Officer Buckle and Gloria
Author: Peggy Rathmann
Illustrator: Peggy Rathmann
Publisher: Putnam
Date: 1995
Awards: ALA Notable Book, Caldecott Medal Book (1996)
Ages: 4-8
Topics: picture book, safety, police, police dogs, school, friendship, community helpers
Summary: This is a great book to get you thinking about safety. Officer Buckle is the information officer who comes to schools to talk about safety. When he has given his talk at Napville Elementary school in the past, the children had always ignored him because he was so dull. One day when he comes to the school for his safety speech, a police dog named Gloria accompanies him. The children really love the way the dog steals the show. Gloria has her own way of performing safety tips while Officer Buckle talks. Officer Buckle becomes jealous and quits the act, but Gloria isn't able to do it alone. So once again they are teaming up on Safety Tips. It's always good to stick with your buddy.
Book Connections
- Officer Buckle and Gloria from the Official Website
- Officer Buckle and Gloria from Wikipedia
Topic Connections
Community Helpers
- Community Club from Scholastic
- Your Neighborhood
- What's My Job?
Safety
- 42explore: Safety
- Christmas Safety Tips
- Code Red Rover - Interactives
- FEMA for Kids
- Halloween Safety Tips
- Home Hazard Hunt
- Illinois Firesafe Kids
- Kidd Safety
- McGruff
- Safety Always for Everyone
- Safety Games with Elmer
- Sparky the Fire Dog
Working and Hero Dogs
- Extraordinary Dogs from PBS
- Working Dogs from Wikipedia
Learning Connections
- Bulletin Board. Make your own bulletin board of safety stars. Check out some examples at Safety Tips vs Danger Tips.
- Community Jobs Interactives. Try three community helper interactives: Community Club, Your Neighborhood, What's My Job?
- Safety Walk. Take a safety walk around your school and discuss safety problems you see. Form groups and make safety rules related to school, home, computers, etc. Make safety posters.
- Safety Reading. Read other books on safety. Write your own story about safety.
- The Child's World of Carefulness (1998) by Janet Riehecky, Mechelle Ann (Illustrator)
- Dinosaurs, Beware! : A Safety Guide (1984) by Marc Tolon Brown, Stephen Krensky
- The Berenstain Bears Learn About Strangers (1985) by Stan Berenstain, Jan Berenstain
- The Child's World of Carefulness (1998) by Janet Riehecky, Mechelle Ann (Illustrator)
- Working Dogs. Police dogs are one type of working dog. What are some others? Write a story about another type of working dog.
Teaching Connections
- Resources for Officer Buckle and Gloria
- Scholastic Resources
- Try lessons
- Try WebQuests
Learn More
Do a Thinkfinity search for lessons related to this book.