Diane Chen

6th grader review # 2
June 25, 2008

Roscoe Riley Rules #1 – Never Glue Your Friends to Chairs

By Katherine Applegate

Illustrated by Brian Biggs

HarperTrophy/imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

New York

2008

According to Laura it is the most chaotic book she has ever read, but she absolutely loved it. Roscoe Riley is funny and slightly strange and has some good friends. 

Roscoe starts out in the time-out corner. He overhears his teacher talking to another teacher and draws the wrong conclusion. He is trying to save the teacher’s job.

The class is doing a performance about bees. The drummers can’t really behave. Their antennae don’t really fit their heads. Roscoe is sent back to class to get the antennae. He finds some glue and puts it on the antennae to keep them from moving. Then Roscoe gets the idea to put the glue on the drummer’s chairs so that they won’t get up and move around. At the end of the play when the drummers were asked to take off their antennae and go to the room, everyone realizes that something is wrong. The teacher, the parents, everyone couldn’t believe that he did that. The teacher understood Roscoe’s intentions.

He gets into trouble by trying to help. He doesn’t mean to cause problems, it just happens.

It is written in first person. Most of the time Roscoe is talking to you as opposed to the people in the story. 

Good read aloud for first graders. Second and third graders could read it independently.

Note from Diane:

Ever read a book that was so perfect for the age intended that you couldn't wait to share it with others? That's how I felt when I found Roscoe Riley. I just can't stop sharing him with others. Everyone who has read Roscoe reads more. 

Don't you appreciate hearing from a 6th grader about this book written for beginning readers? Do you have teachers and older students looking for read-alouds for younger classes? Remember Roscoe.

Posted by Diane Chen on June 25, 2008 | Comments (1)