A Ball for Daisy

In this bright and colorful wordless picture book A Ball for Daisy, author Chris Raschka tells the story of a little dog named Daisy and her favorite red ball. Daisy plays with the ball, sleeps with the ball and one day even takes it to the park. On that day, another dog takes Daisy's ball and accidentally pops it. Daisy leaves the park very sad and upset, and for the next few days mopes around the house longing for her lost ball. Then one day Daisy returns to the park where she finds the same dog who popped her red ball, but this time the dog has brought a new blue ball to replace Daisy's old one. Daisy has found happiness again!

This would be a great book to use when learning about making inferences and predictions while reading a story. An important step in learning how to be a good reader is learning to stop and ask questions while you're reading, and this being a wordless story is a great opportunity to try to make inferences about the character Daisy and how she is feeling as the story progresses. Alternatively students can write their own dialogue for this story to share with others.

Raschka, C. (2011). A ball for daisy. New York: Schwartz & Wade Books.