All Tutus Should Be Pink

All Tutus Should Be Pink

Written by Sheri Brownrigg

Illustrated by Meredith Johnson

Title: All Tutus Should Be Pink

Author: Sheri Brownrigg

Meredith Johnson

Illustrator: Meredith Johnson was raised in Raytown, Missouri. She has been drawing from the time she could hold a crayon. In school she would help decorate the holiday bulletin boards because she was able to draw angels better than anyone else. Meredith currently lives in California with her husband. She has two adult children. Meredith used to create commercials, but now spends her time focusing on illustrating children's books. She has illustrated close to 100 books and is enjoying the opportunity to work out of her home. http://www.meredithjohnson.net/

Genre: Fiction

Grade Level: Hello Reader Level 2 (Kindergarten-Grade 2)

Pepe-Pierre

Synopsis: All Tutus Should Be Pink is a fictional story about two best friends who love to wear their pink tutus. The girls take a dance class together, but that is not the only place they wear their tutus. They both share the dream of growing up to be famous dancers, but think they would still wear their tutus even if they have a different job. After dance class they go out for strawberry ice cream together because the ice cream matches the color of their beloved pink tutus.

Theme: The two major themes that can be connected to this story are friendship and ballet dancing.

Pre-reading Activity: The teacher will share a personal story about their best friend and an activity they enjoy doing together. After listening to the teacher's example, the students should take a few minutes to think about their best friend. On a piece of paper that is folded into three equal sections,  have the students write down a list of some activities they do with their best friend. This list should be written in the first section of the folded paper. As they are finishing up, the teacher should guide the students to listen for activities the best friends in the story like to do together. No writing should be going on while the story is being read.

Post-reading Activity: After the story is read, have the students make a list of the activities the best friends in the story like to do together. This list should be written in the third section of the folded paper. In the middle section the students should write down any similar activities they share with the best friends in the book. If they do not share any similar activities have them think about some activities they think they the best friends in the story would enjoy doing with them if they were real.

Assessment: The students will be assessed on their writing activities. They will be assessed on how well the listened and retained the information from the story. They will also be assessed on their comparisons and how logical their inferences are.

Personal Reflection: All Tutus Should Be Pink is a fun lighthearted story about two young girls who love wearing their pink tutus. This was one of my favorite stories growing up and I wasn't even interested in ballet dancing. The author and illustrator invite the reader into the world of the best friends and make the reader feel like they are participating in the activities right along with them.