Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum
Written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes
Publisher: Harper Collins
1996
Grade: Pre-K-2
Themes: Love, individuality and acceptance

Summary: Chrysanthemum loves her name. She loves how it sounds when she whispers it to herself in the bathroom mirror and when she sees it written on an envelope. When she starts school the children make fun of her because of her name. The children point out how long her name is, how it doesn't even fit on a name tage and how she is named after a flower. One day the children are at music class and their pregnant teacher overhears them making fun of Chrysanthemum and she tells the class that she is considering the name Chrysanthemum for her baby. It is then Chrysanthemum's school days go from dreadful to delightful.

Reflection: This is a cute book. I remember one of my teachers reading it and I liked it then and I still like it now! It is a book geared for younger students. Once the boys gets too old I do not think they will enjoy it very much. I enjoyed the happy ending when the student's begin to accept the name Chrysanthemum. I think teachers could do a lot of different activities with this book especially math activities.  The illustrations are very cute and they match the descriptions and actions in the text.

Pre-Reading: I will ask the children if they know what a Chrysanthemum is. I will tell them that it is a flower and then I will ask them to look at the cover and make a prediction about what the book is about and why they made that prediction.

Post-Reading: As a class we will graph how many letters there are in their first names. Children will think pair share with a partner telling them how many letters are in their name and then their partner will tell them how many letters they have in their name. Then we will talk about the characteristics of a graph and then I will ask each child how many letters are in their first names and we will graph each name and then talk about whose name had the most letters and whose name had the least and whose name had an equal amount of letters. 

About the Author:

Kevin Henkes is from Wisconsin. He wanted to be an author all through his childhood. He brought hos 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 nineteen years old. He lives with his wife, daughter and son.