Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress
Christine Baldacchino, Isabelle Malenfant
Type:
Fiction
Categories:
Clothing & Dress | Social Issues | Social Themes
Themes:
Friendship, Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance
Language:
English
Publisher:
Grade Level:
P-2
Age Range:
4-7
Accessible Format Availability:
CELA Library
Description
Morris is a little boy who loves using his imagination. But most of all, Morris loves his classroom’s dress-up center and its tangerine dress.
Morris is a little boy who loves using his imagination. He dreams about having space adventures, paints beautiful pictures and sings the loudest during circle time. But most of all, Morris loves his classroom’s dress-up center — he loves wearing the tangerine dress.
But the children in Morris’s class don’t understand. Dresses, they say, are for girls. And Morris certainly isn’t welcome in the spaceship some of his classmates are building. Astronauts, they say, don’t wear dresses.
One day when Morris feels all alone, and sick from the taunts of his classmates, his mother lets him stay home from school. Morris reads about elephants, and puts together a puzzle, and dreams of a fantastic space adventure with his cat, Moo.
Inspired by his dream, Morris paints the incredible scene he saw, and brings it with him to school. He builds his own spaceship, hangs his painting on the front of it and takes two of his classmates on an outer space adventure.
With warm, dreamy illustrations Isabelle Malenfant perfectly captures Morris’s vulnerability and the vibrancy of his imagination. This is a sweetly told story about the courage and creativity it takes to be different.
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3
Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4
Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
Contributors
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Awards
Today's Parent Top Picture Books of the YearCommended
Huffington Post Best Picture Books of the Year: Most Touching/HeartwarmingCommended
Blue Spruce AwardShort-listed
Marilyn Baillie Picture Book AwardShort-listed
CBC Bookie Award for Best Picture BookWinner
Cooperative Children's Book Center ChoicesCommended
Kirkus Best Picture Books Celebrating DiversityCommended
Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the YearCommended
Canadian Children's Book Centre Best Books for Kids and TeensCommended
American Library Association Rainbow ListCommended
Stonewall Honor Books in Children’s and Young Adult LiteratureCommended
Quill & Quire Books of the Year for Young PeopleCommended
TD Canadian Children's Literature AwardShort-listed