History Literature / RottenRalph

''Rotten Ralph'' is a series of children's books written by Jack Gantos and illustrated by Nicole Rubel. The books are about the adventures of a red cat named Ralph who is always causing trouble.

!!Books in the series:

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Ralph is most certainly rotten, but he is a good cat deep down and does care for his owner Sarah.

* BirthdayEpisode: ''Happy Birthday, Rotten Ralph'' has Ralph misbehaving during his birthday and Sarah trying to quell his misbehavior by threatening to not throw him a party.
* CatsHaveNineLives: ''The Nine Lives of Rotten Ralph'' involves Ralph learning that he's lost eight of his nine lives and his owner Sarah worrying about his safety now that he only has one life left.
* ChristmasEpisode: ''Rotten Ralph's Rotten Christmas'' and ''The Christmas Spirit Strikes Rotten Ralph'' take place on Christmas.
* ContinuityCavalcade: ''The Nine Lives of Rotten Ralph'' alludes to the events of several previous books when Ralph explains how he lost his first eight lives.
* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: When Percy made his debut in ''Rotten Ralph's Rotten Christmas'', he was much smaller than Ralph and lacked any kind of accessories. In later books, he is closer to Ralph's height and is depicted wearing glasses and a bowtie.
* HalloweenEpisode: ''Rotten Ralph's Trick or Treat'' and ''Rotten Ralph's Halloween Howl'' both take place on Halloween.
* ValentinesDayEpisode: ''Rotten Ralph's Rotten Romance'' has Ralph cause havoc on Valentine's Day.

* AccidentalTruth: In "Point of No Return", Sarah's dad lies to Ralph that he will rent ''Bongo Bob II: The Wedgie Continues'' if Ralph will let him go to the video rental store. Sarah's dad actually made up the sequel so Ralph wouldn't keep him from going, but is taken aback when he sees that there actually is a sequel to the Bongo Bob movie available for rent.
* AdaptationExpansion: ''The Taming of the Ralph'' is adapted from the first book in the series and ''Not-So-Rotten Ralph'' is adapted from the book of the same name, both having more content added to the plot to expand the story to a half-hour running time, such as Ralph being forced by Fleabag and Lulu to help them finish their song in the former and Ralph's misbehavior escalating before he is sent to Mr. Fred's Finishing School in the latter.

* BeYourself: The plot of "Percy in Love", where Percy tries to win the affection of Lulu's cousin Lola. In the end, Percy fails miserably in getting Lola to like him by pretending to be like Ralph and the alley cats, but manages to win her heart anyway when Lola turns out to be as cultured and refined as he is.

* ClipShow: "Ralph's Bedside Manner" is the series' clip show episode, which shows scenes from earlier episodes while Ralph is tending to a sick Sarah and tries to convince everyone that he's nice and caring.

* LaserGuidedKarma: In "Ralph's Super Duper Bloopers", Ralph films and humiliates Sarah and her parents to compete in the ''Bloopers and Blunders'' video contest, getting his comeuppance when the security camera footage depicting him being humiliated while dressed as a clown when he tried to sneak into the studio to reclaim his tape ends up winning the contest.

* ManInAKilt: Percy wears a kilt in the episode "Percy in Love".
* NeverSayDie: "Ralph's Royal Treatment" has Ralph pretend to be conflicted with a fatal illness to trick Sarah and her parents into waiting on him hand and foot. Rather than directly say "die" or "death", Sarah's family refers to Ralph being "gone".

* PlayingSick: The plot of the episode "Ralph's Royal Treatment" involves Ralph pretending he's dying of a deadly illness to manipulate Sarah and her parents into catering to his desires. This eventually backfires on him when Sarah, her parents and Ralph's cousin Percy find out that Ralph is only pretending and decide to get back at Ralph by pretending that they still think Ralph's dying even after Ralph confesses that he's not sick.
* RightBehindMe: In "Grandma's Visit", Ralph annoys Sarah's dad while they're practicing for Grandma's arrival by insisting on referring to Grandma as an old lady in his rehearsed greeting. Sarahs' dad goes on to try and explain to Ralph why it isn't nice to point out elderly people's ages before realizing that Grandma is behind him hearing everything he's saying.

* SodaCanShakeup: Ralph attempts this prank on Percy in ''Not-So-Rotten Ralph''. Unfortunately for Ralph, Percy anticipates his cousin's dirty trick and gets Ralph in trouble by giving the shaken-up soda can to Sarah's dad while informing him that Ralph gave him the soda can earlier, resulting in Sarah's dad getting a face full of fizz and yelling at Ralph once again.
* StickySituation: The theme song to the two animated specials show Ralph pranking Sarah and her parents by sticking their rears to their chairs with glue.

* UmpteenthCustomer: Sarah's dad ends up winning a check for 135 dollars in "Point of No Return" when he enters the video rental store after Ralph has gotten in trouble for neglecting to return the Bongo Bob movie. When the store owner finds out that Ralph was with Sarah's dad when the missing tape was rented, he promptly takes back the check and informs Sarah's dad that paying the fine leaves him with only three cents.
* UnscrewedSaltShaker: Ralph pulls the prank of unscrewing the salt shaker so the next person who uses it ends up spilling out all the salt on Sarah's new friend Linda in the episode "Ralph's Rival".

** The animated series episode "Grandma's Visit" has Ralph attempt to pull various pranks on Sarah's grandma, only to either fall victim to them himself or have them not work as he planned. One of his attempts is putting a whoopee cushion in a chair he intends for Grandma to sit, which instead gets sat on by Sarah's dad.

* ChristmasEpisode: ''Rotten Ralph's Rotten Christmas'' and ''The Christmas Spirit Strikes Rotten Ralph'' take place on Christmas.

* AlliterativeName: The title character is '''R'''otten '''R'''alph.

* ShowWithinAShow: Ralph adores the mindless drivel of ''Bongo Bob''.

* LyingFingerCross: Ralph crosses his fingers while promising Sarah he won't do anything stupid again in "Dead Man's Drop".
* ManInAKilt: Percy wears a kilt in the episode "Percy in Love".

'''Rotten Ralph''' is a series of children's books written by Jack Gantos and illustrated by Nicole Rubel. The books are about the adventures of a red cat named Ralph who is always causing trouble.

** The animated series episode "Grandma's Visit" has Ralph attempt to pull various pranks on Sarah's grandma, only to either fall victim to them himself or have them not work as he planned. One of his attempts is putting a whoopee cushion in a chair he intends for Grandma to sit, which instead gets sat on by Sarah's dad.

* WhoopeeCushion: ''Not-So-Rotten Ralph'' has Ralph attempt to prank his cousin Percy at dinnertime by having him sit on a whoopee cushion. Percy instead gets the last laugh by putting the whoopee cushion in Ralph's chair.

!!Tropes pertaining to the book series:

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Ralph is most certainly rotten, but he is a good cat deep down and does care for his owner Sarah.

* WeWantOurJerkBack: ''Not-So-Rotten Ralph'' has Ralph sent to a finishing school to learn proper behavior while his cousin Percy stays at Sarah's house. Sarah and her parents quickly find Percy so overbearing and strict that they start wanting Ralph back and hoping that what he learns in Mr. Fred's Finishing School doesn't stick.

In 1996, the book series was adapted into two 30-minute stop-motion-animated specials, ''The Taming of the Ralph'' and ''Not-So-Rotten Ralph'', to serve as pilots for a television series, which premiered in 1998 and ran for 55 episodes.

!!Tropes:

* ValentinesDayEpisode: ''Rotten Ralph's Rotten Romance'' has Ralph cause havoc on Valentine's Day.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Ralph is most certainly rotten, but he is a good cat deep down and does care for his owner Sarah.

In 1996, the book series was adapted into two 30-minute stop-motion-animated specials, ''The Taming of the Ralph'' and ''Not-So-Rotten Ralph'', to serve as pilots for a television series, which premiered in 1999 and ran for 55 episodes.

# ''Wedding Bells for Rotten Ralph'' (2000)

# ''Best in Show for Rotten Ralph'' (2002)