Lilly is a little girl mouse who loves everything about school; she loves her desk, her pencils, and most of all; she loves her teacher, Mr. Slinger. She goes to school everyday looking forward to listening to her teacher and helping him as much as possible. One weekend she goes shopping with her “Grammy” and gets a new pair of sunglasses, three shiny quarters and a purple plastic purse that plays music when it’s opened. She cannot wait to take her new things to school and show them to her classmates. During and after school, Lilly learns a very good lesson and decides that she wants to be just like Mr. Slinger again and be a teacher when she grows up. In every situation, there is a lesson to be learned.
Kevin Henkes books can be very helpful to young children because of the lessons that can be taught to an individual. I can relate to Lilly in this story because there were times when I was younger that I wanted to do a particular thing and had to wait and I just couldn’t. With my actions always came consequences, as the same with Lilly in this story. She got her purse taken away for disturbing the class. There is always a time for everything and I think with this story it portrays a students idea of a teacher very well. This is how children think, or so I believe this is the way children think, when something bad happens to them in front of peers, they are embarrassed. When finishing the story, everything always works out for the best. I followed Lilly’s character very closely in this story, trying to see her view of things as well as an outsider’s view. I could see that she was about to get in trouble and then I could feel her anger. Lilly made me remember that jumping to conclusions is never good and can only lead to regret. The style of Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse is one that is shown in many of K. Henkes books. The author uses third-person perspective to tell the story as someone who is omniscient. This story was constructed with a plot that has multiple conflicts. Lilly is put up against her teacher, person-against-person, when her belongings are taken away from her but then has a fight against herself, person-against-self, when she discovers that the teacher was only doing his job and was still the nice teacher that she believed him to be.
When choosing books, I am always drawn to illustrations. The art of anything definitely catches my eye and the illustrator’s use of color is what draws me into a book. I now, not only read books, but I pay very close attention to the detail of how characters are created so that I can get a sense of their personality. Makes reading fun!
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