Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse
Written and Illustrated by Kevin Henkes
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
2004
Grade Levels: Pre-K -1
Theme: Forgiveness

Summary: Lilly adores her purple, plastic, purse and her teacher Mr. Slinger. It holds her glasses, quarters and plays music, but it starts to become a distraction in the classroom. Lilly gets very upset when Mr. Slinger talks to her about her purse and keeps it at his desk for the day. Lilly slips a mean drawing into Mr. Slinger's bag. Lilly gets her bag back at the end of the day and she finds a nice note in it from Mr. Slinger. She feels horrible for putting that mean note into Mr. Slinger's bag. Will he ever find a way to forgive her?

Reflection: This is a nice book about teaching children about apologizing and forgiveness. I think that younger children will really enjoy it.

Pre- Reading: I will activate prior knowledge by asking if anyone has ever gotten so mad that they did something they were not proud of and how they might have solved the problem. This is also a great book to read if focusing on the letter Pp for that day or week.

Post-Reading: I will give the children a worksheet that will say.. Lilly brought her purse to school. I would bring my blank to share. The students will write and draw a picture of what they would bring to school.


About the Author: 

Kevin Henkes is from Wisconsin. He wanted to be an author all through his childhood. He brought his portfolio to New York City in hopes to find a publisher. He found Green Willow Books. His first picture book, All Alone was published in 1981. He was nine-teen years old. He lives with his wife, daughter and son.