With A Little Help from My Friends: Rita and Ralph's Rotten Day by Carmen Agra Deedy

In two little houses,

on two little hills,

lived two best friends.

Every day Rita and Ralph run down and up two hills to meet together between their houses under their apple tree. They high-five and pinkie shake and play together until it's time to part and return to their houses. They are the best of friends. But...

Then one day... they played a new game: Sticks and Stones...

Ralph hits Rita right on her head with his stone.

"UH-OH!"

"OUCH!"

Rita runs home, closes her door, and puts an ice bag on her head. She feels angry. Ralph feels sorry.

The hills between Rita and Ralph feel like a hundred years. But she is his best friend, so Ralph runs down and up and down and up all the hills to Rita's house. But by the time he gets there, he is feeling cranky about the whole thing.

"I'm SORRY!" he barks.

Rita won't come outside, so Ralph runs back down and up and down and up the hills to his house and closes his door. He's mad. Meanwhile, at her house, Rita is beginning to feel a bit sorry. She trudges up and down the hills to Ralph's house, but by the time Rita gets to Ralph's house she is angry again. She shouts up to Ralph's window that she wants her special pinecone back. Ralph throws it down to her.

Nobody's sorry now.

But after a sleepless night for the former best friends, they both leave their houses and head up and down and up and down the hills to meet in the middle under their apple tree.

"I'm sorry," says Rita.

"I'm sorrier!" says Ralph.

In a witty story of conflict resolution, best-selling author and illustrator Carmen Agra Deedy and illustrator Pete Oswald come together in Rita and Ralph's Rotten Day (Scholastic Press,2020), an appealing collaboration which portrays the process of managing emotions and reconciliation which seem to be an almost inevitable learning experience of childnood. Artist Pete Oswald sets up the up-and-down terrain which becomes a metaphor for these ups and downs of friendship in his clever illustrations of the two houses separated by four hills and dales and deftly uses the eyes of his characters to portray emotions of the two characters. Even their two pets, Rita's puppy and Ralph's kitty, and the flock of black birds flying from Ralph's house to Rita's symbolize their anger. It's a simple little story that has layers of depth supported skillfully by artist Oswald's charming illustrations and book design.

Says Shelf Awareness' starred review," A terrific read-aloud... Rita and Ralph's tiff, told with a sweet freshness, is a timeless, engaging tale with which any young reader is likely to identify."

No Regrets! Martha Doesn't Say Sorry! by Samantha Berger

There are many things Martha does, but apologize isn't one of them.

She does give hugs; she does share her snacks.

She does make presents. She does read stories.

But Martha doesn't say sorry.

In her little pink frock with the Peter Pan collar, Martha looks like quite the little lady--a neat and petite little otter who appears quite perfect.

But it seems Martha has a bit of a not so nice streak: she "spills" cake batter all over her mother's apron on purpose; she "paints" her father's back bright red when he lets her help him paint a kitchen chair; and she rips into a drum solo just when her little brother is napping. Even when sent to do a well-deserved timeout, and even though she feels a bit repentant, Martha just can't bring her self to say that word--"Sorry!" With her snout high in the air, Martha is a holdout!

Wisely, Martha's family know how to be holdouts too! When Martha wants a fresh, hot cookie, her mom makes it clear there are no cookies for people who can't say sorry. Turning her back, she transfers the goodies to the cookie jar and puts it away. Dad makes it clear that he doesn't give piggyback rides to people who can't say sorry, and her baby brother has no hugs for people who don't show penitence for nap spoiling.

FINE!

Martha responds loud and clear and with snout elevated even more, shows that she can do without cookies, piggyback rides, and hugs from anyone!

But as the lonely day winds it way on, Martha thinks about it. And thinks about it. And finally whispers very quietly...

I'M SORRY!

Nobody seems to notice Martha's weak attempt to make amends.

"I'M SORRY."

"What?" says her mother. "What?" says her father. "FWA?" says her baby brother.

"I'M ... S O R R Y!"

Martha makes amends at last, and the lesson is--at least partly--learned, and she finds she can, when she's not so nice, say sorry as nicely as she possibly can.

Samantha Berger's Martha Doesn't Say Sorry, very ably assisted by the nuanced illustrations of pro Bruce Whatley, makes its point about the power of apology effectively through its simple text, with not a wasted word, and its appealing pictures. For example, there is Martha, sweetly reading to her baby brother from her favorite wizardly fantasy, Harry Otter, and then there's Martha, nose in the air, stonewalling and saying to herself in clear body language, "Who needs them!" And finally there's Martha, clearly arriving at the answer to her own question with a "Me. That's who!"

In fact, Martha Doesn't Say Sorry, seems a fine companion piece to Kevin Leman's how-to for perplexed parents, Have a New Kid by Friday: How to Change Your Child's Attitude, Behavior & Character in 5 Days reviewed here back in March, in which he proposes this exact strategy for dealing with obstreperous offspring.