Module 6: Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse

Book Summary:  Lilly loves school and everything about school including her teacher.  Lilly brought her new purple purse full of special treasures to school and does not want to wait until sharing time to show everything in it.  Mr. Slinger takes up her purse and all that was in it that she was so proud of.  At first Lilly is very angry, but then she is very sorry and does her very best to make it up to her teacher.

 My Impressions:   Lilly is a character that many young students and their teachers can make connections to.  It has an ending that all will love.

Professional Review:  PreS-Gr. 2--[In Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse,] Lilly loves everything about school--even the squeaky chalk and the cafeteria food. But most of all, she loves her teacher, Mr. Slinger, who is a sharp dresser and greets his students with an uncharacteristic "Howdy." The little mouse will do anything for him--until he refuses to allow her to interrupt lessons to show the class her new movie-star sunglasses, three shiny quarters, and purple plastic purse. Seething with anger, she writes a mean story about him and places it in his book bag at the end of the day. But when she looks in her purse, she discovers that he has written her a kind note and even left her a bag of treats. Filled with remorse, Lilly sets out to make amends. Rich vocabulary and just the right amount of repetition fuse perfectly with the watercolor and black-pen illustrations. With a few deft strokes, Henkes changes Lilly's facial expressions and body language to reveal a full range of emotions. When she realizes how unfair she has been, Lilly shrinks smaller and smaller. When all ends well, she leaps for joy in her familiar red boots right out of the picture's frame. Clever dialogue and other funny details will keep readers looking and laughing. As the cover and end papers attest, Lilly emerges once again a star. 

Library Uses:  Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse can be used at the beginning of the school year in an elementary school or preschool library to teach expectations for story time.  Librarians would like for young children to focus on the story at hand and not be focused on the trinkets they so often like to bring with them. 

Henkes, K.  (1996).  Lilly’s purple plastic purse.  New York:

       Greenwillow Books.

Saccardi, Marianne.  (1996, August).  [Review of  “Lilly’s Purple

          Plastic Purse” by K. Henkes].  School Library Journal 42 (8),
        p. 122.