Pinkalicious by Victoria and Elizabeth Kann

Book Genre: Comedy and Humor

Publishing Info.: Scholastic Inc., 40 pages

Awards or Honors Received: N/A

Summary: This book is about a girl who loves the color pink. One rainy day her mother bakes pink cupcakes and decorates them with pink icing. The girl in the story likes the cupcakes so much that she keeps asking for more. Although her parents say no, she continues to sneak into the kitchen and eat cupcakes until she turns pink. She cannot get the pink to wash off so she has to go to the doctor. The doctor tells her the only way to return to her normal color is to eat nothing but green foods. However, the girl does not listen and sneaks one more pink cupcake. The next morning, she has turned red. She decides to follow the doctor's orders and she eats all kinds of green foods. She quickly returns to normal, but at the end of the story the pink cupcakes are nowhere to be found. The story ends with her little brother turning the color pink.

Personal Rating and Reason for Rating: ***Good. This is a cute book and the mischievous girl continues to do what she wants, even though her parents have advised her otherwise. The bright illustrations and silly ways in which the main character behaves would appeal to young readers.

Reading Level: 2.7

Interest Level: K-2

Possible Uses of the Text in Integrated Units of Study (Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum): After reading this story, students could brainstorm about a time when they did not obey their parents. Students could illustrate and write a story about what happened when they did not listen and why they decided to disobey.

This book could also be used to discuss how recipes are used when baking cupcakes. Measurments could be incorporated and students could use cups, teaspoons, and tablespoons to practice measuring various materials, such as buttons, beans, pattern blocks, water, etc. This would also include more than, less than, and equal.

Potential Problems or Difficulties: The only problem I see with this book is that the main character talks back to her parents. Children would need to understand that this book is for humor, and that talking back is not acceptable behavior.