What do you think?
Rate this book
Rotten Ralph
Rotten Ralph's Rotten Christmas
Rotten Ralph is not at all nice to the Christmas visitor.
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
About the author
Jack Gantos
85 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
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 7, 2009
On a day when I was depressed regarding just about everything, I checked out this Rotten Ralph book and found myself laughing out loud. It made me feel better just to know that Ralph had the chance to tie an irritating goody two-shoes cat to the railroad track (not to worry; Percy always survives). Maybe it's the art, but something about this series totally lifts my spirit.
July 27, 2016
my kids didn't get this book - they're nice people and he's a rascally cat. they looked perplexed like "where is the moral lesson in this? what's the take away message about being kind to others?" but i love it - i guess i'm not as nice :) 5 words: percy on the train tracks. priceless.
December 17, 2014
Rotten Ralph gets quite jealous when Percy, the cat, comes to stay. Percy's a nice, docile cat, not like Ralph at all. Now...Ralph is acting up even more! What will Sarah do? Just when she's at her wit's end, Percy's owner returns to pick him up. WheW! Rotten Ralph isn't so Rotten after all.
January 6, 2024
I loved this naughty cat, and my oldest child cited it as her favorite book. One day I will name a cat Ralph. It's a book that blends the bad with the good to show kids that no one is nice all the time. Naughty can be loveable.
January 6, 2024
It's Christmastime, and Rotten Ralph is up to no good, as usual. Although his little girl, Sarah, warns him that bad kitties might not get presents, our unrepentant feline anti-hero continues on his way, and when goody-two-shoes Percy joins the picture, things only get worse. Jealous of this other cat, Ralph does everything he can to undermine him, from pulling the ladder out from underneath him, while he is decorating the tree, to stealing his presents. Fortunately, Percy's sojourn is temporary, and Ralph is restored to his rightful place at the center of Sarah's world....
I owned a copy of author Jack Gantos and illustrator Nicole Rubel's Rotten Ralph as a girl, and I read it countless times, enjoying its tale of a thoroughly rotten cat—one with few redeeming characteristics, besides his love for his little girl. I don't recall reading any of the sequels when young, but am slowly getting to them now, as an adult. The second installment of the series, Worse Than Rotten, Ralph , sees our feline temporarily reformed, but here, in Rotten Ralph's Rotten Christmas, we see that any changes for the better were only temporary, and that Rotten Ralph lives up to his name. I found the deadpan humor here enjoyable—Sarah telling Ralph he is "not being very helpful," when he ties Percy to the railway tracks!—and the somewhat trippy vintage artwork fun. Recommended to fans of Rotten Ralph and his adventures.
I owned a copy of author Jack Gantos and illustrator Nicole Rubel's Rotten Ralph as a girl, and I read it countless times, enjoying its tale of a thoroughly rotten cat—one with few redeeming characteristics, besides his love for his little girl. I don't recall reading any of the sequels when young, but am slowly getting to them now, as an adult. The second installment of the series, Worse Than Rotten, Ralph , sees our feline temporarily reformed, but here, in Rotten Ralph's Rotten Christmas, we see that any changes for the better were only temporary, and that Rotten Ralph lives up to his name. I found the deadpan humor here enjoyable—Sarah telling Ralph he is "not being very helpful," when he ties Percy to the railway tracks!—and the somewhat trippy vintage artwork fun. Recommended to fans of Rotten Ralph and his adventures.
January 4, 2025
I Goddamn hate Christmas. If you'd gone through a dozen holiday seasons working retail, and four as a homeless person, you'd hate it, too. There's just too much pressure. I'm 55 and never got that horse as a kid, and know I never will.
So, I really got into this book, where devil-red Ralph the Cat has his perfect Christmas ruined by Percy the new cat. Unlike the narcissistic attention whore Ralph, Percy is the perfect cat. In fact, he's so perfect, he's a bit of a cunt. He makes Ralph look so much better in comparison.
This was originally published in 1984, long before cats took over the Internet. If you have a cat that even does half of what Ralph does (and let's completely forget that he talks and has opposable thumbs) then your cat has all of the hallmarks of a future social media star. Invest in a small video camera, pronto.
Then all of your Christmases will be merry, indeed. You won't need to work retail anymore.
This book is such a good antidote for all the cheesy Xmas crap out there. I might check out other Rotten Ralph books now.
So, I really got into this book, where devil-red Ralph the Cat has his perfect Christmas ruined by Percy the new cat. Unlike the narcissistic attention whore Ralph, Percy is the perfect cat. In fact, he's so perfect, he's a bit of a cunt. He makes Ralph look so much better in comparison.
This was originally published in 1984, long before cats took over the Internet. If you have a cat that even does half of what Ralph does (and let's completely forget that he talks and has opposable thumbs) then your cat has all of the hallmarks of a future social media star. Invest in a small video camera, pronto.
Then all of your Christmases will be merry, indeed. You won't need to work retail anymore.
This book is such a good antidote for all the cheesy Xmas crap out there. I might check out other Rotten Ralph books now.
July 18, 2024
Oh my, what a story. The illustrations are very cute.
June 17, 2009
Why would I want to read a book called "Rotten Ralph" to my children? This book ended up in our home when I let the girls pick out their own library books. Abby and I actually read it and then had a good talk about how selfish and naughty Ralph was. She did conclude that he was nicer at the end...but why read a book that you have to have a debriefing over? We will not be reading any more of these.
December 1, 2010
I didn't really enjoy this book all that much, but it has a decent message about jealousy and not being mean to guests. I can see the appeal to children, but both the narrative and illustrations seem too flat to me. Our youngest really liked it and asked to read it again, so I suppose I'll up my rating to three stars from two.
December 14, 2012
Read this again this year.
Silly.
Ralph is rather a creepy cat but for Sarah, love is blind.
Every child I've read this to loves Ralph also.
Silly.
Ralph is rather a creepy cat but for Sarah, love is blind.
Every child I've read this to loves Ralph also.
December 23, 2009
Ralph the cat is up to no good when Percy comes to stay at his house. He sabotages, tricks and torments the visitor...thinking that he is there to stay. But is he?
December 2, 2010
Reminds me of someone.
December 15, 2011
Rotten Ralph is just that-rotten! Percy is a good natured cat visiting, but Ralph was not informed. Still Ralph is rotten!
July 30, 2016
Maybe I read it in the wrong mood. I didn't like the story (themes are better handled in other books) or the illustrations.
July 14, 2014
Spoiler alert: Christmas isn't entirely rotten, just a little bit
December 8, 2015
Read this for our tradition Christmas advent calendar book. Did not care for this one. Have never read a Rotten Ralph book before, so maybe it's just my unfamiliarity with Ralph.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews