Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun

 

Dismondy, Maria. Spaghetti in a Hotdog Bun. Independant Publishers Group, 2008.

Genre: Fiction

Lexile: 610L
Additional info:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4339862-spaghetti-in-a-hot-dog-bun

Summary: Lucy likes to eat her spaghetti out of a hotdog bun. She is fun and unique but a mean boy at her school does not like the way Lucy eats. Throughout this book, we learn how to stand up to bully's, embrace our uniqueness and to not be afraid to be ourselves. This story encourages students to always do whats right, even when it is hard.

Target Audience: I think grades 1-4 would respond best to this picture book. This book has a wonderful message about how to stand up for yourself in tough situations and stay true to who you are, which would be great for 1st-4th graders to hear.

Evaluation: Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun meets a lot of the criteria and standards that Donna Norton lays out in the text book. I think this book would be considered high quality literature for young students with a great message. The illustrations in this book are great and I know students would love the detailed pictures on each page. The theme of this story, having the courage to be who you are, also meets the criteria that Donna describes in our text book. This book will be fun for students to read and the theme is also important and meaningful.

Reader Response Activity: After reading Spaghetti in a Hotdog Bun out loud to the class I would take the opportunity to talk about what makes all of US special and unique. I would do some sort of activity where the students could draw self portraits and then have them fill in a blank that says, "I am special because....." And see what they come up with! Maybe we could even have a snack of spaghetti in a hotdog bun one day. :)