Picture Books We Love-Chrysanthemum

My girls love Chrysanthemum and other titles by Kevin Henkes.  Chrysanthemum is a little girl, well a mouse actually, who is super-excited to go to school for the first time.  Until she gets there, that is.  At school, Chrysanthemum's classmates (classmice?) make fun of her name.  It's too long.  It doesn't fit on a name tag.  It's the name of a flower.  Up to this time, Chrysanthemum loved her name.  You can imagine the devastation!  Her parents are able to cheer her up at home, but then every day she goes back to school and the teasing continues.  Each day, Chrysanthemum wilts more and more until the students learn that their favorite music teacher, Mrs. Twinkle, also has a long name, one that will not fit on a name tag, and is the name of a flower.  Suddenly, all the other girls want to be named after flowers, too!  Chrysanthemum BLOOMS!

Some books/characters are so treasured in our home that they are given the honor of having a stuffed animal named after them.  You guessed it. We have a Chrysanthemum.  It's actually the Think from Dr. Seuss's Oh, the Thinks You Can Think, but we have imagination around here!


We really enjoy many books by Kevin Henkes.  He has a witty writing style accompanied by humorous illustrations.  Below are a few that we have checked out of our local library, which you also may enjoy: