other “first day” of school books. Sarah wasn’t the one who was afraid of going to school, it was her pet. Many children may have younger siblings who do not want their older siblings to attend school, especially if it’s their first year not at the same school. When I was going to the 6th grade and my sister was going to 5th she was devastated that I wasn’t going to be at the same school as her, but in the end it wasn’t that bad.
August 30, 2013
This story was taken place at Sarah’s home and school. It was about Sarah and her cat, Rotten Ralph. Ralph did not want Sarah to go to school because he was afraid that she would meet new friends. So, he did a lot of things to prevent Sarah from going to school but she went anyway. Ralph followed her to school and did everything to prevent her from interacting with her classmates but she did anyway. Sarah made new friends and so did Ralph. When they arrived home, Sarah was writing her friend-list and she informed Ralph that he was her best friend. I think this story could be placed in any grade level pre-k through 5’s classroom library. It is a lesson about friends. Sometimes children need to know that people are allowed to have more than one friend and how to be a friend.
As a teacher, I would read this story in the beginning of the year because it is funny. This story could help take away any butterflies the students may have about being in a new class. One of my goals is to make students feel welcome as soon as they step into my classroom. I believe the most important part of the first day is helping students feel comfortable and enthusiastic about attending school.
As a teacher, I would read this story in the beginning of the year because it is funny. This story could help take away any butterflies the students may have about being in a new class. One of my goals is to make students feel welcome as soon as they step into my classroom. I believe the most important part of the first day is helping students feel comfortable and enthusiastic about attending school.
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February 19, 2013What? Rotten Ralph sets out to thwart all attempts made by Sarah in making new friends at her first day back at school, but to no avail. Ralph is threatened by Sarah's desire to make new friends because he doesn't want to be left behind. Sarah ends up making several new friends and adds Rotten Ralph to the list. She then reminds him that he will always be at the top of her list.
So what? Growing up and having a good friend is wonderful, but children aren't always sure how to share their friend with others and can become quite possessive. This is a good story about how we must always treat our friends with the love and respect they deserve.
Now what? I will use this book as a minilesson on friendships, treating others respectfully, and character building. Next, I will have the students write about how they would like to be treated by a good friend and what it would take to be a lifelong friend.
So what? Growing up and having a good friend is wonderful, but children aren't always sure how to share their friend with others and can become quite possessive. This is a good story about how we must always treat our friends with the love and respect they deserve.
Now what? I will use this book as a minilesson on friendships, treating others respectfully, and character building. Next, I will have the students write about how they would like to be treated by a good friend and what it would take to be a lifelong friend.
November 4, 2012
I didn't really like this book, but our youngest loved it, so I suppose there's something about it that appeals to young children. The narrative was irritating and depicts deplorable behavior. The fact that he sabotages Sarah's efforts to make friends and fit in at her new school is horrifying.
The illustrations were comparable to other books in the Rotten Ralph series. Our girls enjoyed this story, even though I did not.
The illustrations were comparable to other books in the Rotten Ralph series. Our girls enjoyed this story, even though I did not.
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August 23, 2011When I asked Joey if he wanted to read with me, he wasn't that interested until I said I wanted to read "Back to School for Rotten Ralph." Then he said, "Oh, that's a funny one." "So you already read it? Well, I haven't. Will you read it with me?" Of course he would. <3 Samuel joined us, too, as soon as he realized what we were reading. I guess Rotten Ralph is a hit.
April 3, 2013
My kid loves the Rotten Ralph series, and this was an excellent addition which I think we'll be reading at bedtime again and again. When Ralph puts fish heads in Sarah's lunch box - hilarious! Stories with a very naughty yet beloved protagonist are a big hit in our house, and this was just the thing!
September 23, 2013
Disclaimer: I can't be objective about a book that recounts feline shenanigans. Harry and Pippi aren't as rotten as Ralph, but his hijinks certainly were familiar to this cat lady! This book is characterized by Gantos' trademark anarchic humor.
Recommended for confident first graders, and second graders.
Recommended for confident first graders, and second graders.
September 8, 2014
A great first day of school book for younger students. It may help ease the nervousness of young students who's days are just not going as planned. It helps let them know that everything will be ok in the end!
July 10, 2009
though ralph is terribly mean, he is beginning to grow on me.
January 27, 2010
A great example of behavior and why some children may act a certain way. Would use on the first day of school to show that it's alright to feel a certain way sometimes.
December 19, 2011
Ralph didn’t want Sarah to go to school and make a friend. Ralph goes to school and gets in the way. He learns that he’ll always be her favorite friend.
June 22, 2014
Haydn liked it.
July 14, 2014
More in the story of the abusive, manipulative relationship between a girl and her psychotic cat.
April 5, 2017
This is the fourth chapter book in the series of a naughty, rude (rotten acting) cat.
In this story there is a talent show, and Ralph is determined to win. He discovers his cousin entered the show, too, and he's hard to beat. Everything Ralph does his cousin can do better and nicer.
Sarah (Ralph's owner) does all she can to get Ralph ready for the competition, but, of course, Ralph doesn't win the best in show. He does win something else and a lesson.
In this story there is a talent show, and Ralph is determined to win. He discovers his cousin entered the show, too, and he's hard to beat. Everything Ralph does his cousin can do better and nicer.
Sarah (Ralph's owner) does all she can to get Ralph ready for the competition, but, of course, Ralph doesn't win the best in show. He does win something else and a lesson.
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November 29, 2017Feline, Contest, Self- perception
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews