Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse

Henkes, K. (1996). Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse. Illus. Kevin Henkes. New York: Greenwillow Books.

Brief Annotation: Lilly is a loveable kindergartner who enjoys EVERYTHING about school. She loves her teacher and someday wants to be a teacher just like Mr. Slinger. One day, Lilly brings her cherished purple plastic pursue to school and is bouncing with excitement to show everyone! She keeps interrupting the class until Mr. Slinger has to take away the purse for the day. Lilly gets so mad that she writes a mean note about Mr. Slinger. She immediately regrets her decision and finds a way to apologize for her actions.

Genre: Picture book, animal fantasy, comedy

Grade Level: K-2

Readers who will like this: Readers in kindergarten, readers who have an important possession, readers who have done something they regret and followed their conscience.

Respone/ Rating: 4 – I am considering this book for a read aloud session with kindergartners, I enjoyed it so much!

One question you would ask before a read aloud? What is one thing you own that you really love and enjoy telling people about?

Reading Strategies Connection: A good instructional strategy that would be beneficial in this story is “Shared Reading” (Tompkins, p. 109). Shared reading is a step between reading aloud and children independently reading. Teachers would use this strategy to introduce books that children can’t quite read on their own. Students would have their own text in front of them so that they can see the text and silently read along as the teacher demonstrates fluency. “Shared Reading” works because it develops fluency and comprehension for primary grades and English learners. The teacher introduces the story and does a picture walk through the book. Then the teacher reads the text aloud and points to the words as she/he reads. They initiate a conversation about the story and ask questions to develop comprehension. After a few days, the teacher returns to the story and invites students to read the familiar or predictable words like, “Wow…that was just about all Mr. Slinger could say….wow.” The teachers can invite the children at higher reading levels to read independently.