Lilly's+Purple+Plastic+Purse

Rebecca Jennings Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse By Kevin Henkes __Biographical Data:__ **Publisher:** Greenwillow Books,New York (Copyright 1996) **ISBN:** 9780688128975 **Price:** $15.00 __Author Biography:__ Kevin Henkes was born in 1960 in Rancine, Wisconsin. As a young child he loved to read as well as draw and paint. This love for reading and art eventually inspired him to write and illustrate children's books. Henkes is the author of many other children's books other than //Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse//, including //Little White Rabbit// and //Junonia//. He studied at the University of Wisconsin at Madison; he choose there because of the School of Education's Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC). He studied the history and the future of children's literature. Henkes first published book was titled //All Alone// in 1981. He has published several award winning books, including //Kitten's First Full Moon// as well as eleven novels. __Summary:__ //Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse// is a fictional children's book about a young mouse named Lilly and her new purple plastic purse. Lilly loved everything about school, especially her teacher Mr. Slinger. Mr. Slinger was the best teacher according to Lilly because he was always provided the class with tasty snacks and he was the reason she wanted to be a teacher when she grew up! Lily wanted to be just like Mr. Slinger; she even pretended to be him at home with her baby brother, Julius. During free time Lilly would go to the lightbulb lab and write stories about Mr. Slinger and share them during sharing time. She volunteered to stay after school and clap erasers and when Mr. Slinger had bus duty she would even stand in the bus line even though she didn't ride the bus. One Monday morning Lilly came to school so excited to show off her new movie star glasses that had a shiny chain just like Mr. Slinger's, her three shiny quarters and best of all a brand new purple plastic purse that played music when it was opened. Lilly really wanted to show everyone what she had and couldn't wait till sharing time so during class she opened her purse and started to dance to the music. Mr. Slinger was not happy so he took her things away until the end of the school day. Lilly was so sad but as the day went on she began to think about what happened and become very angry with Mr. Slinger. She then drew a picture of him that showed Mr. Slinger as a big fat mean teacher and before the last bell rang she sneaked the picture into Mr. Slinger's bag. At the end of the day, he gave Lilly back her purse and on her way home she opened the purse to find her glasses, quarters and a note from Mr. Slinger that said, "Today was a difficult day. Tomorrow will be better" with a bag of tasty snacks. Lilly felt so sad and felt like crying and ran home to tell her parents everything! Lilly was so upset about what she had done that instead of watching her favorite cartoons she sat in the uncooperative chair and later that night she drew a new picture of Mr. Slinger and wrote a story about him too. Lilly's mother wrote a note to her teacher and her father baked some snacks to bring to him the next day at school. The next day at school, Lilly arrived very early to give Mr. Slinger the note, snacks and her new drawing. After reading the note and story and tasting the snacks, Mr. Slinger and Lilly agreed to throw out the old picture and start fresh. During sharing time Lilly was able to share her sunglasses, quarters and her purple plastic purse with the class and she even did a dance for the class to the music from her purse. Lilly's belongings remained safe and tucked away in her desk for the remainder of the day. __Review:__ I really enjoyed reading this book; it was one of my favorites from my childhood. I think I enjoyed it so much is because I can really connect with some of Lilly's actions throughout the book. I can remember being in elementary school and wanting to show all my classmates something I had that was so cool and sometimes not being able to wait until sharing time or recess. I think a lot of people can relate to the way Lilly felt when she was growing so anxious and impatient to show off her purple plastic purse and her movie star sunglasses. When younger children get something new, for example a toy, they want everyone to know about it and show it off and I think a lot of people can connect with how Lilly was feeling. Another reason why I enjoy this book is because in the book Lilly did something wasn't very nice that she eventually regretted doing. Lilly knew that drawing a mean picture of her teacher, Mr. Slinger was not nice, so she tried to make it up to him and apologize to him. I think this is an important idea for young children because sometimes when we get mad, our actions are impulsive and based off anger. By Lilly drawing a new picture of Mr. Slinger acknowledges that she knows what she did was wrong and shows a development in character. I think this book would be a great tool for teachers to show students how sometimes our actions can have bad consequences and the importance of not letting emotions get the best of us. __Analysis of Literary Element:__ The literary element that I'm choosing to analyze is character development. In the beginning of the story, Lilly is described as a young mouse who loves to go to school and enjoys her teacher Mr. Slinger. She is portrayed as a good student who has a lot of ideas and is very creative. In the middle of the story when Lilly brings her purple plastic purse, sunglasses and her quarters to school and gets them taken away by her teacher she becomes very angry with Mr. Slinger and draws a mean picture of him. When Lilly gets her belongings back at the end of the school day and found the note from her teacher, she realized what a terrible mistake she made. Lilly felt so terrible and wanted to make it up to Mr. Slinger; so she draws him a new picture and baked him snacks. The problem between Lilly and Mr. Slinger helped Lilly to realize that sometimes when we're angry we do or say things we do not mean. She was able to learn from this situation and have a better understanding of her feelings. Everyone has done something, (or will do something) when they are angry and in the heat of the moment that they regret when they sit down and think about their actions. It's important for young children to see how Lilly developed and how she was able to see that drawing a mean picture of Mr. Slinger was wrong. Interview with Kevin Henkes