No Roses for Harry!
Gene Zion
HarperTrophy
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Child pleasing read ... Highly recommended ... 5 stars

Harry, the white dog with black spots, gets a gift from Grandma. He is not too crazy about it. The present is a sweater, not just any sweater; his present is a hand-knitted sweater with big roses all over it. Harry hates it. He is just not a roses kind of guy. Harry is a white fellow with black spots.

Harry tried the sweater on, and it did feel all cozy and comfy. Nevertheless he didn't like the roses. Harry thought it was the silliest sweater he had ever seen. Harry was embarrassed; everyone laughed when he wore it, so he tried losing it...several times. No matter how hard he tried, someone always managed to find the sweater and bring it back. At last a mother bird swoops in and with a tug of her beak the sweater begins to disappear. Harry is a happy little pup. Black and white is the look he prefers.

And then, he learns Grandma is coming for a visit. Now he does not know what to do. He doesn't want Grandma to have hurt feelings, she WILL want to see him wearing the sweater, but he can't get the sweater back either. It is unraveled. What to do? Harry's family looks everywhere for the sweater, however they can't find it. When Grandma arrives, she and Harry take a walk in the park and up in a tree they see a bird with a nice new nest. It is a nest that looks just like Harry's sweater.

When Grandma goes home she knits another sweater for Harry. This time it is white with black spots.

My resident critics, 15 first graders settle in for listening; it is time for 'reading on the rug.' They hurry a little faster when the book I am holding is one of Gene Zion's, Harry books. They love Harry and his escapades.

"No Roses for Harry!" is a child pleasing story. Illustrations in muted colors and old fashioned art work sets the tone for the work. Harry first appeared way back, during the 1950s. I am using the copies today that I first began using some twenty plus years ago. My first graders then loved the books, today although worn and well used, they are loved, handled carefully and listened to raptly by this newest group of six year olds.

The popular hero of Harry the Dirty Dog fame does his best to be rid of Grandmother's gift. And when he finally succeeds; has to consider the ramifications of his behavior. He does love Grandma and doesn't want to hurt her feelings. The book provides good discussion starters for little folks as we talk about how to accept a gift we really would rather not have, how we don't want to hurt the feelings of someone when they are trying to do something nice for us, even if what they come up with is just awful.

I often hear that children are 'cruel', I have found that in general little people have not yet developed empathy and in general are not trying to be mean or nasty to one another. It is immaturity that causes children to blurt out the first thing that pops into their minds. Books such as No Roses for Harry! provide some of the grist for guiding children's understanding and empathy.

Each of the Harry books is filled with simple child friendly vocabulary, a problem to solve as Harry becomes involved in a serious situation and twists of plot to hold children's interest.

Gene Zion along with two-time Caldecott Honor winner Margaret Bloy Graham successfully created several long time favorite tales about Harry, including : Harry by the Sea, Harry the Dirty Dog, and No Roses for Harry. The illustrations compliment the narratives perfectly and add to the old fashioned feel of the work. First published in 1958 the pictures depicted in "No Roses for Harry!" are those of a small town such as the one in which I teach.

Images are simple, I like that children are not overwhelmed with too brilliant color or fussy too detailed images. The pictures are finished using quiet greens and oranges, black and white. Illustrator Bloy adds little touches such as bricks on the houses, and wallpaper on the walls. My resident critics look for earrings and other features in the images as they listen. Emotions are clearly portrayed on the faces of characters. My resident critics voice approval of the illustrations.

"No Roses for Harry!" receives 30 thumbs up from my resident critics. The book is a good choice for the pleasure reading list of children, and as an addition to the home, school, classroom and public library collection.

Happy to recommend.

Harry and the Lady Next Door (An I Can Read Picture Book)
Gene Zion
Margaret Bloy Graham
Harpercollins Childrens Books

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Child pleasing read ... Highly recommended ... 5 stars

Poor Harry. Everything was going so well, until a new lady moved next door. Harry likes ladies, no problem there. But this new lady is an opera singer. And she has moved into the house right next to Harry's. And, she practices. She practices all day long. She sings loud and she sings high. Really, really high. And she sings really, really loud.

The lady next door can sing louder than screaming cats, and the peanut vendor's whistle. She can even sing louder than a fire engine siren. Poor Harry, that singing hurts his ears. Harry does not like the tone. The tone is just too high and it is just too loud.

Harry is determined to silence the lady next door. He bites the piano leg, he howls, he herds cows. Maybe if the lady hears the lovely L-O-W sounds cows make she will begin to sing the same low tones. That doesn't work. He brings a band, the tuba makes a lovely low sound. Nothing works. At last he steals the lady's music only to discover that the lady does not need the music, she keeps right on singing.

At last the lady wins a contest and is offered an opportunity to study opera far, far away. Harry and his family go with the lady to say goodbye when she sets off in a big ship. As her ship sets sail, Harry can hear her singing. And then the ship's foghorn sounds. Harry was ecstatic, he thought it to be the most beautiful good-bye song he had ever heard!

"Harry and the Lady Next Door (An I Can Read Picture Book)" is another in our collection of 'Harry' books. Fifteen pairs of bright eyes fill with delight as my resident critics hurry to get ready for 'reading on the rug.' Harry and the Lady Next Door has been staple in my K-1 classroom from the first weeks when I began teaching in California some twenty years ago. The children loved it then, they love it now.

As a teacher, I particularly like the Harry books because the narrative presents Harry in a ticklish situation he works to solve, illustrations are low key and child friendly, no fussy over detailed or too bright images, in addition to a vocabulary aimed at beginning reader/listeners.

Pictures are full of activity without being over drawn or excessively detailed. Images are created using straight forward, high-spirited strokes. Milieu are calm and indistinct with ample white space on the page. Children's eyes are drawn immediately to Harry and his endeavors.

Children follow the narrative through listening and images, the book works well for discussion after the reading is finished; as well as for reading again as children tell the story to themselves from the illustrations.

"Harry and the Lady Next Door" finds our beloved white dog with the black spots Harry, up to his ears in misery. My resident critics follow the tale with rapt attention, even though we have read the story before and they know what is coming their attention does not waver as they crowd close and 'talk' the story with me. Each scheme Harry comes up to get the lady to stop singing so high and so loud is met with peals of giggles. The kids are charmed by the witty antics of this endearing dog.

I like the discussions which ensue as the children have become more articulate and able to verbalize that Harry's actions are not motivated from naughtiness, or a mean spirit, rather he is trying to first persuade the lady to just stop, and then after he realizes that lower tones do not hurt his ears, to change her mode of singing. He herds the cows and the band toward the lady's house in his effort to show her that lower tones are nicer than high, shrill ones.

"Harry and the Lady Next Door" gives the class the opportunity to discuss how and why BIG loud voices in the classrooms can cause us problems just as the lady and her shrill, loud voice caused problems for Harry.

Thirty thumbs up from 15 bright eyed first graders in Osage County, Oklahoma. "Harry and the Lady Next Door" is a good choice for children's pleasure reading, as well as belonging on the classroom reading shelf, the school and public library list and for homeschoolers reading offerings. Happy to recommend.