A Ball For Daisy

                                               http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ball-for-daisy-chris-raschka/1100058597?ean=9780375858611

Raschka, Chris. 2011. A Ball for Daisy. New York: Random House. ISBN 9780375858611

Summary

A Ball for Daisy is a story of a dog and her beloved ball. Daisy plays with her ball in the house, sleeps with her ball, and takes her ball to the park. Another dog joins a game of fetch in park, biting Daisy's ball too hard causing it to pop. Daisy mourns the loss of her ball and is comforted by her child. Upon returning to the park, Daisy is presented a new ball by the child of the dog who popped her ball. Daisy plays in the park with her new ball and her new dog friend, then returns home to sleep with her new beloved ball.

Critical Analysis

Raschka creates, in this wordless picture book, a vivid and distinctive character in Daisy as she experiences a dog's ecstatic joy and mournful loss of a treasured object. Children will be able to easily follow the story's logical series of events as Daisy moves between home to the park with the passage of time marked by her sleeping on the couch. The minimalistic plot allows the reader to fully focus on Daisy's emotions from the title page where Daisy is given her new red ball to the climax when the ball is popped and then the story's resolution where she is given a new blue ball by a friend in the park. The story's believable conflict is matched with a satisfying resolution, and readers of all ages and cultural backgrounds can identify with Daisy's emotional arc as she experiences the loss of something special. The book's thematic value is in the truths revealed subtly with no explicit statement, and readers are left with an understanding of joy, loss, and friendship.

Raschka's illustrations are the heart of this story told without text. His use of line clearly conveys how Daisy is feeling. Bold strong lines show when she is feeling confident, her tail is drawn up with lines that show she is wagging it, her face is drawn smiling and cheerful. When her ball is thrown behind a fence, her tail is lowered and her face looks apprehensive. At Daisy's lowest point in the story, after her ball is popped, Raschka's draws lines which are more shaky and squiggly showing Daisy frustration and sadness, her tail and face are lowered and her eyes are closed. His use of color shift serves to create the story with Daisy playing first with her red ball under a cheerful yellow washed sky. Her sadness from losing her ball is shown by shifting the color to a dark purple that follows Daisy home as she mourns for her ball. Daisy is given a blue ball in the park showing it is new and different toy, but at the book's end Daisy is sleeping with her new blue ball on the couch conveying to readers she loves it just as much as the red ball and all is well. 

The book's strengths lie in Raschka's distinctive illustrations that allow the reader to clearly understand exactly what Daisy is feeling. One weakness of the book's format is the multiple panels on some pages may be too confusing for very young children to follow, but this weakness also is a strength because the panels make the book an enjoyable read to older children.  

Awards

A Ball for Daisy was the winner of the Caldecott Medal and the American Library Association Notable Books for Children Award in 2012. 

Reviews

An August 01, 2011 review in School Library Journal  points out "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." While Booklist, June 01, 2011, states," this story about loss (and joy) is accomplished without a single word, which is perfect it puts you directly in the head space of its canine protagonist." 

Connections

This wonderful picture book could be shared in a storytime where the children collaborate to tell the the story from their own interpretations of the illustrations. After reading the book children, could share in Daisy's joy by playing with balls of all colors or sizes. Children could also create a Daisy related craft, such as a paper bag puppet of Daisy complete with a red or blue construction paper ball, of course!

References 

Books in Print. Texas Woman's University Library. Accessed September 02, 2013.