Picture Book- A Ball For Daisy

Bibliographic data

A Ball For Daisy by Chris Raschka

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade Books ©2011

ISBN: 9780375858611

Brief plot summary

Our protagonist, Daisy is introduced playing and lovingly sleeping with her ball. One day her owner walks her to the dog park with the ball in tow. Another dog pops the ball during play. Daisy spends the rest of the day mourning her loss. The next day at the dog park the owner of the other dog replaces Daisy’s ball and all is well again.

Critical analysis with specific literary considerations pertinent to each genre

Using a watercolor palate of primary colors and neutrals, Raschka shares the story of Daisy and her ball. Using the media of watercolor creates a dreamy clean scene. The reader can almost feel how fuzzy and soft Daisy is. Switching between neutrals and bright colors Raschka coherently displays Daisy’s mood. One weakness is when the art is executed in panels. These panels complicate the page and are small for reading aloud.

Raschka’s wordless picture book is great for developing a child’s verbal narrative skills as they express what is happening in the pictures. It is also an opportunity to talk about early concepts such as shapes (the ball is a circle), colors (the couch is green and blue), and emotions (Daisy’s face is happy). This type of story also is useful for developing comprehension skills. It encourages readers to write their own story.

Review excerpt(s)

“Raschka uses fairly sophisticated comic-book arrangements long, narrow, horizontal panels, and so forth but masks them with soft watercolor edges instead of sharp corners. The result feels like something of pure emotion.” -Daniel Kraus (Booklist, Jun. 1, 2011 (Vol. 107, No. 19))

 

“Chris Raschka's extraordinarily expressive ink, watercolor, and gouache illustrations not only clearly convey the storyline through a mix of full-page and borderless panel illustrations but also exude emotion, giving young children ample opportunities to follow, articulate, and interpret the events unfolding on the pages.: -CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, 2012)

Connections

 

Use this book in a storytime about emotions. While reading ask about facial expression and colors that convey feeling.

For older audiences expand on the story by having children write their own words.

Use with other wordless picture books in a writing activity. Children can narrate their own versions on paper. Another variation would be to let the children take turns narrating the page verbally for the whole group to enjoy.