Practice Makes Perfect for Rotten Ralph: A Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader

Rotten Ralph the mischievous cat returns in another great story in the series. When a touring Faire comes to town, super-confident (and lazy?) Ralph loses all the booth games to his cousin Percy, and Percy gives the prizes to the beloved Sarah. Ralph cheats (he's sometimes clever, sometimes just downright rotten) and wins some games, but he eventually owns up to his dishonesty. After making it up to the booth operators, Ralph finally--and honestly--wins a prize at the dunking booth.I love the Rotten Ralph series, especially for Nicole Rubel's rich, color-saturated illustrations. She uses beautiful, unusual colors (sometimes recalling Matisse), and her sense of fun complements Jack Gantos' underplayed humor. Gantos wrote a great line for Sarah on the last page: "'Oh, Ralphie,' she said. 'You don't need any practice at being my winner.'" 48 pages divided into four small chapters. The jacket informs us that "an animated series based on...Rotten Ralph is now appearing on television in over 20 countries. In France, Ralph is known as Ralph la Racaille (Ralph the Rascal." I recommend also Nicole Rubel's great "Cyrano the Bear."