A BALL FOR DAISY

Bibliography: Raschka, Chris. A ball for Daisy. New York: Random House Inc./Schwartz & Wade, 2012. Print.   

ISBN 9780375858611

This entertaining wordless picture book allows kids to choose their own words to tell the story of a dog, a red ball and the day they were forever separated.   

Daisy is an energetic puppy; whose very innate behavior can be understood by even the youngest reader.  Daisy spends the majority of her day playing with her favorite red ball.  When her owner invites her to go outside she furiously wags her tail while looking at the ball.  Noting her request the owner takes Daisy and her red ball to the park where they enjoy playing a game of fetch.  Then another dog and her owner join the fun, unfortunately the other dog deflates Daisy’s beloved red ball.  Daisy returns home devastated.  After being consoled by her owner, Daisy returns to the park to find that the other dog and her owner have also returned to the park with a surprise for Daisy. 

Nothing unusual or out-of-the ordinary occurs in this book, but the illustrations grab at the heart as your own memory of losing a beloved possession comes to mind.  The devastation of losing a prized possession is universal.  So much so, that the story unfolds in a series of carefully sequenced illustrations.  The style of the illustrations is in watercolor. Brush strokes and colors rather than words were carefully chosen to convey Daisy’s emotions.  The backgrounds have just enough detail so as to move the story forward without diverting your attention from Daisy. 

Awards:

2012 Randolph Caldecott Medal Winner

Activities:

Memory Writing – Use this book with Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran, When I Was Little by Jamie Lee Curtis, and Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox, Each of these books are a type of memory writing. Read the books aloud with your students and then have them free write about memories of their own. Perhaps they want to write about something one of the books made them think of, or they may choose to write about other memory of their own choosing. Allow students a time to share and talk about their memories.

Older students may look up the role of dogs in history. For example, many American presidents had dogs that had noteworthy positions in their administrations, such as Franklin Roosevelt’s Scottie Fala. Sometimes soldiers would adopt a dog as a camp mascot. Why? Dogs have been used to search out the enemy, to search out landmines, to protect perimeters. Discuss the role of a dog as “Man’s Best Friend” in war as well as peace. Students may research the role of dogs in military roles or report on a dog that lived in the White House. (One picture book that ties in to this lesson is My Senator and Me by Ted Kennedy).

Related books:

Flotsam by David Wiesner

Why? By Nikolai Popovof Form

Bottom of Form

Reviews:

Ever the minimalist, Raschka continues to experiment with what is essential to express the daily joys and tribulations of humans and animals. This wordless story features Daisy, a dog. The motion lines framing her tail on the first page indicate that a big red ball is her chief source of delight… Raschka's genius lies in capturing the essence of situations that are deeply felt by children. They know how easy it is to cause an accident and will feel great relief at absorbing a way to repair damage.-Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library (Excerpt from School Library Journal, 2011)

Raschka uses fairly sophisticated comic-book arrangements— long, narrow, horizontal panels, and so forth—but masks them with soft watercolor edges instead of sharp corners. The result feels like something made of pure emotion, a pretty close approximation of what it’s probably like to be a dog. —Daniel Kraus (Excerpt from Book Links, 2011)

References:

Kraus, Daniel. 2011. "A Ball for Daisy." Booklist 107, no. 19/20: 90. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed January 26, 2014).

Lukehart, Wendy. 2011. "A Ball for Daisy." School Library Journal 57, no. 8: 82-83. Library & Information Science Source, EBSCOhost (accessed January 26, 2014).