Author/Illustrator: Kevin Hawkins
Genre: Modern Fantasy
Awards: ALA Notable Children's Book, Horn Book Fanfare
Age Level: 5-7 years old
Summary: In the children's story there was a mouse named Chrysanthemum. She loved her name and was very proud of it. Her brothers and sisters had more common names such as Sue and Joe. When Chrysanthemum arrives at school, another mouse named Victoria, is getting her and her friends to bullying Chrysanthemum. The little mice were all preparing for a school play and wouldn't stop calling her names.This causes Chrysanthemum to have a low self-esteem. She begins to hate her name and wishes that it would be something more similar to everyone else. Just then Miss Twinkle, the music teacher, overhears and announces that she is naming her baby, Chrysanthemum! She tells the class how lovely of a name it is and thinks that flower names are beautiful. Now Chrysanthemum can feel confident in herself during the class play and all the girls making fun of her changed their minds about flowers as names. They all wished they had flower-like names. The illustrations were colorful and cartoon-like. I think the young readers would benefit from reading this book by relating the theme to real life scenarios in the classroom. The mice are talking, yes, but they sure have some wise words to be accountable to. Be kind to everyone and don't be judgmental just because someone is different then you.
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