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Rookie Readers
Messy Bessey
Bessey finally cleans up her messy room.
Rookie Readers "RM" have provided entertaining, high-quality introductions to reading for more than a generation. Each title features full-color, often hilarious illustrations and engaging stories that always involve a young child figuring out concepts or solving problems on his or her own. Every new title contains a Word List and a color-coded reading-level key on the back cover.
Rookie Readers "RM" have provided entertaining, high-quality introductions to reading for more than a generation. Each title features full-color, often hilarious illustrations and engaging stories that always involve a young child figuring out concepts or solving problems on his or her own. Every new title contains a Word List and a color-coded reading-level key on the back cover.
- GenresChildrensPicture Books
31 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1987
3 people are currently reading
109 people want to read
About the author
Patricia C. McKissack
189 books206 followersPatricia C. McKissack was the Newbery Honor, Coretta Scott King Award-winning author of The Dark-Thirty and Porch Lies an ALA Notable Book. She collaborated with Jerry Pinkney on Goin' Someplace Special (Coretta Scott King Award winner) and Mirandy and Brother Wind (Coretta Scott King Award winner and Caldecott Honor Book).
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 8, 2023
I liked this, it was cute. It wasn’t earth shattering, just a basic story. I read it to my students along with an Ezra Keats book. I liked that it was about a little black girl, but wasn’t a statement, just a basic story about a girl straightening her desk.
December 19, 2016
One of the most popular easy readers at my library is a Rookie Reader by Patricia and Frederick McKissack called Messy Bessey. It is a rhyming story about the mess in a young girl’s bedroom, which she cleans up in order to make her room reflect her clean and beautiful self.
I think the subject matter in this book is appealing to both kids and adults, which might be one of the reasons this book is so frequently checked out from my branch library. Kids like to see just how messy one little girl can be, and parents like books that encourage good behavior and self-reliance. The illustrations are also endearing. Bessey is a cute little girl and her look of combined shame and surprise as she takes in each of her messes is subtle, but effective.
What puzzles me about the book, though, is the rhythm of the text. It starts out with a strong sense of rhyme and meter: “See colors on the wall, books on the chair, toys in the dresser drawer, and games everywhere.” A few pages later, though, it starts to unravel. There is a glaring omission of a comma on page 12 (“Bessey look at your room” instead of “Bessey, look at your room”), and the authors attempt to pass off “window” and “pillow” as rhyming words. The second half of the book is difficult to stumble through because the rhythm doesn’t match the pattern established in the first few pages. I also wonder why the book uses an alternative spelling of Bessey, when that extra E might throw off an uncertain or inexperienced reader.
Messy Bessey is a gentle story that preschoolers and emergent readers tend to love. Adults looking to branch out might try other tales of mess-making such as Karen Beaumont’s I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More, which has a great sense of rhyme and rhythm, and Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley. Though both are picture books, they have simple enough text for new readers to tackle, and the text in both stories is more precise and easier to read aloud.
I think the subject matter in this book is appealing to both kids and adults, which might be one of the reasons this book is so frequently checked out from my branch library. Kids like to see just how messy one little girl can be, and parents like books that encourage good behavior and self-reliance. The illustrations are also endearing. Bessey is a cute little girl and her look of combined shame and surprise as she takes in each of her messes is subtle, but effective.
What puzzles me about the book, though, is the rhythm of the text. It starts out with a strong sense of rhyme and meter: “See colors on the wall, books on the chair, toys in the dresser drawer, and games everywhere.” A few pages later, though, it starts to unravel. There is a glaring omission of a comma on page 12 (“Bessey look at your room” instead of “Bessey, look at your room”), and the authors attempt to pass off “window” and “pillow” as rhyming words. The second half of the book is difficult to stumble through because the rhythm doesn’t match the pattern established in the first few pages. I also wonder why the book uses an alternative spelling of Bessey, when that extra E might throw off an uncertain or inexperienced reader.
Messy Bessey is a gentle story that preschoolers and emergent readers tend to love. Adults looking to branch out might try other tales of mess-making such as Karen Beaumont’s I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More, which has a great sense of rhyme and rhythm, and Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley. Though both are picture books, they have simple enough text for new readers to tackle, and the text in both stories is more precise and easier to read aloud.
December 26, 2020
Good early reader with an African-American girl protagonist. Builds on comparing long and short vowel patterns in similar words. My son, who is shy to read, made it through and enjoyed the jokes about gum on the ceiling and jam on the door. Worth looking at the remainder of the series.
February 22, 2015
Level 3, but only due to word choice.
July 22, 2010
Another classic reader. This is an easy level 2.
March 2, 2015
Messy Bessey
McKissack, Patricia C.
a sound and rhyme reader for early readers
McKissack, Patricia C.
a sound and rhyme reader for early readers
March 8, 2024
Messy Bessey (Rookie Readers: Level C)
by Patricia C. McKissack
this book is a short story about taking care of things
November 5, 2013
Good early early reader
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March 19, 2014The second book Corwin read on her own!
May 31, 2014
a classic reader from my childhood. reading it too my son
Read
December 17, 2017it is a good book and she can never clean her room
August 31, 2021
H read it to me
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews