Roses are pink, Your feet really stink

Title: Roses are pink, your feet really stink

Author: Diane de Groat

Illustrator: Diane de Groat  

Date of publication: 1996

Publishing Company: Hong King by South China Printing Company

Awards: n/a

Genre: Fiction

Subgenre: Modern Fantasy

Theme: Forgiveness & being kind to others (even if they were mean to you)

Primary Characters: Gilbert

Secondary characters: n/a

Classroom Use: Cute book to read for Valentines day and reading about topics like forgiveness and being nice to others, especially when they have been mean towards you.

Summary: Story is about Gilbert who has to write valentine’s day cards for his classmates, the only problem is that he wonders “why does he have too when some classmates haven’t always been to kind to him.” He decides to write mean poems for those that weren’t too nice to him. However, the classmates find out that Gilbert wrote the mean poems and it isn’t until Gilbert explains on why he wrote them and apologizes for being mean, that they all become his friend again. The book teaches a lesson about forgiving others and also about being the better person and being kind towards others even if they haven’t been kind to you.