The Little Red Pen [Hardcover]

Janet Stevens (Author, Illustrator), Susan Stevens Crummel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 18, 2011 | Age Range: 6 - 9 years | Lexile Measure: 300L (What's this?)

Poor Little Red Pen! She can't possibly correct a mountain of homework all by herself. Who will help her? "Not I!" says Stapler. "Not I!" says Eraser. "¡Yo no!" says Pushpin, AKA Señorita Chincheta. But when the Little Red Pen tumbles in exhaustion into the Pit of No Return (the trash!), her fellow school supplies must get themselves out of the desk drawer and work together to rescue her. Trouble is, their plan depends on Tank, the rotund class hamster, who's not inclined to cooperate. Will the Little Red Pen be lost forever?

There's no lack of trial and error, hilarious chaos, and creative problem-solving in this mission! Kids—and adults—will never see their school supplies in quite the same way again.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A rollicking read-aloud, this is a book that begs to be turned into a class play, readers theater, or puppet show."—The Horn Book

"Stevens's enchanting, well-imagined, dimensional cartoon-style drawings of the office-supply characters imbue each one with a distinct personality to match their dialogic voices....This book is recommended for any classroom and should find a home in most libraries."—School Library Journal

"Will keep kids engaged, while both words and pictures create distinct, hilarious, highly animated characters from everyday objects."—Booklist

"The authors work in lots of clever wordplay that will appeal to adult readers....Stevens’ delightfully expressive desk supplies were created with paint, ink and plenty of real school supplies. Without a doubt, she has captured their true personalities."—Kirkus Reviews

 

About the Author

Sister team Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel are the co-authors of many acclaimed picture books, including the popular Cook-A-Doodle-Doo!, The Great Fuzz Frenzy, and the recent Help Me, Mr. Mutt, winner of the 2010 Texas Bluebonnet Award. Janet lives in Boulder, Colorado, and Susan lives in Fort Worth, Texas. You can visit them on the web at www.janetstevens.com and www.susanstevenscrummel.com

Product Details

• Age Range: 6 - 9 years
  
• Hardcover: 56 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books (April 18, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 015206432X
• ISBN-13: 978-0152064327
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 0.4 x 11.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and funny! May 17, 2011

By Z Hayes HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

The Little Red Pen is one of the most entertaining books I've read with my kindergartner all year. It is imaginative, fun, and pure whimsy. The red pen in this story is really not so little, and is a hard worker, always on task, and this proves kind of annoying to the other office supplies occupying the classroom. The little red pen is adamant that everyone get on board and help grade the papers left behind on the teacher's desk. Alas, the little red pen has an accident and ends up in the ...PIT (wastebasket)! Will the others rally around to help or will the red pen be forever doomed?

The story moves along at a frenetic pace. My kindergartner enjoyed reading this story with me, relishing the parts where she could do voice-overs for the various characters - the stapler, the paper clips, the eraser, the feisty Spanish-speaking pushpin, and many more. As we were reading this delightful tale, I kept thinking this would make a great animated short! Pure fun and entertainment, this is the kind of story that will have children begging for repeated readings!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Delightfully Illustrated June 14, 2011

By Beverly L. Archer VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

What I liked about the book: I loved the illustrations. Stevens has done an excellent job giving life and animation to all the office supplies. I liked that there is a moral to the story - working together can get things accomplished. I also loved the humor. It is an excellent gift for educators.

What I didn't like: As I said, I'm not sure young readers will get the humor. But to be fair, even though I spend a great deal of time will elementary students, I am from time to time surprised by what they find funny. I will withold final judgment until I have a chance to share this with my students. I do recommend that you share the original story of the Little Red Hen with young readers before sharing this story.

Recommended for: Amazon lists the reading level at ages 4-8. I would certainly recommend it for adults, but I'll have to test it out with my students before I'm comfortable making a recommendation for students.

Mrs. Archer's rating: 3 of 5 (based on illustrations alone, I would have given it a 5. Janet Stevens is an incredibly talented artist.)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny for kids and adults! October 20, 2011

By Joan Leib

Format:Hardcover

As a writer and a mom, I loved this book as soon as I saw the title. And it's a great story about teamwork, friendship, and editing!

My son age 8 also loved it. The first time I read it to him, he was laughing at almost every page. As soon as we had finished, he took the book away to sit and read it over again by himself. My daughter age 5 also enjoyed it, although I do think some of the humor was somewhat over her head; but she did laugh a lot, especially at the eraser who keeps forgetting things.

The story starts off as sort of a riff on the classic Little Red Hen ("not I," said the stapler and the scissors) but soon digresses from that theme and goes off into a wacky rescue adventure after the red pen accidentally falls into the trash. Although her friends previously grumbled when she tried to enlist their help, they don't hesitate to come to her rescue, with hilarious results. And at the end, everyone pitches in to make sure that huge pile of student papers gets graded!

The illustrations are fantastic and the story moves along at breakneck speed. Definitely one to look at again and again, the kind of book where you'll discover new little funny bits each time you read it.