Book Description

The character Rotten Ralph was created more than twenty years ago. Now the worlds most rotten cat and his friend, Sarah, set out again on a variety of capricious capers. In three brand-new boisterously entertaining stories, Rotten Ralph is sure to weasel his way into the hearts of another generation of readers. In Back to School for Rotten Ralph, summer is over, and Sarah cant wait to start school and make some new friendsother than her rotten cat, Ralph. But Ralph wants to be Sarahs only friend, and he won't be left behind. When Sarah boards the school bus, he disguises himself as a student, follows her to class, and starts his scheme of sabotage. Ralphs plan works brilliantly until his true identity is revealed and the entire class wants to be friends with Sarah and Ralph!

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Reviews (1)

Explores sibling jealousy in a unique way
Here's a book about the first day of school that doesn't have the main character dreading her first day of school. On the contrary, Sarah is excited at the thought of making new friends.

But not everyone in the household is as happy for Sarah. In fact, Ralph, Sarah's rotten red cat, is doing everything he can to sabotage her school day: he sets back her clock, draws all over her new school dress and tries to trick her into staying home by faking an illness.

When Ralph gets the bright idea to follow Sarah to school, his antics get her in trouble and keep her from making new friends. Fans of Rotten Ralph--this is the ninth book in the series--know that all's well that ends well, but first-time readers may be a bit put off by Ralph, who seems just a tad too mean.

Rubel's chunky illustrations are colorful and bold. Her rendering of Ralph captures his true spirit right on the money...he's bright red with pointy ears and a devilish grin.

Gantos' book would be a good way to explore the jealousy that younger siblings might feel when an older brother or sister gets to try a new and exciting experience that they don't. Younger children might not recognize themselves in Rotten Ralph and his outrageous tactics, but I'm betting that parents will. ... Read more

Book Description

In desperation, Sarah sends Rotten Ralph to feline finishing school. Will Ralph's mischief finally be a thing of the past? ... Read more

Reviews (5)

The ultimate felonious feline
There are certain unchangeable constants in this world.The tides.The phases of the moon.And the love children will always have for naughty, bad, not-so-very-nice behavior.It is this love that has made "The Cat In the Hat" a picture book classic, and that has raised David Shannon's, "No, David!" from obscurity to beloved bedtime must.And though "Rotten Ralph" is not original in terms of bad-pet-wreaks-havoc (the best version of which, by the way, is Joan Aiken's, "Arabel's Raven"), it is certainly one of the more original and visually stimulating of its kind.There will always be certain fuddy duddy parents out there that dislike "Rotten Ralph" on the basis of its content (i.e. naughtiness to them=evil incarnate).But there will also always be parents who recognize why children love Ralph's wicked ways, and shall purchase accordingly.

Ralph is a cat that, as his owner Sarah puts it is, "sometimes ... very hard to love".He delights in tormenting those around him.When Sarah practices ballet, Ralph makes fun of her.When she has a tea party, he takes precisely one bite out of each cookie.When she's swinging (and I'm not entirely certain that the term "rotten" quite covers this one) he saws off the branches of the tree she hangs from.All this comes to a head when the family, with Ralph in tow, goes to the circus.Ralph engages in out-and-out highly despicable behavior, causing Sarah's father to insist that the fam abandon Ralph to the circus itself.By doing so, Ralph learns humility and how to fend for himself.And when at last he is reunited with the ever-caring Sarah, he tries not to be so very rotten after all. "Except for sometimes when Mother cooked lobster for dinner".

Author Jack Gantos originally wrote this tale in 1976, and it allowed him to jump start his lucrative career as a children's author.Since that time he has gone on to write the incredibly well-written "Joey Pigza" series (if you haven't you MUST run out and read "Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key" at once!) as well as the fabulous young adult autobiography, "Hole In My Life".And it all started with one malicious and very naughty kitty.Ralph's actions are, of course, despicable.In fact, they're often so ludicrously terrible that they strike great guffaws of laughter from the audience.Of course, the story feels like exactly what it is.A writer's first picture book.It's a fine little piece but it doesn't have the ease and sophistication of the later "Ralph" books.In fact, most parents probably wouldn't have even noticed its existence if Mr. Gantos hadn't been paired with illustrator Nichole Rubel.Ms. Rubel has worked on other children's books, it's true.But when she has reached the end of her too brief life and joined the choir invisible, one cannot help but think that what Ms. Rubel will be most remembered for will be her participation in the "Rotten Ralph" series.After all, she imbues him with such life, verve, and wanton (not to say gleeful) destruction that long after reading the story, the image of him is burned deeply into one's brain.Now, the book does suffer from containing zippo people of color (unless you count the questionable fellow on a camel, midway through the tale) so don't expect much in the way of multiculturalism here.Then again, this is a problem through the entire series, so I shouldn't have been too surprised.And the pictures do sometimes strike you as slightly modified William Steigs (later Steig, of course) in their wavy nightmarish way.So if you've a child who fears the wiggly, avoid this book at all costs.

Otherwise, it's a perfectly good story about a perfectly awful pet.Unlike some of the other "Ralph" books, the cat in this tale faces a mighty good comeuppance for his crimes.Kids will enjoy his foibles just as much as they clamor to read about some of his other adventures.A fun and deeply disturbing tale.

Rotten but loveable
Of all the books that I read to my son when he was young, "Rotten Ralph" was one of my--and his--favorites.The artwork is incredible--very kinetic and colorful, a combination of Keith Haring and Outsider Art.The story is written with great wit, and one can sympahize with the poor heroine trying to get her unruly cat to behave--kind of like she's the parent and Ralph's the child.Yeah, Ralph's behavior is really rotten, but Sarah loves him anyway.Sound familiar?Like Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are," "Rotten Ralph" project a child's fears to an imaginary realm where they can be dealt with safely.It's a great piece of children's literature.

Bad Kitty!
Ralph is a very bad kitty, as is generally what cats thrive on being.He is often rude, knocks things over, disrupts social occasions, makes sport of preying on pet birds, fish or rodents, and purposely exacerbates the one annoying, albeit universally inherent, trait in dogs:obnoxiousness.After one especially horrid, feline-induced fiasco at the circus, Sarah's father determines that he's had enough of Ralph and gives him the boot.Ralph's consequential homeless journey thus necessitates him a good look inwardly, seeking the key to whatever could possibly save him from being lost forever to his comfortable home and family...

Not so very many years ago, I had the very great pleasure of reading over and over and over, and over immeasurable, this fine tale of haphazardness, naughtiness, chastisement, and redemption.So I'll now tell you a little tale of my own - a personal pathway, of sorts, toward eminent endearment of this sweet little book:

Several years ago, a little child went with her mother and father to a book signing in downtown Chicago.The name of the book escapes me now, but alas, it's irrelevant to this story.John Lydon ("Johnny Rotten" of Sex Pistols fame) was doing the signing for some newly published writing affair at a trendy north side bookstore.As Mr. Rotten has always had a great dedicated following, the line for this book, to be graced with his signature, was immensely long.The little girl, wearing a pink winter coat and purple ribbons in her hair, was the only child present in a snaking line omnipresent in the aisles throughout with multiply tattooed and body-pierced fans.Yet she was neither intimidated nor gainsaid as she quietly recited her favorite nursery rhymes, picking up to browse each prettily covered book she saw.She was ever patient, and even after over an hour of waiting would smile sweetly to strangers' questions and comments as she held onto her mother's hand.

Finally, after what seemed like an infinitesimal wait, she and her parents reached the front portion of the line. Then, all hearts fell as the gentleman just ahead of her family, a tall thin young man with long silky black & blue-streaked hair and an earring was told the featured book had just sold out - that there were absolutely no more copies.Dejected and deflated, all those remaining in the line began to take their leave.

This little girl, however, would have nothing of it."But we came here for a book!" she cried loud enough for anyone in the store to hear, "I want that book!"Before either of her parents could chastise her for this outburst, Mr. Rotten spoke up with that beautifully enunciated British accent he has, and said, "You want a book?I'm sorry...uh, but we...Wait - This child wants a book! - Oh yes, never fear, little one; I will get you a book."A consummate gentleman, he merely snapped his fingers to one of his assistants and pointed to a nearby display at the edge of the children's section, and said, "I want to give her that book."

ROTTEN RALPH was the chosen book's title.My daughter's copy is signed by Johnny Rotten, the inside jacket adorned with a Polaroid photo taken of herself, her new book, and the kindest punk rock star on earth.Truly, upon many a night for perhaps the next two years that followed, ROTTEN RALPH was included in our nightly ritual of bedtime stories.And though our cat George was often annoyed that he was forced to sit, listen and learn, neither my girl nor I ever tired of reading it.

A Bad, Bad Cat
Rotten Ralph is Sarah's bad, bad cat, and she loves him. Her parents tolerate him...until the unforgivable. Ralph ends up on his own, cold, lonely and miserable, and regretting his evil ways. Most of the time.

Extreme, crazy, and a little more than rotten sometimes. The drawings aren't traditional, which makes "Rotten Ralph" even more fun for kids to read and look at.

Hilarious and surprising!
This book is hilarious.The bathos of Ralph's predicament isdevastatingly funny.He deserves everything he gets.During one scene,the author slips in a perhaps unconscious homage to the famous nose episodeof the Brady Bunch, when the owner of a dog is heard to exclaim "mydog!" ... Read more

Book Description

Rotten Ralph is even rotten on his birthday, finally forcing poor Sarah to take drastic measures. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A lesson in ineffective parenting
This is one of the most awful books I have ever read!Rotten Ralph is a cat. He does a long list of awful things, like putting toothpaste into his mistress's slippers. She keeps threatening to cancel his birthday party because he's been so bad. But she never follows through and cancels it -- he just keeps doing bad things, and she just keeps on threatening the same threat but not following through.At one point Ralph thinks that she really did cancel the birthday party and he is sad about it. But then it turns out that there's a surprise birthday party for him after all. His mistress says, "You know I love you too much to cancel your birthday party." It is such an exercise in ineffective parenting that it really makes me cringe. One of the basic rules of discipline is that you should only ever threaten consequences that you are willing to follow through on, and then if the child earns the consequence, you need to follow through on what you said you'd do, preferably swiftly, and preferably not after a bunch of bad behavior and endless threats. It felt to me like Rotten Ralph's mistress had really created a climate where Ralph could continually behave badly, where he knew he didn't have to listen to what she asked, where he came to think of himself as a Rotten cat who does lots of Rotten things.

So this book is not my pick for great children's literature. ... Read more

Book Description

Rotten Ralph makes an earnest attempt at good behavior but is enticed, not too reluctantly, into a series of misadventures by some ruffian alley cats. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Rotten Ralph: You've got to love him
As a child therapist, I have found the Rotten Ralph books to be very useful and popular among my clients. In Worse Than Rotten Ralph, we once again find Ralph, the amazingly painted red cat, being very, very bad. In this story, Ralph is challenged by some alley cats and goes on to prove that he can be just as rotten as they. Kids get a thrill out of seeing just what trouble Ralph and his friends will get into next. Some adults might fear that such mischief will encourage acting out among children, but I find that these stories actually help children externalize their own mischievous impulses. They can experience badness vicariously through Ralph and breathe a sigh of relief when Sarah, his owner, once again says, "I love you anyway." As an adult and a cat lover, I am endlessly entertained by the clever details hidden in each illustration. Even after reading this book over and over, I am still discovering new things. ... Read more

Book Description

Sarah's rotten cat, Ralph, goes to a Halloween costume party disguised as Sarah and creates horrible mischief. "Ralph's unpenitent devilry has great appeal for children, and this story's use of role reversal provides a thought-provoking twist." -- Publishers Weekly ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Up to his usual rotten antics - spraying whipped cream all over the kitchen and jumping out of the mailbox - Rotten Ralph gets sent to Feline Finishing School. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Rotten Book
This book would be endurable without the text. The low point is on page 24 when "Sarah awarded Ralph with a celebration." The text should read, of course, Sarah rewarded Ralph with a celebration. This glaring error should have been caught by a reasonably capable editor, so perhaps this book was published without being proofread...or perhaps it was published without having been read at all. Sloppy grammar and uninspired story-construction are all too common in fiction, especially children's books, and this insipid story is an egregious example of irresponsible book publishing.

Another great Rotten Ralph story!
"Not so Rotten Ralph" is one of my favorite books of the series. My five year old brother laughs and laughs each time we read it! The illustrator again adds to the plot with cleaver details - tell your child to pay close attention to the pictures! ... Read more

Book Description

Sarah takes Ralph to school so he can do his ABC's for show and tell, but as usual, the rotten cat refuses to cooperate. ... Read more

Book Description

Ralph outdoes himself again in this picture book of wedding bliss and bedlam.

It's Aunt Martha's wedding day and Sarah is the flower girl, but Ralph is determined to turn this celebration into an event only our favorite rotten cat could enjoy. He begins by wrapping the wedding gift with that special Ralph flair, then selecting some choice "petals" for Sarah to spread over the guests. After a riotous ceremony, he tops the day by wreaking havoc at the reception.

"Oh, Ralph you were so rotten," bemoans Sarah. Is there anything that cat will do to make her happy? You'll be surprised...

Sarah's the flower girl at Aunt Martha's wedding, and Ralph is ready to tie all kinds of knots--but are they the kind that will make for marital bliss? If they involve a red cat, a monster truck, and paws full of snails, you can guess the answer. The question to be popped is: After a day of nuptial sabotage, can Ralph still make Sarah smile? Once again, Jack Gantos and Nicole Rubel manage to bring equal measures of love and nastiness to Sarah's special cat.

00 Children's Choices (IRA/CBC)

Reviews (3)

Another great Rotten Ralph story!
I also loved this book - in fact, I am giving it to both the flower girl and the ring bearer for my wedding this summer! I am not worried that they will emulate Rotten Ralph's behavior - kids know that Ralph does bad things. The books are funny because they are too outragous to be real!

Rotten Ralph Takes The Cake
I was quite upset for Ralph's sake when I read such an unfavorable review of this hilarious book that had been previously posted. I am 26, work in the childrens' section of our local library, and I am in charge of our story hours, and I love Rotten Ralph! I have ordered just about every Ralph book for our library. I wish that the library would have had these books in stock when I was a child because I would have been encouraged to read beacause they are nothing but pure fun! Sadly, our library never had them due to the bleeding heart goodie goodie mentality of librarians from ages past. I find that the children DO NOT copy Ralph's behavior and actions but they simply laugh along with them and have a good time. Reading should be fun, remember? We have far too many sickly-sweet moral filled books with quaint illustrations collecting dust on our library shelves that NO CHILD ever reads. We can't keep a Rotten Ralph in stock. Let children read what they enjoy! Personally, I can't wait to see what Rotten Ralph's latest adventure will be. I wish Ralph was at the last wedding I attended beacuse it certainly would have been much more fun! Don't let those goody-goody people get you down Ralph!

Ralph is just a bit TOO rotten!!
Frankly, I'm not fond of Ralph... Call me an old granny, call me a bleeding heart, call me cute as a button (to borrow from "Cheers"), but Ralph just doesn't do it for me.

I can see where the average 7-9 year old (probably male) would find Ralph's antics hysterical and most likely would secretly wish to do the same thing THEMSELVES at a wedding party, but a good book does not this make.

One of the things I find bothersome is that Ralph-- as per usual-- destroys everything in his path WITH NO CONSEQUENCES WHATSOEVER. The snails, the ride down the aisle on the bride's dress, the knocking over the tent after too much wedding cake (a coworker of mine read the book and exclaimed, "He's DRUNK!!"); all of it Ralph does and not a single person (almost all of whom are White-- the book isn't exactly a paradigm of multiculturalism) chastises him for his behavior.

At the end, a tear in her eye, Ralph's owner, Sarah, tells Ralph he's ruined everything (no kidding!). Ralph, in a co-dependent, enabling-like move, presents Sarah with the bouquet he's caught and all is forgiven.

Maybe I'm being too stodgy and humorless, but I feel that children are generally ALREADY getting away with quite a bit without adult chastisement, so to hold up Ralph as an example of how to ruin EVERYTHING and still be forgiven is not, IMHO, a worthy ideal to pass along to our children. ... Read more

Book Description

Rotten Ralph is not at all nice to the Christmas visitor. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Rotten Ralph's Rotten Christmas
Perfect for mischievious children who need to know they are always loved. Jealousy as an emotion is dealt with at a young child's level. Illustrations are comedic. My second graders gave it a thumbs up. ... Read more

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Reviews (3)

Rotten Ralph walks, reads, shakes and looks like an Egyptian
As an educator it is always a treat to discover new ways of tricking young students into learning things and that is what we have here with "Rotten Ralph Helps Out," the first volume to be A Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader. Written by Jack Gantos and illustrated by Nicole Rubel, the title has to do with Rotten Ralph's attempts, such as they are, to help young Sarah with her school project on ancient Egypt. At first, Rotten Ralph is dismissive of Sarah's enthusiasm, but then he learns that the ancient Egyptians were the first people to have cats for pets. Of course, Rotten Ralph's efforts to help tend to backfire, even when he is actually trying to do something for Sarah rather than just for himself. Still, in the end, Rotten Ralph is able to help out in the end.

What makes this book fun is that every little thing Sarah does, from dancing to shaking hands, has something to do with ancient Egypt. Gantos and Rubel work in about a dozen such factoids all within the context of the story (and Sarah's research). Rotten Ralph is news to me, although I have since learned he has been misbehaving in books for a quarter of a century and in now finding news ways of being bad in an animated series (in Greece, Rotten Ralph is known as Ralf o Kakomathimenos, a.k.a. Ralph the Badly Behaved). A book like "Rotten Ralph Helps Out" is the sort that would make a teacher of young students want to do a unit on the ancient Egyptians, even if they were not thinking of doing so. However, Kiara, my own cat, refrained from making any comments on this book whatsoever...

Walk Like A Rotten Feline!
Jack Gantos' adorably mischievous feline, Rotten Ralph, is at it again! Sarah has a big project due for school about Ancient Egypt and she desperately wants Ralph to assist her. In typical Ralph fashion, however, Ralph wants to do anything but what his ever-so-patient "owner" Sarah wants him to do. Gantos uses the conversations between Sarah and Ralph to inform readers about various aspects of life and culture in Ancient Egypt, but does so in such a way that it doesn't come across as "teachy," but entertaining instead. From the fact that Ancient Egyptians regarded cats as super-special deities to the fact that Ancient Egyptians were the first to invent pancakes, the material presented in this new chapter-book approach from Gantos and Rubel will interest and appeal to children who are ready to graduate from the previous Rotten Ralph books to something they can manage on their own. Rubel's artwork is as charming as ever and Gantos' wit is matchless as Ralph takes on a whole new format of fun and frolic! Sooooooooo cool! A definite winner.

Rotten Ralph in the Classroom
Rotten Ralph is at it again, as mean and self-serving as ever! Sarah is trying to do a school project on the ancient Egyptians and their culture. Ralph could not care less. UNTIL he realizes just how important all of this is to Sarah and how very much she wants his assistance (as well as how much interference he has run in tangling up all her plans!). Gantos takes the ever-lovable, but cantankerous, feline he has masterfully perfected in previous Rotten Ralph books and stepped up the pace to a chapter-book format. Gantos exposes readers to various interesting Egyptian facts throughout the course of the book without ever boring them or "beating" a lesson into them (i.e., Egyptians invented pancakes). Rubel's illustrations are as right-on as ever. Soooooo cool, Gantos! A real winner! ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

The Return of Rotten Ralph!
Rotten Ralph the mischievous cat returns in another great story in the series. When a touring Faire comes to town, super-confident (and lazy?) Ralph loses all the booth games to his cousin Percy, and Percy gives the prizes to the beloved Sarah.
Ralph cheats (he's sometimes clever, sometimes just downright rotten) and wins some games, but he eventually owns up to his dishonesty. After making it up to the booth operators, Ralph finally--and honestly--wins a prize at the dunking booth.

I love the Rotten Ralph series, especially for Nicole Rubel's rich, color-saturated illustrations. She uses beautiful, unusual colors (sometimes recalling Matisse), and her sense of fun complements Jack Gantos' underplayed humor. Gantos wrote a great line for Sarah on the last page: "'Oh, Ralphie,' she said. 'You don't need any practice at being my winner.'" 48 pages divided into four small chapters. The jacket informs us that "an animated series based on...Rotten Ralph is now appearing on television in over 20 countries. In France, Ralph is known as Ralph la Racaille (Ralph the Rascal." I recommend also Nicole Rubel's great "Cyrano the Bear." ... Read more

Book Description

"Nothing can scare me!" shouts Ralph -- not even a creaky, old haunted house on Halloween.Ralph wanders through the monster mansion and unbolts Frankenstien's head, grosses out a ghoul, and drinks a vampire's mug o'blood.But the fright-fest isn't over just yet... Ralph's friend Sarah has saved the best spine-tingler for last. Peel back the flaps in this spooktacular gatefold book to see all of Rotten Ralph's hilarious Halloween tricks!

... Read more

Book Description

This Thanksgiving, Sarah's cat, Ralph, has something extra to be thankful for: his cat-cousin Percy is cooking the big turkey -- with Ralph as junior chef. Will dinner ever be served?Pull back the flaps to see each of Ralph's deliciously rotten Thanksgiving pranks!

Book Description

Santa Claus is coming to town and Rotten Ralph is determined to make a purr-fect impression. Can the world's naughtiest cat be nice for Christmas.

Pull back the flaps to see Rotten Ralph's hilarious Christmas catastrophes as he and Sarah deck the halls ... Read more

Book Description

Sarah wakes Ralph up with a great big kiss. "Happy Valentine"s Day!" she says.Rotten Ralph hides under his pillow. Sarah is very excited to take Ralph to Petunia"s Valentine"s Day Party.But Ralph will do almost anything to avoid the party and drippy Valentine kisses! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Amusing, but unsatisfactory
This is an amusing story. Kids will like the humor and naughtiness. However, the story makes me uneasy. There are seemingly no bad consequences for the cat's misbehavior. He doesn't care that he hurt another cat's feelings. And I am turned off by Ralph the cat being his owner Sarah's favorite valentine. ... Read more