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Rotten Ralph
Not So Rotten Ralph
In desperation, Sarah sends Rotten Ralph to feline finishing school. Will Ralph's mischief finally be a thing of the past? This package comes with a paperback and a two-sided cassette tape. The professionally narrated audio production includes lively sound effects and original music. Side one includes page-turn signals; side two features an uninterrupted reading.
32 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1994
15 people want to read
About the author
Jack Gantos
83 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 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 2, 2012
Jack Gantos has turned Clockwork Orange into a children's picture book which has an intended audience of two to seven (or thereabouts). Don't believe me? Let me tell you the story of not-so-Rotten Ralph.
Ralph is a bad kitty. He does mean things to people--including his owner, the mail carrier, and his neighbors. Sarah, his owner, learns of a special finishing school, one that will transform her naughty cat into a well-behaved, sweet cat. Sarah dumps Ralph into the hands of the Marine sergeant-like Mr. Fred. Mr. Fred, a big tough cat himself, tries to teach the three rapscallions in his class that they must be good cats.
Mr. Fred teaches them the "Golden Rules" which have been translated from the simple creed we all know and love into a whole chalkboard full of behavioral restrictions including "No Scratching," "No hissing," "No fun." He takes them into a "self-control room" filled with all sorts of temptations. It reminded me of rooms that some of my childhood friends' parents had. Rooms that should never co-exist with children. Mr. Fred then serves them an inherently messy food--spaghetti and tells them they must be perfectly mannered and neat with their food.
When all of his lecturing fails, Mr. Fred hypnotizes the cats. Like Alex in Clockwork Orange, society says it is better for the cats to be well-behaved than to have their own personality, if said personality is disruptive to those around them.
Sarah is thrilled to find her Rotten Ralph transformed into a kittenish creature who has received a diploma for perfect behavior. She frames the diploma and throws him a party. She soon learns that she misses the Rotten Ralph. All the new Ralph can do is sleep and smile.
I read a Salon article on the same day that I first read this book, and it has perhaps colored my interpretation of it more than I'd like to admit. The Salon article talked about how as many as one in five boys are on Ritalin and how some schools are coercing parents into putting their children on Ritalin. Don't misinterpret me here--I'm a full supporter of the use of medication to help adults and children overcome chemical imbalances. I think it can be a good choice for parents to make. But that discussion would be much off-topic here. Rather, I saw Gantos making a rather eloquent statement that quiet doesn't have to equal good and that good behavior doesn't necessarily mean growth or maturity. It struck me that whether the method is drugs or hypnosis or the intense torture treatment that Burgess described in Clockwork Orange, we're calling upon external methods to modify behavior into a mold that we find acceptable. I can hardly complain when individuals make that choice for themselves or for their children. But I find something intrinsically wrong with "society" (in whatever form society takes) making that choice for an individual.
I little expected a children's book that was illustrated with the severe cartoon style that I typically dislike to raise so many philosophical questions.
Perhaps Gantos wasn't trying to challenge our definition of "good" and "free will." Perhaps he was just trying to entertain his juvenile readers. But I have to thank him for his brilliance anyway. And I'll be looking for more Rotten Ralph books when I next go to the library.
Ralph is a bad kitty. He does mean things to people--including his owner, the mail carrier, and his neighbors. Sarah, his owner, learns of a special finishing school, one that will transform her naughty cat into a well-behaved, sweet cat. Sarah dumps Ralph into the hands of the Marine sergeant-like Mr. Fred. Mr. Fred, a big tough cat himself, tries to teach the three rapscallions in his class that they must be good cats.
Mr. Fred teaches them the "Golden Rules" which have been translated from the simple creed we all know and love into a whole chalkboard full of behavioral restrictions including "No Scratching," "No hissing," "No fun." He takes them into a "self-control room" filled with all sorts of temptations. It reminded me of rooms that some of my childhood friends' parents had. Rooms that should never co-exist with children. Mr. Fred then serves them an inherently messy food--spaghetti and tells them they must be perfectly mannered and neat with their food.
When all of his lecturing fails, Mr. Fred hypnotizes the cats. Like Alex in Clockwork Orange, society says it is better for the cats to be well-behaved than to have their own personality, if said personality is disruptive to those around them.
Sarah is thrilled to find her Rotten Ralph transformed into a kittenish creature who has received a diploma for perfect behavior. She frames the diploma and throws him a party. She soon learns that she misses the Rotten Ralph. All the new Ralph can do is sleep and smile.
I read a Salon article on the same day that I first read this book, and it has perhaps colored my interpretation of it more than I'd like to admit. The Salon article talked about how as many as one in five boys are on Ritalin and how some schools are coercing parents into putting their children on Ritalin. Don't misinterpret me here--I'm a full supporter of the use of medication to help adults and children overcome chemical imbalances. I think it can be a good choice for parents to make. But that discussion would be much off-topic here. Rather, I saw Gantos making a rather eloquent statement that quiet doesn't have to equal good and that good behavior doesn't necessarily mean growth or maturity. It struck me that whether the method is drugs or hypnosis or the intense torture treatment that Burgess described in Clockwork Orange, we're calling upon external methods to modify behavior into a mold that we find acceptable. I can hardly complain when individuals make that choice for themselves or for their children. But I find something intrinsically wrong with "society" (in whatever form society takes) making that choice for an individual.
I little expected a children's book that was illustrated with the severe cartoon style that I typically dislike to raise so many philosophical questions.
Perhaps Gantos wasn't trying to challenge our definition of "good" and "free will." Perhaps he was just trying to entertain his juvenile readers. But I have to thank him for his brilliance anyway. And I'll be looking for more Rotten Ralph books when I next go to the library.
March 11, 2010
The text opens with Ralph in a chef's hat and checkered apron, making blueberry pancakes and a mess in the process. Sarah asks him to be neat, but he doesn't listen and sprays whipped cream all over the kitchen. When he goes outside to play, he scares the mailman, squirts him with an H20 ray gun, and mail flies in every direction. While Sarah is reading in her room, Ralph cuts the bottom of her dress. Sarah is sick of Ralph behaving badly, so she sends him to Mr. Fred's Feline Finishing School where there is a long list of "golden rules." Ralph decides that they work better as an airplane. Mr. Fred tries to teach the cat class self control by bringing them to a room with tempting objects: a fish tank, a bird, valuable statues, and a vase. Ralph fails miserably. Next he tries to teach them table manners; Ralph is covered in spaghetti. Then they are off to the Fluff and Buff Room for a bath, which Ralph hates. Finally, Fred must resort to hypnosis. Of course, in their zombified state, all of the cats pass the class. Sarah is so excited, she throws Ralph a party. All he does is sleep. To her surprise, Sarah wants the old Ralph back. To achieve this, she chases a mouse and eats a fish. As a last resort, she throws cold water on his face. Rotten Ralph is back.
August 3, 2007
Ralph is rotten and Sarah loves him anyway. I have to admit these books do play with my mind a bit, but our girls think they’re just the cat’s meow. This is my favourite of the bunch.
Listen to our chat about this book on our JustOneMoreBook.com Children's Book Podcast:
http://www.justonemorebook.com/2006/0...
Listen to our chat about this book on our JustOneMoreBook.com Children's Book Podcast:
http://www.justonemorebook.com/2006/0...
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May 27, 2008E Gan
December 19, 2011
It is off to Mr. Fred’s Feline Finishing School for Rotten Ralph as he shreds Sarah’s dress. Sarah then misses her misbehaved rotten kitty cat that she has to act up.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews