Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum is written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes.

Picture Book

2nd - 3rd Grade

4 out of 5

Chrysanthemum is about a mouse who's name is Chrysanthemum. She thought her name was perfect until she went to school and her classmates made fun of her name. She then began to love her name again when her music teacher was also named after a flower and planned to name her daughter after Chrysanthemum.


This book is a great book. It is so cute and fun; I loved it. I think it was great how at the end Chrysanthemum's classmates learn that it is good to have a different name and they actually became jealous that they did not have such unique names. I also thought it was funny how when she went home Chrysanthemum began to like her name when comforted by her parents because everyone knows that your mom or dad can make you feel better, so I could relate to how she felt. I also liked how the text and pictures were different on almost every page. The picture would on some pages be split into several different pictures on one page. The text also was not in the same spot on all the pages. Several time in the text they referenced to her being a flower, for example, "Chrysanthemum wilted." I think it was creative and was not over the to, just placed when it made sense with the story.


I think that this book is a good book to use in the classroom. It could bring on a lot of thinking and questioning for students. I was able to read this with a 2nd grader who also loved the book. After reading the book we did a writing activity in which I had her write about what her name means to her, why she liked her name, and why her parents picked that name for her. Another activity that could be done in the classroom with Chrysanthemum is to have the students write a poem about their name, this would also be a lot of fun and would help get them thinking more abstractly. Since she is named after a flower you could teach students what the flowers talked about in the book before you read it so they understand the references made in this book.