Russell Wrestles the Relatives

by Cindy Chambers Johnson

Texas 2x2

Image

Justification

The book Russell Wrestles the Relatives is a 2019 Texas 2x2 book that is geared for
ages 2 through 2nd grade. The story is about a small boy named Russell who attends
a family reunion. His entire family are wrestlers, and Russell is afraid he will get
“squished” during the hugging because he is so small. And therein lies the problem
…. How will Russell keep from getting “squished?”

Russel Wrestles the Relatives is a fun, imaginative book that catches the readers
attention with its unique approach to meeting family members by “wrestling” with
them.

Evaluation of Book

Russell Wrestles the Relatives makes use of Figurative Language to help the reader
visualize the story. It also adds some whimsical nuances to the characters.
Alliteration is used throughout the story in the naming of Russell’s relatives. Some
examples are: Russell’s granddaddy, the “Texas Tickler”, and his grammy, “Dorothy
the Dropper with her Kansas Crusher”. Alliteration is also used in describing the
relatives, such as mentioning their “humongous hugs and Herculean handshakes.”
Similes are also used to help the reader visualize the story. Some examples are
“squished like toothpaste” and “his stomach sucked in as a skinny as a snakes.”
The visual literacy functions in the story were very helpful in developing the
characters and reinforcing the text. Whenever a relative is mentioned with a
special wrestling name, the illustrations helped the reader to more clearly visualize
what that wrestler would look like. This helped to reinforce the character
descriptions given in the text. The illustrations also helped to establish that the
wrestling family members were kind-hearted relatives through facial expressions.
This established the mood that even though the wrestlers had aggressive moves,
they were a loving family.

The illustrations also depicted the action of the wrestling moves. The family
members could be visualized enacting their wrestling moves on Russell. Russell, on
the other hand, could be visualized trying to avoid and evade the wrestling moves,
thereby creating his own movement on the page.

Response

In reading Russell Wrestles with the Relatives, I found a connection with how I relate
to my family members. Just as Russell did not feel the same as his wrestling family
members, each of my family members are also different from me in their own
unique way. And just as Russell found that each of his family members were
extremely loving, I know that my family and I have an appreciation and love of each
other even though we do not always have the same personalities or look the same.

Russell Wrestles the Relatives also had a more universal theme in that although
appearances may appear one way, reality can be very different. One would assume
that wrestlers with wrestling moves would be very aggressive and unfeeling.
However, the reality in this book was that the relatives were very loving and used
their wrestling moves to get hugs. At the end, Russell was able to defeat them all
with a “Smackdown Smooch.”

One aspect of Russell Wrestles the Relatives that I though was unnecessary was how
Russell was able to evade the relatives with different moves like the “Twist and
Shout”. I felt this took away from his ultimate win over everyone at the end with
the “Smackdown Smooch”. It made the “Smackdown Smooch” feel a little
anticlimactic as a winning move since he had already evaded most every family
member.

Conclusion
In conclusion, I would recommend Russell Wrestles the Relatives. It is a funny,
enjoyable book that surprises the reader with wrestling relatives that are kind as
they are unique. Both the figurative language and the illustrations add a depth of
visuals and whimsy to the book that make it very appealing to the elementary
school audience. The visuals also added a sense of action that helped the reader see
the wrestling moves as they happen. The ability of the author and illustration to
convey the story was done very well. I would like to read more books by this author
for entertainment.

Citations

Johnson, Cindy. (2018). Russell Wrestles the Relatives. New York: Aladdin.