Officer Buckle and Gloria

Officer Buckle and Gloria

Author	Peggy Rathmann
Illustrator	Peggy Rathmann
Country	United States
Genre	Children's picture book
Publisher	Putnam Books
Publication date	1995
ISBN	978-0-399-22616-8
OCLC	69654218
Dewey Decimal	[E] 20
LC Class	PZ7.R1936 Of 1995

Officer Buckle and Gloria is the name of the 1995 picture book by Peggy Rathmann that won the 1996 Caldecott Medal.^[1] Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association named the book one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children."^[2] It was one of the "Top 100 Picture Books" of all time in a 2012 poll by School Library Journal.^[3]

Plot Summary

A rather boring police officer named Officer Buckle is assigned to take a police dog named Gloria to his safety speech at the local school. Until that time, whenever Officer Buckle tried to tell schools about safety everyone fell asleep. Then, unbeknownst to Officer Buckle (literally, behind his back), Gloria does tricks imitating the safety tip demonstrating safety rules, and Gloria is a big success. Officer Buckle enjoys the fame until he sees on a taped speech that the schoolchildren are so enthusiastic because of Gloria. He refuses to teach safety and a huge accident happens. A letter from an attentive and sweet girl, named Claire, convinces Officer Buckle to start teaching again. In the end, Officer Buckle and Gloria go to many schools and teach the students about safety together.

References

1. American Library Association: Caldecott Medal Winners, 1938 - Present. URL accessed 27 May 2009.
2. National Education Association (2007). "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". Retrieved August 22, 2012.
3. Bird, Elizabeth (July 6, 2012). "Top 100 Picture Books Poll Results". School Library Journal "A Fuse #8 Production" blog. Retrieved August 22, 2012.