Rotten Ralph Feels Rotten: A Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader (Rotten Ralph Rotten Readers) [Hardcover]

Jack Gantos (Author), Nicole Rubel (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up | Series: Rotten Ralph Rotten Readers

Rotten to the core!

When Sarah serves up a healthy, home-cooked meal chock-full of fruits and vegetables, Rotten Ralph turns up his nose and refuses to eat. With those overflowing, back-alley trash cans in mind, he has more exciting dinner plans on his menu. Garbage for dinner? Uh-oh! Rotten Ralph's bad eating habits are about to make him feel rotten for real.

In this latest installment in the popular Rotten Readers, Gantos and Rubel team up to capture their feline hero as he's feeling his worst and making us laugh at the same time.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-3–In this beginning reader, Ralph and Sarah are still going strong after almost 30 years together. True to character, the rotten cat doesn't like the healthy food that Sarah feeds him, so he raids the garbage cans in the alley. Of course, he becomes ill from his foraging and must be taken to the vet, where he is kept for observation. Lonesome for Sarah, he makes his way home, where he fixes himself some snacks. Ralph's suffering and Sarah's concern are palpable in a series of vivid illustrations that depict his worsening condition, as is their pleasure in being reunited. A great addition to the series.–Sandra Welzenbach, Villarreal Elementary School, San Antonio, TX
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 1-3. Take one "green chicken wing," add it to "squishy squid," "furry fish," and "chunky chocolate milk," and you've got a recipe for a bellyache that makes swallowing a puzzle piece, as Curious George once did, seem health-conscious. One morning Rotten Ralph wakes up feeling ill, and a nibbled fish head on his pillow gives long-suffering Sarah all the information she needs: "Have you been eating out of the trash can again?" Off to the vet they go, where that bad red cat behaves horribly--burping in the doctor's face, for instance--even while feeling wretched. After the doctor solves his tummy trouble, he behaves even worse! The Magic-Marker intensity of Rubel's palette and the undulating quality of her lines are ideal for showing the quavery misery of nausea; in one particularly memorable spread, children see the suffering Ralph as puce-green and bloated, scavenged snacks floating around his insides. Beginning readers will gobble up this third installment of the Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader series; unlike Ralph, though, they'll have nothing to regret. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); First Edition edition (August 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374363579
• ISBN-13: 978-0374363574
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #568,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jack Gantos has written novels for adults, young adults, and middle grade readers, as well as over twenty books for primary readers, including twelve titles chronicling the misadventures of Rotten Ralph. He lives in Santa Fe, NM.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully Rotten to the Core!, March 29, 2005

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rotten Ralph Feels Rotten: A Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader (Rotten Ralph Rotten Readers) (Hardcover)

Jack Gantos and Nicole Rubel deliver one of their best Rotten Ralph books in this recent book. Rubel's illustrations capture the irrepressible spirit of Ralph (that is: mischievous, naughty, but competely loveable), and author Gantos cooks up a truly funny, very authentic Ralph adventure in four linked chapters. Owner Sarah wants Ralph to eat a healthy meal of fruits and vegetables (her refrigerator also contains miso, dates, yogurt, and hamburgers made without meat), but Ralph thinks the food "will finish me off." Sneaky Ralph climbs into the alley while Sarah sleeps and becomes a "trash-can gourmet." The gross-out food he eats, and the piggy manner in which he eats it is true Ralph:

"He lifted a lit and got busy. He started with a green chicken wing. Then he nibbled on some squishy squid. After that he licked a furry fish. For dessert he found a hunk of blue cheesecake..."

The result? A nightmare of "little rats with spears...jumping up and down on his belly," and a quick trip to the vet. The very, very sick feeling Ralph is asked to cooperate at the vet's office, but he spits out the thermometer. When the vet tries to check Ralph's reflexes by thwapping him on the knee with a little hammer, Ralph kicks the vet off his stool. (There's a very funny picture accompanying this scene, while frustrated Sarah says, "Behave...or you'll just feel worse." More comical resistance follows, until the vet and Sarah and a nurse pour an emetic down a funnel placed in Ralph's mouth. Rubel's talent is very evident in making these potentially violent and unpleasant situations seem jokey instead of upsetting. When Ralph wraps the vet and the nurse up in surgical tape; however, the vet decides Ralph need to stay overnight for observation. This is his comeuppance, so to speak, and Ralph misses Sarah and home terribly. What to do?

Escape, of course! However, even Ralph learns his lesson about the perils of garbage cuisine, and when he arrives home he just grabs some nuts-to pile on top of a gigantic banana split! Sarah and Ralph are happily reunited. After 30 years, the Rotten Ralph series is as fresh as ever. I'm a big fan of these zany adventures for young kids, and the plot, the humor, and the pictures are vibrant and incredibly engaging. You might want to also look at Rubel's "A Cowboy Named Ernestine" and "Cyrano the Bear" for more humorous pictures and stories! "Rotten Ralph" is printed on high quality paper with superb color reproduction.

5.0 out of 5 stars Im jaded but this book made me chuckle, November 15, 2007

By 

Sparks (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rotten Ralph Feels Rotten: A Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader (Rotten Ralph Rotten Readers) (Hardcover)

This is a very funny book I happened to run across at the library. Have never heard of Rotten Ralph before and feel like I missed out on something special. His garbage can feast and subsequent stomach ache are the beginning of a hilarious adventure. I love Ralph's dry sense of humor!!! Im over 30 but it made me laugh. Will definitely read the other Rotten Ralph books.

5.0 out of 5 stars Kids love Rotten Ralph, January 14, 2007

By 

C. Medley (Lexington, KY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rotten Ralph Feels Rotten: A Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader (Rotten Ralph Rotten Readers) (Hardcover)

My daughter loves Rotten Ralph books, especially this one, since she is also wild about doctors. The only problem is that she wants to BE Rotten Ralph, which can sometimes be ... rotten. I still have to recommend any chapter book that can engross an active three year old.