Written by Maria Dismondy + Illustrated by Kim Shaw
Tackles: Differences, acceptance
Age Range: 4-11 years
Genre: Picture Book
Spaghetti In A Hot Dog Bun tells the story of a little girl with wild curly hair who eats her toast with ketchup and her spaghetti in a hot dog bun. That is, until a bully at school finds out about her strange eating habits and makes fun of her curly hair. She feels frustrated and wants to be mean back to her bully, but remembers what her grandpa says about how everyone is human and everyone has a heart. Her bully gets stuck on the monkey bars and she helps him down, even though he has hurt her.
This book encourages children to embrace their own difference as well as others, and be proud of who you are. It also encourages children to treat others how they want to be treated and be kind, even when people haven’t been kind to you.
The animations and bright and look almost childlike. I’m not sure this is the animation style that I would have chose for this book, but it is cute and well done, and I think the vivid colors add to the story.
Overall, this book is a great introductory book to the topic of differences and tolerance, and I think it would be especially helpful for children who like strange food combinations or foods that other kids don’t usually eat. This book does not focus on a specific difference such as race, disability, sexuality etc, but I don’t think that it necessarily has to in order to send a good message.
9 out of 10 hot dog buns
Buy it here.
Read it free here.
Learning To Teach 