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Officer buckle & gloria (Caldecott Medal Book) (平装)
by Peggy Rathmann
| Category:
Safety education, Picture books, Kids age 4-8, Pre-school |
| Market price: ¥ 198.00
MSL price:
¥ 168.00
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| Stock:
In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Using laughing experience to teach serious lessons such as safety, friendship and teamwork, this award-winning book is a fun read for all kids and adults. |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 7 items |
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School Library Journal (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-08 00:00>
Kindergarten-Grade 3?A fresh, funny story about the wonders of teamwork. Officer Buckle is a safety-conscious policeman who spends his time devising tips for avoiding accidents. Unfortunately, the children of Napville School are an ungrateful audience, snoring through his lectures and ignoring his advice. Enter Gloria, Napville's new police dog and Officer Buckle's new partner. She accompanies him when he gives his lecture and performs her duties with aplomb. Buckle is surprised to see the children so attentive, but each time he checks on Gloria, she is sitting at attention. Thanks to the humorous illustrations, readers know what Buckle does not?Gloria is performing to beat the band, acting out the various accidents behind his back. Things are swell until a news team videotapes Buckle and his amazing sidekick and he learns that the reason for his newfound popularity is really Gloria's comedy routine. This sends the officer into quite a slump. Her act is a complete flop without him, however, and Napville School has its biggest accident ever after her solo performance. In the end, Buckle realizes that they're only successful as a team, and he is jolted out of his self-pitying funk. The vibrant palette of the cartoon art, as well as the amusing story, make this title an appealing read-aloud choice. Older children will enjoy poring over the many safety tips presented on the endpapers, all illustrated by Gloria's antics. |
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Erin Miller (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-08 00:00>
Summary:
Officer Buckle lives in a little town called Napville and he loves safety tips. But when he tries to share these safety tips with others, they all fell asleep. One day the police department buys a police dog, named Gloria, and she steals the show. She is a natural performer, and suddenly everyone wants to hear Officer Buckle's safety tips, as long as the dog comes too. After telling 313 schools his safety tips, he watches the evening news. He and Gloria are on it and he sees why everyone loves his safety tips- because Gloria cuts up, makes faces, and acts out what he is saying. He gets mad and refuses to give any more safety tips. Gloria goes to give the safety tips herself but she soon gets bored and falls asleep like the rest of teh audience. Chaos soon happens because no one is following any safety rules. Officer Buckle decides to start telling his tips again with Gloria and he figures out his best tip ever- "Safety tip #101 Always stick with your buddy."
Instructional Ideas:
I would use this book to get the students thinking about safety. I would have my students write a letter to Officer Buckle telling him how much they liked or disliked his safely tips and why. I would also have them write what they liked or disliked about Gloria. Students could write their own safety tips and we could have "Safety Week" in the classroom. Each day I would pick a different student to tell the others about their safety tip and why they think it is important. I would also have them draw a picture of their safety tip being used or not being used.
Response:
I absolutely LOVE this book. The pictures in Officer Buckle and Gloria are reason enough to read the story. In almost all the pictures, the reader is looking at Officer and Buckle from the audience side of the stage. There are three pages however that shows you the picture from backstage. These images change the way you see the story and break up the monotony of each picture. The colors the author used are vibrant. There are always a multitude of colors on each spread of pages. The cover is elaborately designed, and that is actually what drew me to this book in the first place. The text in the book is simple to read. There are not difficult words to read, nor are there pages and pages of words alone, but you cannot understand the book if you do not see the pictures. "A picture is worth a thousand words" and, in the case of this book, that is completely true. It is vitally important to be able to see the pictures up close in this book. There are so many small, tiny details that make the story what it is. For example, if you cannot see Gloria doing her tricks, then the book loses its humor. My favorite page is when Officer Buckle is watching the news and finds out why audiences really like his safety tips. The reader sees the characters watching television. The expressions on the Officer Buckle's and Gloria's faces tell a story in themselves. But if you examine the page closely, you can see what is on the television through a mirror behind the characters. I definitely recommend this book for anyone with a classroom. |
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Melissa Ford (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-08 00:00>
In Officer Buckle and Gloria, Peggy Rathman illustrates the importance of teamwork. Officer Buckle is a safety instructor who goes around to different schools, sharing his safety tips. Bored, the students and teachers do not listen to the lessons Officer Buckle presents until he gets a partner, Gloria, who surprisingly demonstrates what happens when people ignore the safety tips. But Officer Buckle is unaware of Gloria's demonstration. When Officer Buckle sees one of Gloria's demonstrations on television, he feels as though he is not needed for the safety presentations. The character facial illustrations draw the reader into the story while small symbols like bananas illustrate foreshadowing. The bright colors that are used within the facial illustrations and foreshadowing are ironically used to symbolize safety and stability. In this story, Rathman uses a variety of details to draw readers in so that they become a character themselves. First, on each page the facial expressions of each character are illustrated perfectly to ensure that the reader fully understands how the character feels. For example, in the first presentation that Officer Buckle gives, the children are sleeping; in the next presentation, to which Officer Buckle brings Gloria, the children look surprised. The reader is now able to see the bright eyes of three children and many pointing hands of other children, whereas before there were no bright eyes and no hands other than those of sleeping children. Rathman uses small symbols like bananas to foreshadow the disaster that happens at the end of the story. On the second page of the story, someone spills a cup of banana pudding on the floor and from then on, there are only three double-page spreads that go by without a picture of bananas in some form. The bananas are represented on Officer Buckle's uniform, on a pudding cup, on children's shirts, and even on a safety helmet. The only pages that do not have bananas on them illustrate extremely active pages already, with Officer Buckle falling off a chair and then watching the news and seeing Gloria's demonstrations. With the bananas still being present in the middle of the story it can be assumed that the bananas are no longer serving the purpose of foreshadowing, however they serve as reminders of Officer Buckle's messages. The colors that Rathman uses throughout the story enhance the text. For instance, the illustrations that are used to back up a surprising text are the most dramatic in color with a big variety of bright orange, pink and blue. When the text is calm and somewhat stable, there is an abundance of white space left on the page. In Officer Buckle and Gloria, Peggy Rathman uses a variety of symbols, illustrations and colors to draw the reader into the story. In doing so, she keeps the readers attention, not only in the text but also in the pictures, no matter what age the reader may be. |
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Donald Mitchell (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-08 00:00>
Most of us learn best when we are laughing, and this book should provide lots of encouragement to learning through laughter. The humor is aimed just perfectly for the 3-6 year old set to be totally fascinated. The humor has a serious purpose. You learn many valuable safety tips, the benefits of teamwork, and the importance of communicating in an interesting way.
"Officer Buckle knew more safety tips than anyone else in Napville." "Every time he thought of a new one, he thumbtacked it to his bulletin board." "Safety tip #77 NEVER stand on a SWIVEL CHAIR." Naturally, the book has the principal doing this all the time. There was a problem though. When Officer Buckle shared his tips with the students at school, they fell asleep. And there were more accidents than ever!
One day the police department bought a police dog named Gloria. Officer Buckle took her to school. Whenever Officer Buckle would describe a potential danger, Gloria would pantomime the outcome in a humorous way. The children loved it! (and so will yours). Officer Buckle didn't realize why the children were paying attention until he saw a presentation televised.
He grew angry. "I'm not giving any more speeches! Nobody looks at me, anyway!" So the school requested that Gloria come by herself. But that was a bad idea. She just "sat on stage looking lonely." Then "she fell asleep, so did the audience."
After Gloria left, the Napville School had its biggest accident ever. "It started with a puddle of banana pudding... " A letter comes to Officer Buckle saying, "Gloria missed you yesterday!"
Officer Buckle and Gloria made up. Officer Buckle "thought of his best safety tip yet... "Safety Tip #101" "ALWAYS STICK WITH YOUR BUDDY!"
This book won Ms. Peggy Rathmann the Caldecott Medal for the best illustrated children's book of 1996. Three elements undoubtedly contributed to that award. First, her people are very funny to behold in their bright colors and round features. Second, she creates motion exceptionally well (captured here with slapstick pratfalls and pantomimes). Third, every scene screams for you to giggle. This book should work better than antidepressant medicine for creating a sunny mood.
After you finish enjoying the story, you and your child should discuss how learning can be made more fun for both of you. This book should give you some great ideas for skits as one way to express yourselves.
Use laughing experiences to help bring home serious messages... always!
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Catherine Hallberg (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-08 00:00>
My daughter has read this book with me several times and still laughs out loud at Gloria's antics, especially in the first "thumbtack" scene. It's so wonderful to hear the belly laughs of a usually fairly serious 3 yo enjoying this book. My 5 yo daughter enjoys reading the safety tips so charmingly illustrated by the pooch in the endpapers.
The safety issues are valuable here, but they aren't the first things we think or talk about. We love Gloria, and we love the message of "never turn your back on your buddy." I've found this book to be a good starting point for talking about friendship and the intentions of our friends. Officer Buckle was very hurt and offended when he learned what Gloria did during his talks (a classic hang-dog look in that scene), but he learns that she didn't intend to hurt him and actually helps and enhances his work. Who doesn't feel misunderstood at some point? Clearly Gloria was, and happily her buddy realised that. What more could we ask for? (other than another equally good book with Gloria?)
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K. Bennett (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-08 00:00>
You probably know someone like Officer Buckle. He knows more about safety than anyone else in Napville, and he's more than willing to share his expertise. If only someone would listen. Instead, when Officer Buckle delivers his litany of safety tips at Napville schools, some of the kids fly paper airplanes in the auditorium. Some of the kids fall asleep. Nobody pays attention. Worst of all, they do the exact things he warned them against.
That all changes when Gloria, the new police dog, joins Officer Buckle for one of his safety lectures. As far as Officer Buckle knows, Gloria just sits next to him on stage and smiles. But the moment his back is turned, she's acting out each of his safety tips - such as "NEVER leave a THUMBTACK where you might SIT on it!" Not only are the kids paying attention, they're laughing, cheering, and - best of all - putting into practice what they learn in the lecture! Suddenly every school in town wants a safety lecture.
Everything goes well until Officer Buckle catches a story about their lectures on the 10 o'clock news. There he is on TV, pronouncing safety tip ninety nine ("Don't go swimming during an electrical storm") with as much emphasis as he can muster, and there's Gloria, stealing the show. Not only does that incident lead to safety tip one hundred ("Never turn your back on a strange dog"), but it signals the end of Officer Buckle's association with Gloria.
Gloria does the next safety lecture on her own, and it's so boring even she falls asleep. Afterwards, the school has it's worst accident ever. Officer Buckle and Gloria realize they need each other to get their safety message across. As Officer Buckle says in safety tip one hundred and one, "Always work with a buddy."
The sight gags in Peggy Rathmann's illustrations helped earn this book a Caldecott Medal. They also contain a lot of practical safety information, which makes this book a great place to start for a discussion on safety, as well as for a discussion on teamwork and partnership. |
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Dana Bowers (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-08 00:00>
Since my knowledge of picture books is relatively little, I chose to focus on qualities such as brightness, color, size, and text while reading Officer Buckle and Gloria. In 1995, Peggy Rathmann won the Caldecott medal for her excellent illustrations of the clumsy police officer and the amazing dog. I chose this book for my critical reflection because the cover was colorful and simple. All of the qualities I mentioned before are present in Officer Buckles and Gloria, which is important when reviewing the book. One of the first things I realized before even reading the book that Gloria was the star of the book and Officer Buckle only dreamed of being in the limelight. This is obvious from the cover of the book, which places the children's eyes on Gloria who is taking a flying leap on the stage. The next page is bright yellow and contains safety tips in stars that relate good messages to children. The title page uses the same font and style as the cover of the book, which is also the case with Where the Wild Things Are. The same font is used throughout the book except when the author wants to stress a safety tip. The pictures and text throughout the book are humorous containing different accidents Officer Buckle must make note of. Officer Buckles bores the students with his safety speeches until the arrival of Gloria. The show livens up and Officer Buckles assumes it is he, but it is Gloria causing the children's laughter. When he finds out he is saddened by the news and refuses to return. The show is a bomb without him and because of the disasters that occur, he decides to return. I found the story itself to be sad because of the treatment Officer Buckles received from the children. There were thirty pages in the book all of which contained text and illustrations. This approach is different from that taken by Maurice Sendak, who chose to change his characters and text position with the turning of every page. In comparison to Where the Wild Things Are, this picture book has a much different style which only implies the difference in the authors. In Children's Literature Association Quarterly, there was a very interesting article by Jennifer Shaddock, on Where the Wild Things Are. This critical review examines the cultural influence of Sendak's book. Shaddock argues that Sendak "... offers us not only a psychological model of maturation, but a cultural one as well." (Shaddock, pg159)
This is apparent in Max's journey to a native land where he controls the wild things. The role of dominance Max plays is not a harmful message to send out to readers. Some of the same characteristics are found in Officer Buckle and Gloria, but most similar is that the messages are both positive. Both Sendak and Rathmann incorporate text and a vivid set of pictures that creates a wonderful picture book for children. Overall, I found Rathmann's picture book quite humorous and the pictures extremely creative. However, I have seen other picture books I found more interesting and complex. |
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1 Total 1 pages 7 items |
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