Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes

Ages 5-9

4 stars

            Chrysanthemum absolutely loves her name.  But she changes her mind, when she starts school and her classmates make fun of it.  In the end she finds out her teacher has a long name and is also named after a flower.  Then all of her classmates start to think her name is really cool.

            I love this book.  I think I can relate to Chrysanthemum in the sense that I really love my name too.  Salena is a beautiful and unique name just like Chrysanthemum.  But I cannot relate to being made fun of for it.  The watercolor paintings with black pen were used for the illustrations in this book.  They bring warmth and character to the pages.  Oh did I mention the characters in the book are mice? It is something that is only seen through the images, not the text.  Also, one of my favorite pages in the book is the page where she is playing Parcheesi with her family after her horrible first day of school.  I like it because the father is reading a book titled, “The Inner Mouse Vol.1 Childhood Anxiety” Here the illustration is expanding the text farther by showing that the parents are reassuring her but are still concerned for their daughter. 

            This book is a wonderful representation of bullying in the school setting.  I am not sure I really like the resolution Henkes provided. It seems unrealistic that the teacher would also have a long name that is also named after a flower, and then suddenly everyone wants to be just like her.  Who is to say that the children wouldn’t start making fun of the teacher as well?  A classroom activity could be making new illustrations for the text.  Maybe have each child interpret one of the pages in the book and then put all of the pictures together.