“Ruthie has a problem at school. It is not the students. It is not the classroom. It is not the reading or the writing or the math. It is the Snurtch.”
“The Snurtch” by Sean Ferrell and Charles Santoso
Some kids look forward to school in anticipation. They may have the jitters about making new friends or the harder schoolwork, but they are still excited. For other children, going back to school is downright hard. They may struggle with some very difficult challenges such as learning disabilities, impulse control, bullying, and more. They may want to enjoy school, but they find it difficult. That is okay. This is a book that addresses that and it is one that I feel the world needs. As a former teacher, I feel that while it is a more serious back-to-school book than the ones I have previously shared this week it has an important place in classrooms.
It is about a little girl named Ruthie who struggles with impulse control. She returns to school at the beginning of the year only to find that her old enemy, represented in an imaginary critter she calls “The Snurtch” is already in her seat waiting for her. She wants to be good and listen, but “The Snurtch” makes her do rude things like rip classmates papers up and interrupt the teacher. No one wants to play with her and all her frustration is summed up in one line in the middle of the book that says “No one has a life as difficult as Ruthie’s.” It’s a bit heart wrenching.
However, things take a turn for the better after that. In art class Ruthie decides to draw a picture of “The Snurtch” and share it with her class. She explains who he is and her class looks at her and the picture with new understanding and tell her she has drawn a very good “Snurtch” indeed. After that there is more empathy for her and she discovers a few very important things. One is that the little boy next to her has a “Snurtch” too! Then she discovers that while she does have a “Snurtch” she still has some control and that she can choose to make better decisions even if “The Snurtch” makes it hard. Finally, in the last illustration she discovers that every student in her class is battling their own “Snurtch” and that she is not the only one with struggles. In the end it says “Ruthie likes school.”
I love this book and the more I read it the more that I love it. If feel it has an important mission to help children to have more empathy and understanding for children in their class who may be having a particularly rough time with the “Snurtch” that they battle, and I feel it is needed to help children currently having an especially rough time with “Snurtches” themselves to begin to understand the lessons that Ruthie learned. That they are not alone in having struggles and that they do still have some control over their “Snurtch” even if it is difficult.
I also feel this book handles it in a fun, but still serious way. Ruthie’s eyes and expressions look heavy to represent the difficult time that she is having and the Snurtch is drawn in a chaotic and messy way. However, Ruthie does smile at the end when things get better and the Snurtch is more humorous that scary looking. The idea of putting something like impulse control in the form of an imaginary Snurtch to help increase understanding was brilliant in my opinion. Well done Sean and Charles!
Click here to pre-order “The Snurtch” *affiliate link
**This is an advanced copy of the book. The art and text are not final***
Mel says
I’ve heard such fantastic things about this book! Thanks for sharing!