A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka

 A Ball for Daisy

Bibliography

Raschka, Chris.  2011. A Ball for Daisy. New York, NY: Schwartz & Wade Books.  ISBN: 9780375858611

Plot Summary

Daisy is a dog who loves playing with her red ball.  One day when her owner took her to a dog park, while she was playing with the ball, another dog popped it.  Daisy's journey home that day was saddened, and she shrank into the couch with grief that night.  The next day at the dog park, the other dog's owner brought Daisy a new ball, but a blue one.  Daisy and the brown dog played joyfully at the park with the new ball, and Daisy was as happy with her new toy as she was with the red ball.

Critical Analysis

The plot is very simple and straight forward.  Daisy is a happy dog until she reaches conflict, which is the destruction of her favorite ball.  After a day of being distraught, the conflict is resolved when she gets a new ball.  I think children can easily relate to the theme that things we love don't always last forever, but we can still be happy.

Since there are no words, the illustrations do all of the storytelling with thick lines and bright colors.  Drawings appear more like a rough sketch, than a detailed image, very much like something a child might draw, which makes the book more relatable to very young readers.  The position of Daisy's tail, ears, and even whiskers convey her emotion; when she is happy, they point upwards, and when she is sad, they point downwards.  Colors also convey emotion; Raschka uses shades of blue and green when Daisy is happy, but shifts to purples and browns when she is sad.

There is a page in the middle of the book that conveys foreshadowing--Daisy has an uneasy look on her face when she sees her ball on the other side of the fence, as if she knows something bad is going to happen to it.  This page makes the reader pause and wonder what is going to happen next.

Review Excerpts

This book won the 2012 Randolph Caldecott Medal.

A Horn Book Guide review from April 1, 2012 stated "A satisfying story noteworthy both for its artistry and child appeal."

A Starred review in School Library Journal from August 1, 2011 said "Raschka's genius lies in capturing the essence of situations that are deeply felt by children. They know how easy it is to cause an accident and will feel great relief at absorbing a way to repair damage."—Wendy Lukehart,

A July 13, 2011 review from Publishers Weekly states that "readers should relate to Daisy’s sadness over the loss of her treasured object while understanding that such losses can sometimes lead to unexpected gains—maybe even a friend."

Connections

I think this book can help children understand the grief of losing things they love, whether it be toys or something less tangible.  Other books that readers may enjoy are Daisy Gets Lost ISBN 9780449817414, also by Chris Raschka, and Ball by Mary Sullivan ISBN 9780547759364