Module 6 - The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!

Bibliography

Scieszka, J. (1989). The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! (L. Smith, Illus). New York: Viking

Summary

This version of the “Three Little Pigs” is told from the perspective of the wolf, Alexander T. Wolf.  While making a cake for his grandmother, the wolf finds that he does not have enough sugar and so goes to ask his neighbor – the first little pig.  While at the door, Wolf feels a sneeze coming on, due to his “sneezing cold,” and when he sneezes, the straw house blows away.  This happens again at the second little pig’s house of sticks.  At the brick house belonging to the third little pig, Wolf was met with rude and impolite comments about his grandmother.  Of course this made Wolf mad, so as he is still sneezing, he tries to break down the door, and this is when the reporters come, making the story more interesting by making Wolf the bad guy.

My Thoughts

Very entertaining to hear this version of the “Three Little Pigs”.  I found the character of the Wolf amusing as he portrays himself as the innocent one, framed for a crime he didn’t commit, even though he did eat the first two pigs, claiming they were already dead.  I almost feel sorry for the pathetic, mistreated Wolf.  The illustrations help Wolf’s story by depicting him as a harmlessly innocent wolf suffering from a nasty cold; and the third pig looks like a mean thug!

Reviews

“Victim for centuries of a bad press, Alexander (“You can call me Al”) T. Wolf steps forward at last to give his side of the story.  Trying to borrow a cup of sugar to make a cake for his dear old Granny, Al calls on his neighbors – and can he help it if two of them built such shoddy houses? A couple of sneezes, a couple of dead pigs amidst the wreckage and, well, it would be shame to let those ham dinners spoil, wouldn’t it? And when the pig in the brick house makes a nasty comment about Granny, isn’t it only natural to get a little steamed?  It’s those reporters from the Daily Pig that made Al out to be Big and Bad, that caused him to be arrested and sent to the (wait for it) Pig Pen.  “I was framed,” he concludes mournfully, Smith’s dark tones and sometimes shadowy, indistinct shapes recall the distinctive illustrations he did for Merriam’s Halloween ABC (Macmillan, 1987); the bespectacled wolf moves with a rather sinister bonelessness, and his juicy sneezes tear like thunderbolts through a dim, grainy world.  It’s the type of book that older kids (and adults) will find very funny.”

Peters, J. (1989). [Review of the Book The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by J. Scieszka]. School Library Journal, 35(14), 108

Ideas for Use

I think it would be wonderful to either act this out for children, or to have the children act out the story.

Module 5, part 2 - Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman

Bibliography

Grimes, N. (2002). Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman. New York: Orchard Books

Summary

Through the voice of family members, friends, teachers, and others, we are told the story of Elizabeth Coleman, the first person of African descent to obtain a pilot’s license.  As a child in Texas, even though Bessie worked hard in the cotton fields, she was never too tired or too discouraged to keep her from school.  As she became a teenager, she worked as a laundress, saving all her money so that she could go to college.  Although the money only lasted her for one semester of college, she did not give up.  It was when she was living in Chicago that she learned from her brother about women in France becoming pilots.  Bessie learned French, then she went to France where she obtained a pilot’s license.  It was Bessie’s dream to start a school for people of African descent to learn to become pilots.  However, Bessie died tragically in 1926, before she could realize this dream.

My Thoughts

I really like how the book was written and Bessie’s story told through the words of various people in her life.  Before reading this book, I was not familiar with who Elizabeth Coleman was or her amazing accomplishments.  I really admire her determination and dedication to realizing her dreams.  Even though she did not get a chance to realize her last dream of starting an aviator school for men and women of African descent, she had such an influence for good in the area of equal opportunity.  A truly inspiring story.

Reviews

“Grimes skillfully employs first-person testimonial verse to give young readers a fully realized portrait of African-American aviator Bessie Coleman.  At Coleman’s death, Grimes invites twenty individuals to a fictionalized wake and, in valedictory monologues, has each remember Bessie and the forces that shaped her life.  Bessie’s father tells about leaving the family when his daughter was “jus’ a chile.” Her mother recalls how she wanted Bessie to “first learn the wisdom of the Lawd, / and then, the wisdom of the world”; and older brother comments on her drive, how she “kept her focus fixed…to find a lifelong work of substance”; her flight instructor remembers how bravely Bessie flew a Nieuport 82 the day after witnessing one crash to the ground in flames; and a young fan reveres her idol: “I haven’t made up my mind about being a pilot, / but Bessie made me believe I could be anything.”  E.B. Lewis personalizes the tributes (and a concluding testimonial from Bessie) with small photo-like, sepia-toned portraits of the speakers.  Impressionistic watercolors on the facing pages evoke each incident and often soften the harshness in Coleman’s life.  Taken as a whole, these illustrations portray a young woman yearning for and taking pride in that “lifelong work of substance.” Although the assemblage of mourners is slightly contrived (would a field hand Coleman once worked alongside and a woman who once hired her to do laundry really be present at her wake?), their parts in Bessie’s story are integral to her early life.  Grimes separates fact from fiction through introductory comments on the historical period and the setting, concluding observation about Coleman, and source notes.  Like Bessie, this tribute to her life soars.”

Carter, B. (2003). [Review of the book Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman by N. Grimes].  Horn Book Magazine, 79(1), 96-97

Ideas for Use

I think this would be a great intro into a “What do you want to do when you grow up?” type of activity.  It can help kids and teens realize that their dreams can come true just like Bessie’s.

Module 5, part 1 - How I Live Now

Bibliography

Rosoff, M. (2004). How I live now.  New York: Wendy Lamb Books.

Summary

When she was 15 years old, Daisy left her father and stepmother in New York to live with her Aunt Penn and cousins Osbert, Edmond, Isaac and Piper in the English countryside.  There, with hardly any parental supervision, Daisy falls in love with Edmond, and they enter into a sexual relationship.  Shortly after Daisy arrives, Aunt Penn leaves the country for a few days.  But the start of a predicted war in England keeps Aunt Penn from getting back into the country.  For Daisy, the war does not become real to her until the house is taken over by soldiers and her and Piper are shipped off to stay with a family in another town where they will be safer.  Spring turns into summer as Daisy and Piper do their share of work, Daisy all the while getting as much information about outdoor survival and the whereabouts of Edmond and Isaac.  In the confusion of having to flee, Daisy and Piper head out on their own.  After days and weeks of walking and not having enough to eat, Daisy and Piper reach the farm where Edmond and Isaac were sent, only to find dozens of dead bodies, none of which were Edmond or Isaac.  Making the trek to their home, they find the soldier’s had deserted it.  For weeks Daisy and Piper live in the hidden lambing barn a mile or two from the house, Daisy frequently making the trek to the house to see if Edmond or Isaac or Osbert had come home.  It was on one of these visits that, after having no electricity for months, the telephone rings and Daisy’s father arranges for her departure from England.  Six years later, after institutionalization and therapy, Daisy returns to England to discover that her beloved Edmond, with his self-inflicted scars and detachment from the world, had not only been witness to the worst part of war, but had returned home to her days after she had gone home.  Getting through to Edmond is a struggle, but in the end, the home in England is where Daisy remains with Edmond, Isaac, and Piper.

My Thoughts

This is not the kind of book I would normally read, but because it was on the list of books to choose from this week and because it was in the library, I read it.  And I’m glad I read it.  Rosoff has such a way with words that I found myself, especially in the end, in tears when Daisy finally knows what happened to Edmond and the emotional scarring that resulted.  I really liked how passionate Daisy was in trying to protect her younger cousin and her determination to go on, even when all she wanted to do was sit down and cry.  It reminds me that it is in the toughest of circumstances that your character is molded. 

Reviews

“This first novel is intelligent, funny, serious, and sweet; a winning combination of acerbic commentary, innocence, and sober vision.  Sent from Manhattan to live with four English cousins on their farm, fifteen-year-old Daisy is smitten with the lush, pastoral beauty around her, but especially with her cousin Edmond, who surprises her “in about half a million ways each day.”  Daisy’s and Edmond’s idyllic love is interrupted when an unnamed enemy power invades the country (a la Marsden’s Tomorrow, When the War Began): the British army confiscates the farm, and the children are split up and evacuated to separate places.  As the violence escalates, Daisy and youngest cousin Piper escape their caretakers and make their way home through an uncertain countryside, where fields and woods may yield either carnage or sustenance.  Daisy’s account, in eccentrically punctuated run-on sentences, has a breathless directness, a mixture of urbane self-mockery and first-time wonder, that is utterly captivation.  Through her eyes, we see the practical effects of the occupation – how civilians rally to bring in the harvest, provide medical care, and even milk cows in the absence of electricity.  Refreshingly, Rosoff understates Daisy’s transformation from self-absorbed, defensive anorexic to generous, loving hero, but that inner evolution is always apparent in her bracing wit and intense response to beauty, both human and natural.  Hilarious, lyrical, and compassionate, this is, literarily and emotionally, deeply satisfying.”

Baker, D. F. (2004). [Review of the book How I Live Nowby M. Rosoff]. Horn Book Magazine, 80 (5), 597-598

Ideas for Use

Very good discussion topics for teens can result from reading this book, including anorexia, war, and sexual relationships.  A good book to use for a book discussion after reading it as a group or individually.

Module 4, part 2 - Summer of the Swans

Bibliography

Byars, B. (1970). The Summer of the Swans. New York: Scholastic.

Summary

In Summer of the Swans, we read about a fourteen-year-old girl named Sara Godfrey, who is having the worst summer of her life and can’t stop complaining about her big feet and her ugly orange sneakers.  Sara grudgingly takes her ten-year-old mentally handicapped brother Charlie to the lake to see the swans and has to drag him back home when it gets dark.  During the night, Charlie sets off on his own to see the swans, but ends up taking a wrong turn and getting lost in the woods.  The next day it is discovered that Charlie is missing, and Sara knows in her heart that Charlie must have gotten lost on his way to see the swans.  With the help of her friend Mary and her enemy Joe Melby, Sara spends the day searching the woods, tirelessly calling out to Charlie, finally finding him at the bottom of a ravine, scratched up, bruised and scared, but ultimately okay.

My Thoughts

As I began reading this book, I didn’t really care for Sara at all.  All she did was complain about her ugly sneakers, her big feet, and not being pretty.  I found her to be rather self-centered and petty.  But as I read on, I was touched by her devotion and determination to find her helpless brother.  When faced with a real emergency situation, she was able to put her love for her brother ahead of her petty grudge against Joe Melby, and even came to realize that she had been wrong about Joe.  The personal growth of Sara’s character is what made me end up liking this book in the end.  To be able to admit that you are wrong and to be able to think of others ahead of yourself are two very desirable traits that Sara gained through her experience.

Reviews

“Put Betsy Byars and the Newbery Award on the cover of a book and you've already reeled me in - so to be disappointed is a bigger letdown than you'd think! Not a bad book, just not a great book.

“Sara is the middle child, between mute Charlie and pretty Wanda. Their parents, one dead and one very absent, have tasked Aunt Willie with the care of the children and all seems fairly standard - a little bickering, a "you can't tell me what to do" argument, etc - until the day Sara takes Charlie to see the swans. Charlie finds the swans fascinating and soothing and doesn't want to leave, so when he looks out his window that night and sees something white moving, he is sure they have come to find him. Leaving the house in the darkness, Charlie becomes lost and Sara discovers things about herself, her brother and others in the hours after he is discovered missing.

“For the first time, I find Byars' character's speech a bit off for their age. Sara's use of the word "bloomers" and the sentence "I just acted too hastily." don't seem to fit a girl in her early teens in the 1970s, although the reference to TV game shows of the time was amusing. Sara may be just "coming of age" but she ends up seeming, at times, like a much older adult - and not in the "mature for her age" sense. If you're looking to read all the Newbery winners, then you'll want to read this one. For a really good book, or even for the best Byars offers, this isn't it.”

AnnaLovesBooks. (2007, December 9). [Book review of the book Summer of the Swans by B. Byars]. Retrieved from www.paperbackswap.com/Summer-Swans-Betsy-Byars/book/0140314202

Ideas for Use

This would be a great book to use as a group book discussion.

Module 4, part 1 - The Tale of Despereaux

Bibliography

DiCamillo, K. (2003). The Tale of Despereaux. Massachusetts: Candlewick Press.

Summary

This book tells about Despereaux, a smaller than average mouse with big ears, who falls in love with the kind and caring Princess Pea. Because of this, the Mouse Council sentences him to the dungeon where no mouse has ever returned from. In the dungeon, he tells his story to Gregory the Jailer who helps him escape by hiding him under a napkin on his dinner plate. While hiding under the napkin, Despereaux overhears the shamed, light-loving rat Roscuro explain to the nearly-deaf Miggery Sow his evil plan of capturing the Princess Pea. Armed with a needle and red thread, Despereaux descends a second time into the dungeon on a “quest” to save the Princess Pea. With the help of a ill-intentioned rat, Despereaux finds Roscuro, Miggery Sow and the Princess in one of the hidden chambers in the dungeon. It is Despereaux’s bravery and the Princess Pea’s empathy for Mig and Roscuro that bring all four of them safely out of the dungeon.

My Thoughts

This is one of my favorite books I’ve read so far. It is not your average run-of-the-mill story where you can guess what is going to happen because the plot sounds like something you’ve read before. Rather, it is a unique and imaginative tale of love and courage. I found myself laughing out loud at the image of Roscuro the rat falling from the chandelier right into the Queen’s bowl of soup. I like the message this book teaches that even if you are small and awkward (like Despereaux), you can still achieve great things.

Reviews

“A charming story of unlikely heroes whose destinies entwine to bring about a joyful resolution. Foremost is Despereaux, a diminutive mouse who, as depicted in Erring’s pencil drawings, is one of the most endearing of his ilk ever to appear in children’s books. His mother, who is French, declares him to be “such the disappointment” at his birth and the rest of his family seems to agree that he is very odd: his ears are too big and his eyes open far too soon and they all expect him to die quickly. Of course, he doesn’t. Then there is the human Princess Pea, with whom Despereaux falls deeply (one might say desperately) in love. She appreciates him despite her father’s prejudice against rodents. Next is Roscuro, a rat with an uncharacteristic love of light and soup. Both these predilections get him into trouble. And finally, there is Miggery Sow, a peasant girl so dim that she believes she can become a princess. With a masterful hand, DiCamillo weaves four story lines together in a witty, suspenseful narrative that begs to be read aloud. In her authorial asides, she hearkens back to literary traditions as old as those used by Henry Fielding. In her observations of the political machinations and follies of rodent and human societies, she reminds adult readers of George Orwell. But the unpredictable twists of plot, the fanciful characterizations, and the sweetness of tone are DiCamillo’s own. This expanded fairy tale is entertaining, heartening, and, above all, great fun.”

Budin, M. L. (2003). [Review of the book The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by K. DiCamillo]. School Library Journal, 49 (8), 126

Ideas for Use

This is such an entertaining story that I think it would be a great read for story time. Because the story is so creative, it could also be used as an intro to having kids think up their own “happily ever after” story.

Module 3, part 2 - Flotsam

Bibliography

Wiesner, D. (2006). Flotsam. New York: Clarion Books.

Summary

Through illustrations, the Caldecott Award winning book Flotsam tells a story about a boy who finds an old camera on the beach. He shows his parents then runs into town to have the film developed. The boy is wide-eyed as he looks at the amazing pictures of a mechanical fish, octopi sitting on chairs, sea turtles with shell villages on their backs, a community of aliens, and starfish that have islands growing on their backs. Then he sees the photograph of a girl holding a photograph of a boy holding a photograph of another boy holding a photograph etc. Using a microscope, he magnifies the picture until he can see the boy standing in the very first photograph. He takes a picture of himself holding the photograph then throws the camera back out into the ocean. The camera gets pulled and dragged by squids, a whale, seahorses, seagulls, and dolphins until it ends up getting washed ashore in front of a little girl.

My Thoughts

This book is amazing. I find it fascinating that this book can tell such a detailed story without using any words. I really liked the originality of the story and Wiesner’s imagination in creating the various underwater scenes. This is a book with which I could sit for hours just looking at the beautifully creative illustrations and not realize how much time was passing. (I know because I did!)

Reviews

“With its careful array of beachcombed items, the title page spread of Wiesner’s latest picture book makes it look like one of those Eyewitness books, but the following wordless story is far stranger than fact. In clue-and fancy-strewn full-page paintings and panels, a boy at the beach closely examines items and animals washed in from the sea; when a wave deposits an old camera on the shore, his viewing takes a radical shift. He gets the camera’s film developed at a nearby shop, allowing Wiesner’s bountiful imagination great play in the series of photos the boy then examines: a robot fish, an octopus reading aloud to its offspring, giant starfish with islands on their backs. And: a seaside photo of a girl holding a seaside photo of a boy, holding a seaside photo of another child, ad infinitum. The inquisitive boy’s ready magnifying glass and microscope allow him to see further and further into the photo, and further back in time, as revealed by the increasingly old-fashioned clothes worn by the children pictured. What to do but add himself to the sequence? The meticulous and rich detail of Wiesner’s watercolors makes the fantasy involving and convincing; children who enjoyed scoping out Banyai’s Zoom books and Lehman’s The Red Book will keep a keen eye on this book about a picture of a picture of a picture of a. . . .”

Sutton, R. (2006). [Review of the book Flotsam, by D. Wiesner]. Horn Book Magazine, 82 (5), 571-572.

Ideas for Use

Although a display is not an original or a creative idea, having this book on display would catch people’s attention, especially if it were open to one of the many imaginative underwater illustration pages.

Module 3, part 1 - The Biggest Bear

Bibliography

Ward, L. (1952).  The Biggest Bear. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Summary

This endearing story is about a boy named Johnny who is determined to go and shoot himself the biggest bear he can find.  What he finds, though, is a bear cub, which Johnny takes home with him and raises as a pet.  As the bear grows larger, he becomes a nuisance to the neighbors.  The neighbors start complaining and Johnny’s father tells Johnny that the bear must go away.  Johnny takes his bear west, east, and south, but the bear keeps showing back up on the farm.  For the fourth time, Johnny takes his bear out, this time going north and carrying a rifle, to make sure that the bear doesn’t come back again.  But Johnny and his bear walk into a trap and are caught by some men who work for the zoo.  So Johnny’s bear goes to live in the zoo.

My Thoughts

This is a touching story of the shared bond between a boy and a bear.  My heart went out to the boy as he came to realize that he would have to kill the bear that he loved so much; likewise, my heart rejoiced for the boy when he found that his bear would always be safe and cared for at the zoo.  What makes this book spectacular, though, is the award-winning artwork that accompanies the story.  Although drawn in black and white and shades of gray, the illustrations are intricately detailed.  The facial expressions of the people (the boy in particular) and of the animals animate the words that would otherwise be lifeless. 

Book Reviews

“Ward, Lynd. The Biggest Bear (published in 1952 by Houghton Mifflin Company and republished by Scholastic Book Services, a division of Scholastic Magazines Inc., New York City, NY.)  Johnny Orchard lives on the farm farthest up the valley and closest to the woods.  His grandfather had planted some apple trees, so it became known as Orchard’s Orchard.  Every other farm in the area has a bearskin nailed up to dry on the barn, but not Johnny’s.  The only bear in his family history is the one which frightened Grandpa when he was picking apples.  When Johnny asked why he had run the other way, his grandfather said, “Better a bear in the orchard than an Orchard in the bear.”  It was humiliating.  So Johnny sets off to the woods with his rifle to find him a bear.  Will he get one?  And if he does, what will he do with it?

“The Biggest Bear is the kind of book that is great for beginning readers because it tells an interesting story in complete sentences but uses simple, though not dumbed-down, language and is short enough to keep a young child’s attention.  It is the sort of thing that youngsters used to be given after they had learned their phonics in order to help them practice their reading and comprehension skills.  That is, until the boring basal readers were developed to go along with the look-say method.  It is a really cute tale, and the pictures are enjoyable too.  Even though Johnny ends up getting in big trouble, not from any wrong doing, the ending is very satisfactory.  I haven’t seen an early reading book that I thought was as good as this one in a long time.

Walker, W. (2010, April 24). The Biggest Bear [Web log post].  Retrieved from http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolbook review/779469/

Ideas for Use

This would be a great book to use in a book discussion with kids, using questions such as “Have you ever had a pet you had to say goodbye to?” or “If Johnny came across a grown bear in the woods today, do you think he would want to shoot it like he wanted to at the beginning of the story?  Why or why not?”