Sallie Gal
Author: Shelia P. Moses
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Copyright: 2007
Pages: 148
Reading Level: 3-5
Genre: Children’s Fiction
Rating: ***

Summary:
Sallie Gal loved to double dutch and do anything but work out in the fields. But with her Daddy off at war and her Mother working hard Sallie had to work in the fields all summer to help pay for her school clothes. More than anything else there, there was one thing Sallie Gal wanted, ribbons for her hair. Her cousin and best friend Wild Cat always had new dress and hair ribbons to match. So Sallie Gal and Wild Cat set up a lemonade stand so they could earn the two dollars that the ribbons for the Wall-a-Kee man (traveling salesman). But coming up with two dollars was a lot harder than Sallie Gal had planned. They only made fifteen cents a day on lemonade, and after breaking her Mothers pitcher she now owed her mother two dollars for the new pitcher and fifty cents for the sugar. She felt like she would never get her hair ribbons in time for the first day of school. Wild Cat had offered to let her borrow some of her ribbons but Sallie Gal’s mom would not allow any charity from anyone. She wanted her to earn the money herself. Finally going to the nice lady down the streets house Sallie Gal earns twenty five cents a week split between her and Wild Cat. The time for school to start is coming, but Sallie Gal doesn’t have the money yet for her ribbons. The wall-a-kee man seeing how hard she had worked gave her some ribbons though as a gift, but once her mother found out she made her return them and she couldn’t play outside the rest of the day. The next day was her birthday though. And despite everything that had gone wrong, it turned out to be a great birthday. She got a new baseball, her favorite lemon cake, a double dutch rope, perfume for the wall-a-kee man and the lady she worked for, and three dollars from her dad, so she could finally buy her ribbons she had wanted for so long! The day ended well with double dutch in the front yard, good cake to eat, and ribbons bouncing in her hair!

Who would benefit from reading this?
This is a good book for kids learning to make their own choices and learning the importance of work. Not everything is going to just be given to us our whole lives.

Potential problems/conflicts:
Sallie Gal does keep a secret from her mom about the ribbons so the issue of lying comes up. It also encourages no one to take charity from anyone…which is more an issue of pride I think and could be conflict for kids to learn that.

My reaction:
This book was alright I thought. I did not like that Sallie Gal’s mom would not take any form of charity from anyone. If someone wants to give you something because they see you working hard or your friend want to let you borrow something that you can’t afford at that time I think that is okay. I do like the lesson of hard work and consequences though that is taught in this book.