Favorite Book this Week

Rufus Goes To Sea 

Written by Kim T. Griswell

Bumper Sticker for Book:  Never give up!  Reading takes you on many adventures.

About the Book:

 In Rufus Goes to Sea, Rufus shows up at school one day excited to read and write but finds the school doors locked! So Rufus decides to go on an imaginary adventure-seeking pirate ship. We can infer from the illustrations that Rufus knows a lot about pirates because he is always reading pirate books! In Kim Griswell’s first book, Rufus encounters a few problems and he turns to reading to save the day!! I blogged about Rufus Goes to School here.

I think the topic of both books is of high interest for both students and teachers.

Teachers love a book that connects a purpose and love of reading to the main character.  Rufus is a loveable pig, and children can’t help but root for him.


Rufus Goes to Sea is a must buy book for teachers.


Comments from Kindergarten Children:

My students LOVED this story! They immediately connected the ending of her first book to the start of her second. A child immediately yelled out, “Her ending is a sign of what to come!” We think her next story will be about Rufus going to space.

My students noticed that Rufus had the same items the backpack, a lunchbox, and the SAME blanket! They loved the fact that he had that blanket!!! “Oh my gosh, he has the blanket.”

Ideas in the Classroom:

• Look at the cover of the story and make predictions of what you will think will happen based on the first story.
• Kim structures this book in an interesting way. Look closely at both books and you will see similar text structures. 
• Older children could write a story using her text structure.
• Create a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the two stories comparing similarities and differences.
• Rufus Goes to Sea is a perfect book for story mapping.
• Create a web listing adjectives about Rufus (story main character).
• Record how Rufus’s feelings change throughout the story. 
• Use this book to talk about the BIG Idea in this story.
• We get a strong image of her characters because she uses proper nouns such as Leroy Williams the III, Captain Wibblyshins and Pirate Booty (paints a picture in our mind).
• Kids love the humor in this story; both of her books are excellent examples of text that is written with voice and a lot of word repetition.
• Both of her books Rufus Goes to School and Rufus Goes to Sea are an excellent mentor text for story beginnings and endings.

I hope Kim plans to write another book about Rufus!