Book Genre: Fiction, Folklore, Fairy Tale
Publishing Info: Puffin Books (32 pages)
Awards or Honors:
Summary: This is a hilarious spin off of The Frog Prince. Where it ends, this story begins. Surprisingly the Princess and the Frog Prince do NOT live happily ever after. He whines because the Princess won't go outside and down to the pond any longer. She complains because he sticks his tongue out, jumps on the furniture, croaks in his sleep, and has lily pads in his pockets. Sad and wishing for a real happily ever after, the Frog Prince runs off into the forest in search of a witch to turn him back into a frog. He happens upon several witches: Malificent (Sleeping Beauty), Grimhilda (Snow White), and Gretchen (Hansel and Gretel). Each time he runs off in fear because they do not want to help, just harm him. He eventually happens upon Fairy Godmother (Cinderella). She agrees to help him, but ends up turning him into a carriage. He spends the rest of the evening scared and longing to be back in his castle with his Princess. He realizes that he was happily ever after and didn't know it. As fate would have it, and just as in Cinderella, at the stroke of midnight the Frog Prince turns back into himself. Once he is himself, the Frog Prince runs back through the forest to his castle. When he arrives the Princess bombards him with questions about where he has been because she has been worried. The Frog Prince is so happy to be home he quickly gives her a kiss. And wouldn't you know, they both turn into frogs and live happily ever after! Or do they?
Personal Rating & Reason: ****Great! I love it! It was so comical and had cute ties into other fairy tales. I also liked the illustrations. Each illustration really made the story come to life. For example, when she is complaining about sticking his tongue out, you can see him trying to catch a dragonfly on the wallpaper with his tongue. Plus, Grimhilda is inside a room labeled "Fairest" reading Hague (a witch magazine) getting her hair done. Funny!
Reading Level: K-3 (3.6 AR)
Reading Interest: ages 4-8 years
Possible Uses: I would use this book in many ways.
Art: You could help the children make a frog from paper plates, construction paper, and google eyes. You could also have them make puppets out of construction paper and paper bags. Make masks out of paper plates and string/crafts sticks.
Writing/Arts: This would be a GREAT book to do a readers theatre with. As as class you could transfer the book to a play. Giving students parts - Frog Prince, Princess, each witch (3), Fairy Godmother, Narrator, and of course costume designers. I wouldn't to too much with costumes. Maybe just paper plate masks held up by craft sticks. Each student would have a task in order to bring it all together in the end. Finally I would invite administration or other classes in for a final performance.
Science: At this time I would lead the children into a discussion about the life cycle of a frog. We could do Flow Maps of the cycle and then write about it. Another idea would be to bring in some tadpoles and watch them grow into frogs. Have the children chart the tadpole/frog progress and keep journals about the progressions.
Potential Problems: The only problem, well not problem, but side note is that the humor is very satirical and a little over younger children's understanding. To fully "get" the humor students would need to be 3rd grade and up.
Showing posts with label Folklore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Folklore. Show all posts
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young
Genre: Animal Stories, Fables, Folklore, Myths
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Awards/Honors: Caldecott Honor Book
Page: 40 pages
Summary:
Seven colorful blind mice discover a SOMETHING by their pond. Each mice according to the day of the week goes and explore only one part of the SOMETHING and comes back a share with the other mice what he/she thinks the SOMETHING is. As each mice explore the SOMETHING their perspective is different. It takes the seventh mice which is white to tell the rest of the mice what the SOMETHING, an elephant, is.
Personal rating and explanation:
I rate this book as being great. The book hascoloring pictures on a dark background, large print, and easy flowing.
Reading Level: 3.3
Interest level: K-3
Integrated Level:
Science: Place an object in a feeling box. Have one child at a time feel the object and tell one thing about the object such as it has four legs, etc. until seven people have shared something about the object. Then let the class guess what it is.
Math: Placed seven colorful mouse (one per each color represented in the book) on the wall. Pass out color word and have students match the color word to the right colored mouse.
Use this activity to do ordinal numerals, too.
Writing: Share Writing - Using the book as a springboard , choose an animal (giraffe) and write a sentence for each day of the week describing how the blind mice would state what certain part of that animal would be, Example, On Monday the first mice said the Something was a leaf (ear) and continue using the days of the week and ordinal numerals in each sentence
Potential Problems or Difficulties:
Students might have a hard time understanding the concept of blindness.
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Awards/Honors: Caldecott Honor Book
Page: 40 pages
Summary:
Seven colorful blind mice discover a SOMETHING by their pond. Each mice according to the day of the week goes and explore only one part of the SOMETHING and comes back a share with the other mice what he/she thinks the SOMETHING is. As each mice explore the SOMETHING their perspective is different. It takes the seventh mice which is white to tell the rest of the mice what the SOMETHING, an elephant, is.
Personal rating and explanation:
I rate this book as being great. The book hascoloring pictures on a dark background, large print, and easy flowing.
Reading Level: 3.3
Interest level: K-3
Integrated Level:
Science: Place an object in a feeling box. Have one child at a time feel the object and tell one thing about the object such as it has four legs, etc. until seven people have shared something about the object. Then let the class guess what it is.
Math: Placed seven colorful mouse (one per each color represented in the book) on the wall. Pass out color word and have students match the color word to the right colored mouse.
Use this activity to do ordinal numerals, too.
Writing: Share Writing - Using the book as a springboard , choose an animal (giraffe) and write a sentence for each day of the week describing how the blind mice would state what certain part of that animal would be, Example, On Monday the first mice said the Something was a leaf (ear) and continue using the days of the week and ordinal numerals in each sentence
Potential Problems or Difficulties:
Students might have a hard time understanding the concept of blindness.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
The Little Red Hen by Public Domain, Illustrated by Barry Downard
Book Genre: Folklore
Publishing Info: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (29 pages)
Awards or Honors: South Africa - 6 Silver Quill awards for photographic craft, 1 Loerie award for photographic craft, the South African section of the 2001 Hasselblad International Competition, the "John Dodds Challenge" for digital manipulation, awarded 4 pages in prestigious Hirt & Carter calendar competition,
United States- gold and a silver "RX Club Award"
Summary: The Little Red Hen is a delightful story of a hard working hen and her lazy friends duck, cat and pig. The story begins with Little Red hen finding some grains of wheat. She wants to plant the wheat and asks her friends for help. All of her friends refuse to help by saying "Not I". So Little Red Hen plants it herself. After the wheat had grown she asks for help cutting the wheat, but she gets the same "Not I" from her friends. Once again she decides to do it herself. Throughout the rest of the story Little Red Hen takes the wheat for grinding, makes dough, and bakes the dough into bread. Each time cat, pig, and duck respond with the "Not I" when she asks for help. Finally when the bread is smelling delicious and ready to be eaten, she asks once more for help to eat the bread. Of course this time all three agree to help eat the bread. Little Red Hen reminds them of how they didn't help make it and she eats the bread all by herself.
Personal Rating & Reason: ****Great! This is a traditional folklore passed down for generations that teaches children a great moral about selfishness. Barry Downard took the folklore and transformed it into a story that captures the young readers of today. His manipulated photographs really catch your eye and are very entertaining. There is even on that has a pig dressed in glasses as "Hairy Trotter".
Reading Level: K-2 (2.9 AR)
Interest Level: ages 4-8 years
Possible Uses: This story could be used across the curriculum in writing, science, and character education.
Writing: A Flow Map could be made in class about Little Red Hen's requests for help. The students could then write their own sentences or story from the Flow Map. They could also illustrate their stories. Another activity could be to make into a play and let the students act out the story.
Science: This story could be used to discuss animals and how they interact with each other and their surroundings. The class could create a recipe for bread and make the bread in class. Another activity would be to have the class work together to make their own butter (heavy cream, salt, yellow food coloring, and lots of shaking by the students) to go on the class-made bread. I put in yellow food coloring because I have found that most children won't eat the butter if it is not yellow like in the package from the store - go figure.
Character Education: An excellent way to introduce responsibility to children in a way that they can understand.
Potential Problems or Difficulties: None at this time.
Publishing Info: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (29 pages)
Awards or Honors: South Africa - 6 Silver Quill awards for photographic craft, 1 Loerie award for photographic craft, the South African section of the 2001 Hasselblad International Competition, the "John Dodds Challenge" for digital manipulation, awarded 4 pages in prestigious Hirt & Carter calendar competition,
United States- gold and a silver "RX Club Award"
Summary: The Little Red Hen is a delightful story of a hard working hen and her lazy friends duck, cat and pig. The story begins with Little Red hen finding some grains of wheat. She wants to plant the wheat and asks her friends for help. All of her friends refuse to help by saying "Not I". So Little Red Hen plants it herself. After the wheat had grown she asks for help cutting the wheat, but she gets the same "Not I" from her friends. Once again she decides to do it herself. Throughout the rest of the story Little Red Hen takes the wheat for grinding, makes dough, and bakes the dough into bread. Each time cat, pig, and duck respond with the "Not I" when she asks for help. Finally when the bread is smelling delicious and ready to be eaten, she asks once more for help to eat the bread. Of course this time all three agree to help eat the bread. Little Red Hen reminds them of how they didn't help make it and she eats the bread all by herself.
Personal Rating & Reason: ****Great! This is a traditional folklore passed down for generations that teaches children a great moral about selfishness. Barry Downard took the folklore and transformed it into a story that captures the young readers of today. His manipulated photographs really catch your eye and are very entertaining. There is even on that has a pig dressed in glasses as "Hairy Trotter".
Reading Level: K-2 (2.9 AR)
Interest Level: ages 4-8 years
Possible Uses: This story could be used across the curriculum in writing, science, and character education.
Writing: A Flow Map could be made in class about Little Red Hen's requests for help. The students could then write their own sentences or story from the Flow Map. They could also illustrate their stories. Another activity could be to make into a play and let the students act out the story.
Science: This story could be used to discuss animals and how they interact with each other and their surroundings. The class could create a recipe for bread and make the bread in class. Another activity would be to have the class work together to make their own butter (heavy cream, salt, yellow food coloring, and lots of shaking by the students) to go on the class-made bread. I put in yellow food coloring because I have found that most children won't eat the butter if it is not yellow like in the package from the store - go figure.
Character Education: An excellent way to introduce responsibility to children in a way that they can understand.
Potential Problems or Difficulties: None at this time.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
The First Strawberries, A Cherokee Story by Joseph Bruchac
Book Genre: Folklore
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA), June 1998
Summary:
This is a legend told by the Cherokee people of how strawberries came to be. This book tells about an innocent quarrel between the first man and woman on earth. The woman is out picking beautiful flowers instead of making her husband supper. He becomes angry with her and learns the impact that harsh words can do to someone’s feelings. When the man went to apologize to his wife, he found her eating these bizarre berries. When the man asked his wife for forgiveness she answered him by sharing her strawberries. The Cherokee people view strawberries as a way to remember friendship and kindness.
Personal Rating, ****Great. I am partial to books that depict and enlighten readers on diverse cultures from around the world. The illustrations were exceptionally authentic and really kept true to the Cherokee people.
Reading Level: 3 grade (A.R. Level 3.5)
Interest Level: K-5
Possible uses of the text in integrated units of study:
Math: Compare and contrast different berries by their shape, size and color. Make a class pictograph that shows which students like or dislike strawberries. Social Studies/Writing: Use this book to discuss how the Cherokee people are different from our own families. Make a list of all the things that are made from strawberries. Field Trip: Take a class field trip to a local strawberry farm.
Potential Problems or Difficulties: The story discusses how the creator made the first Cherokee man and woman. This may bring up questions about how man and woman were first created.
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA), June 1998
Summary:
This is a legend told by the Cherokee people of how strawberries came to be. This book tells about an innocent quarrel between the first man and woman on earth. The woman is out picking beautiful flowers instead of making her husband supper. He becomes angry with her and learns the impact that harsh words can do to someone’s feelings. When the man went to apologize to his wife, he found her eating these bizarre berries. When the man asked his wife for forgiveness she answered him by sharing her strawberries. The Cherokee people view strawberries as a way to remember friendship and kindness.
Personal Rating, ****Great. I am partial to books that depict and enlighten readers on diverse cultures from around the world. The illustrations were exceptionally authentic and really kept true to the Cherokee people.
Reading Level: 3 grade (A.R. Level 3.5)
Interest Level: K-5
Possible uses of the text in integrated units of study:
Math: Compare and contrast different berries by their shape, size and color. Make a class pictograph that shows which students like or dislike strawberries. Social Studies/Writing: Use this book to discuss how the Cherokee people are different from our own families. Make a list of all the things that are made from strawberries. Field Trip: Take a class field trip to a local strawberry farm.
Potential Problems or Difficulties: The story discusses how the creator made the first Cherokee man and woman. This may bring up questions about how man and woman were first created.
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