Maria DismondyReseñas

Independent Reading Level: K-3

Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun is a powerful story about following your heart and having the courage to be who you are. I love the message of understanding , acceptance and kindness shared in the story.

Sweet Lucy is different from the other children : she has beautiful and wild curly hair, and her favorite lunch is Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun. Most of the other kids are her friends and accept her difference. But Ralph is a bully and enjoys making fun of her. Of course Lucy is sad and scared, but despite these feelings, she chooses to make the good choices and do what she thinks is right.

The art is truly adorable, and I really love the strong message of the book !

This story is about a boy named Johnny who has very narrow minded attitude towards the new classmate in his class, Gabe for crying before school began. However in the end of the book Johnny starts to develop empathy for Gabe and befriends him. This book is a good book to help your students develop empathy. I would say this book is primarily targeted towards primary grade students.

This story is about having empathy and learning about students who might not speak the same language. This would be perfect in a classroom where there are both EL students and English speaking students. I think in a 1st-3rd grade classroom this book would be a great reminder to be kind to other students. I might use this book in the first few weeks of school.

Primary
Johnny struggles to connect with Gabe, who doesn't speak English, but learns empathy.
This book is written by an ESOL teacher so it has good strategies for including ELL students.

This would be a good read aloud for primary aged students.
This book is about a mindset change from the main character Johnny, towards a new Spanish speaking student named Gabe. Johnny views Gabe as less than because he saw him crying on the first day of school and because he doesn't know how to speak English, but eventually Johnny understands Gabe's struggles and feels empathy towards him.
I wouldn't choose to put this book in my classroom because neither the author or illustrator are part of the Hispanic community and while the story focuses on empathy and diversity, I would choose a better book to represent my Spanish speaking students that is written by an author from Latinx culture or that better highlights Latinx culture.

If everyone where the same, the world would be boring! Lucy began her morning with a reminder from papa that the most important thing in life is to be kind. That day, Ralph laughed at her and teased her all day long, especially when she put spaghetti in a hot dog bun at school. She got home from school feeling very bad about herself and had a hard time going back to school. She was finally brave enough to tell Ralph to STOP! Later, Ralph finds himself in some trouble on the monkey bars. Even though she wanted to tell him how she really felt and how mean he was, but she remembered what Papa would do instead. She helped him down. She felt so good about herself, Ralph was kind to her, and she learned a very important lesson-just be you!

This book highlights the experiences of a boy who doesn't speak any English coming into an English speaking school. The book wouldn't be that bad if the main problem wasn't that a different boy was bullying him. It centers around this student who doesn't want the new boy there and bully him the whole time. While it was a positive idea, the execution was not good.

This book is about a new student who has a Hispanic culture and starts his first day at school in the United States. He has a hard time learning how to communicate and does not feel welcomed by all the students. He feels as though he sticks out because of his lack of English words, but in the end, the class is able to come together and not judge him because of his culture.

This book is about a little boy who at first is looked at as weird and a cry baby by a boy in his class. He slowly starts to win the heart of his peers as the accept who he is and help guide him through his struggle with English. This is such a good book to teach students the importance of acceptance and empathy! It does a really good job at showing the perspective of both the ELL and the other students where in the end everyone finds a sense of belonging and friendship.

This is a great story for young, primary-aged readers. It encourages individualism and doing the right thing in the face of criticism. The protagonist (Lucy), is not treated well by a fellow student. She is teased and mocked by him. However, she doesn't waver in her sense of self and what she likes and enjoys. Eventually, she wins the student over when she is kind and helpful to him when he needs it the most.
Students will come away encouraged to be kind and gracious to one another and be more accepting of differences.

The story is well written and the plot is easy to follow for young readers. It is beautifully and vibrantly illustrated, which make the story come even more alive.

This is another great book we read while I was in class getting to experience the field. The kids loved this book and it made for a fun activity. In class my mentor teacher used this as a book to have kids write about a time they were courageous. I liked that and I think I might do something like that in the future.

Mirror book

Spaghetti in a Hotdog Bun

This is one of my favorite books to read to my kids at the preschool because it shares such a great message, in a way that kids can understand. Sometimes the topics of differences, kindness and compassion are hard to explain to kids, but this book follows the main character, Lucy, throughout her day to share how she is kind, even when others aren’t. The illustrations in the book are great too, and help add to the meaning of the story.

Johnny is not a fan of the new student Gabe because he saw him crying as his mom was dropping him off to school. Gabe does not speak any English and is new to the school. It takes Johnny a long while to accept Gabe. This book is very disappointing. I wish it was written from Gabe's perspective as opposed to the bully Johnny's. I get that this is supposed to teach a lesson of empathy but the majority of this picture book seems to focus on very negative thoughts and I believe there are many other ways to get the proper message across.
Here's a direct quote from the book "Johnny didn't smile. He didn't like boys who cried." Children should not have to read something like this because it could unknowingly instill the stigma that boys and men should not cry.

Lucy is being teased at school by Ralph, especially because of her unusual eating habits, like putting spaghetti in a hot dog bun for lunch. But when the tables are turned and Ralph is in a jam, what will Lucy do?

This is a nice story in terms of showing off positive behaviors and good character choices. However, it does seem a little heavy-handed at times, leaning into the 'telling' instead of the 'showing.' Then again, given that the target audience is young elementary school-age children, this may not be a bad idea.

The illustrations aren't really my style, but they are fine.½

courage, self-confidence, acceptance, compassion, individualiyt, self-esteem, bullying, friendship, kindness, school, morals, social skills

My rating: After reading this book, I would have to give it a 5/5 stars. I chose to give this book five stars because of the various themes and topics discussed throughout the book.

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Grades- Third

Review: Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun is about a little girl named Lucy who is known for being unique and not like everyone else. In this book, Lucy begins to be bullied by a classmate named Ralph. Throughout the book, Lucy’s self esteem begins to drop as she is being bullied for her unique interest and the fact that people think she is different. As Lucy’s self esteem begins to drop, the people that are closest to her begin to step up and start telling her that it’s okay to be different and that being different is way cooler than being the same. After hearing these encouraging words from those who are close to her, Lucy is faced with the decision to stand up for herself. Looking back at the book and the different themes and topics discussed, it has become evident that this book is geared towards students in grades two through four. This is an excellent book to read with students because in today’s society, it is not uncommon for students to be bullies or experience bullying throughout their school career. Sharing this book with students can promote a safe environment where teachers and students can discuss the importance of being yourself and why bullying is not welcomed. Sharing this book with students almost makes it seem like those who bully are the “bad guys” and that all students should treat others the way they want to be treated.

A good story about being different and standing up to people who are being mean.

this story is about a little girl who gets bullied but turns around and helps her bully when he is in trouble.
ages 3-5
pierce county library

This book teaches the power of kindness and love.

Ages: 5-8
Pierce County Library

A little girl is being bullied by a boy and she tells him that she doesn't like it but she doesn't tell an adult but when her bully gets stuck on the playground she helps him but not before pointing out how mean he is to her.
Ages 3 and up
Google Books

This book is about a boy named Johnny, who meets a new student, Gabe. Gabe doesn't speak English. At first, Johnny is not very nice, but that doesn't defeat Gave. Gabe begins making friends and even teaches Johnny some new soccer tricks. After a while, Johnny understands how Gabe must be feeling being in a new place and decides to make friends with him.

I loved this book and think it does an excellent job sharing an important lesson on celebrating diversity and empathy.

this book was about a girl named lucy who was getting teased for eating spaghetti in a hot dog bun. but then when the boy who was teasing her is in trouble instead of lucy doing the same to him she actually helps him out.

ages-3-6
sources- pierce college library