In the book "A Perfect Mess", there is a character named Henry who is a boy who is always messy. For picture day, Henry makes sure he stays as clean as possible so he does not look messy in the picture. He tries to sit in the back of the room at school and not make a mess but ends up spilling ink all over his classmates. He also sneezed and ended up spilling something on a student and a whole cycle of spilling happened with the other students in the class. For the class picture, Henry was the only clean student in the picture. After the picture was taken, his classmates gave Henry a group hug to make sure he got messy too. ( )

This was a good, lighthearted book about staying clean for picture day. I would use this for intermediate and primary grades (1st-4th) and would read it on picture day or a day when we do messy activities. I think that on that day the kids would find it humorous and relatable.

This book is about a young rhino named Henry who has a habit of getting dirty. One day, because this is a special day at school Henry is told to keep clean; throughout the course of the day he ends up getting the whole class dirty unintentionally. This book personified the rhino and everyone else in such a way that they are relatable to the ready. Although the exposition of the story is simplistic it is appropriate to the age group that it is targeting. ( )