Title: Officer Buckle & Gloria
Author and Illustrator: Peggy Rathmann
Genre: Fiction
Themes: Working together, friendship
Characters: Officer Buckle, Gloria, students and principal at Napville School and other area schools
Summary: Officer Buckle travels around to schools giving speeches about safety tips, but the students never pay attention and accidents inevitably follow. But when a police dog, Gloria, joins the department's ranks and accompanies Officer Buckle on his school trips, the audience is engaged, and the schools have never been safer. Officer Buckle marvels at his newfound success, until he discovers that the audience's attention was due to Gloria's on-stage antics behind his back during the safety speeches. He becomes angry and refuses to work with Gloria again. In the end, though, Officer Buckle decides that it's best to stick with your buddy.
Comments: I love this story because of the humor. The illustrations are as important as the text in understanding the story: we watch Gloria performing tricks while we read that Officer Buckle has no idea what she's up to. Students love feeling like they're "in on the joke" while they wait for Officer Buckle to discover the truth. Plus, the story shows the value of genuine friendship and why working together is often much better than working alone.
Grade level: This story is included in my school's Second Grade reader, but it can also be appreciated as a read-aloud by students as young as Kindergarten.
2 comments:
I love Gloria! I'm glad to see that it's popular and appropriate for your second graders. My preschoolers always loved it and and we even had a police officer come in to read the book aloud. I especially liked giving them the book on CD to listen to and then spot the silly antics of Gloria and Officer Buckle.
I love this book...I remember reading this book when I was younger. When I taught second grade it was part of our reading series. My students really enjoyed reading this story.
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