When Randolph Turned Rotten

by Charise Mericle Harper

Overview

MOST OF THE TIME, Randolph is very, very nice. But when his friend Ivy gets invited to a really great sleepover birthday party and he doesn't, Randolph feels a little left out, and sad, and mad. And then he goes a little crazy! Will he ever turn back to the nice friend he once was? We hope so! This nutty friendship story recognizes that even best friends aren't always good friends (sometimes they can be downright rotten!). Kids' squirmier feelings are conveyed with good humor and empathy in this reassuring tale about the icky feelings we all have, even though we are mostly very, very nice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780375985263
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	08/31/2011
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	16 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Charise Mericle Harper is the celebrated Imaginative Inventions. She once experienced pancake mix. She lives with her husband, cat in Mamaroneck, New York.

Editorial Reviews

Ivy the goose has been invited to a fabulous sleepover party at her cousin's beach house, and she can't stop talking about it. Her best friend, Randolph the beaver, starts feeling "horrible, rotten, awful, and icky" (never mind that it's an all-girl party), and he decides to do everything possible to make Ivy's experience miserable. Positioning himself as a "sleepover expert," he tells Ivy to pack all kinds of impractical things (like a ridiculous flashing hat) to scare away "awful beach bears" and "huge, hungry beach snakes." But Randolph's plan backfires: everything he has Ivy schlep to the beach-including the logs he's snuck in just to make her bag extra-heavy-are the very things that save the party from disaster. Harper (Just Grace) uses a range of framings to give her story the brisk pace of a comic book, and she embellishes her wry, economical narration with word balloons that let the characters have their say. Every one of her acrylic vignettes is a goofy gem-the doll-like characters bubble with endearing, outsize personalities. An astute and empathetic look at jealousy and other emotions. Ages 5-8. (Nov.)

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Publishers Weekly

It's probably true that 95 percent of the time Randolph the beaver is an upstanding fellow. Living with his best friend, Ivy the goose, the two eat, play and read together in perfect contentment-that is, until Ivy is invited to a girls-only sleepover. Jealous and put out, Randolph's formerly lovely insides seethe with such envy that they are replaced by new stinky rotten ones. He plots to keep Ivy from having a good time, loading her down with unnecessary baggage. Yet when events turn out for the best and Randolph is unwittingly made the hero of the day, the sober and apologetic beaver gratefully makes up with his best friend. Harper's cartoon layouts and thick, colorful paints complement each another well here. She is adept at doling out equal parts sweetness and sly understated humor. Randolph at his most gleefully evil hasn't the mischievous staying power of a Rotten Ralph or a David, but that just means he has other more lovable qualities. A charmer of a read. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews

Starred Review, Publishers Weekly (circ:34,456), November 12, 2007:
"An astute and empathetic look at jealousy and other emotions."

From the Publisher