Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare by Patricia Polacco

The follow up to her story, My Rotten Readheaded Older Brother , this story was about a funny challenge between the two siblings. Trisha bet Richie he that could not dance ballet. He insisted that it was a piece of cake and he could do it. She challenged him to participate in her ballet recital. Richie said the only way he would do that was if she played hockey with his team. So the two shook on it. A week later Trisha was putting on her hockey gear reading to play with Richie and his team. It did not start out well. She spent most of the time in the penalty box because it was easier then staying on the ice. At the end a fight broke out and many of the players were in the penalty box. It was up to Trisha to win the game. She made a shot to the other teams goal and it went in. She won the game! A few weeks later Richie danced in Trisha's recital. He started out a complete disaster. Her partner got hurt and Richie had to fill in for a duet with her. He ended up dancing it perfectly. The two came to the conclusion at the end that both of their hobbies were hard and trying hockey actually helped her with dance and dance actually helped with his hockey.

I thought this story was a great story for kids. It is a great way to break down those sexual stereotypes we have for girls and boys. Hockey is known as a boys sport and dance as a girls sport. Both may seem easy to do at first glance, but a big hockey fan I know that is much harder then it looks. I also know that when i tried dancing as a kid, it was not very easy. I think having them try the other sport out was a clever idea. It allowed them to see things for another perspective. In the end they both realized that the other sport was not so bad and actually helped them.

I think this is a story that third and fourth graders would enjoy reading. That is around the time they start participating in extra curricular activities. It shows boys and girls that their should not be sports that are just for girls or just for boys. All sports can be played by both sex and just because a sport is a considered a "boy" sport, it does not make it harder then something considered a "girl" sport. I think this book is a great addition to any classroom library.