The Three Pigs, Adapted and Illustrated by David Wiesner

Title: The Three Pigs
Adaptor/Illustrator: David Wiesner
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: Clarion Books (April 23, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0618007016
ISBN-13: 978-0618007011

Synopsis: Once upon a time, there were three pigs. One built a house of straw, one a house of sticks and one a house of bricks. One day, the wolf came to visit and blew the pig with the house of straw right out of the frame. So then the three little pigs wandered around and took a ride on a paper airplane, interfered with some other traditional tales, and sicced a giant dragon on the big bad wolf.... Wait, huh?

Review: In this fractured fairy tale from David Wiesner, the three pigs escape through the margins of their traditional tale and are soon living it up between the pages of some of the most well known fairy tales. Wiesner's rich illustrations, creative use of white space and sly sense of humor make this old tale new and fresh again. Young children will love the unexpected turn of events, while parents and older readers will delight in Wiesner's use of irony and humor to not only let the reader in on the joke, but make them a part of it, as well!

Awards/Reviews:

Caldecott Medal Winner, American Library Association

Prix Sorcières (the French equivalent of the Caldecott Medal)

IBBY Honour Book nomination for illustration

"In his latest flight of fancy, Wiesner uses shifting illustration styles and fonts to startle complacent readers into an imaginary world even as they ponder the conventional structure of story. His trademark crafty humor and skewed perspectives will tickle readers pink (even the nonporcine variety)!" Amazon.com

"Wiesner's brilliant use of white space and perspective evokes a feeling that the characters can navigate endless possibilities--and that the range of story itself is limitless." Publishers Weekly

Connections:

Before reading David Wiesner’s The Three Pigs, ask your students to tell the story of The Three Little Pigs as they know it. Are there variations in the stories they tell? Or, as it says on the jacket of Wiesner’s book, is it a story where, “every time someone tells it the same thing happens”?

After reading the story, ask students to come up with other stories they'd like to see "fractured". Have the students speculate on what could happen in some of those stories.

Compare with students the original version of this story, Wiesner's version and other "fractured" versions that have been published. Ask students what is different and what is the same? Which one do they think the pigs would like best? Have them draw pictures of their favorite parts as a way to connect words and the imagery they depict.

For more ideas, visit http://www.teachingbooks.net/content/Wiesner_activity_guide.pdf 

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, Adapted and Illustrated by Simms Taback

Title: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
Adaptor/Illustrator: Simms Taback
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Viking Juvenile; 1 edition (September 1, 1997)
ISBN-10: 0670869392
ISBN-13: 978-0670869398

Synopsis*:  An old lady swallows a fly. What on earth will she do? How will she get it out? She tries swallowing a cat to get rid of the spider, but then the cat was stuck. So then the old lady tried swallowing a dog... How on earth is she ever going to get them all out?

Review: Simms Taback uses brightly colored graphics using mixed media and collage on Kraft paper to help illustrate the traditional folk poem "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly". On its own, the story is very amusing; add in Taback's witty art and related extras (a recipe for Spider Soup on the page for the spider; a listing of common birds of the Americas on the birds page) and kids will be downright delighted. The old lady is depicted with kookily crossed eyes and a staggering gait. The pages are die cut with increasingly bigger holes to show all the things swimming around in the old lady's stomach as she tries in vain to get them out. The test is handwritten on brightly colored scraps of paper, making it easy for young readers to follow along with the librarian/teacher/parent/adult reading the story to the children, and it's just silly enough to keep a child's attention.

Awards/Reviews: 

  

Notable Book designation (1998), American Library Association (ALA)

Caldecott Honor Book (1998), ALA

New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book

Children’s Book of the Year selection from The American Institute of Graphic Arts.

"Children of all ages will joyfully swallow this book whole." Publishers Weekly

"The old lady... looks wacky enough to go so far as to swallow a horse." School Library Journal

"It is good fun to watch the old lady bulge and bloat, and the sheer corniness of the verse continues to be deeply gratifying." Kirkus Reviews

Connections:

Teach young students the melody of the song (if they don't already know it) and have them join you on singing the lyrics "I don't know why she swallowed the fly." The teacher will point to the words of this line as she reads it to help students learn to recognize the words on sight.

For classroom use with Kindergarteners, this is a good book to use for sequencing. Ask students to predict what will happen. As the story goes on, ask students to predict what animal the old lady will swallow next. What will happen to her? Ask students to remember the sequence in which the old lady swallows things - from little bugs to big animals. Then ask students to remember the reverse order, from big to little. This is early preparation for learning about sequences. https://home.comcast.net/~leighanne.kraemer/Lesson%20Plans/LangArts/Interactive%20Read%20Aloud%20There%20Was%20an%20Old%20Lady.doc

Have students create their own "Old Lady" using some photocopied old lady heads, arms and legs taped to a sandwich baggie. Then allow students to color and decorate photocopied outlines of horses, dogs, spiders, etc. for them to use to tell the stories themselves. This can be used to reinforce the unit listed above on sequencing.

*It is noted in the back of the book that "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" is an American folk poem first heard in the United States in the 1940's. Several different versions of the poem were collected and published in Hoosier Folklore (December 1947); the original author is unknown.

The Story of Lightning and Thunder, Written and Illustrated by Ashley Bryan

Title: The Story of Lightning & Thunder
Author/Illustrator: Ashley Bryan
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Atheneum (October 31, 1993)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0689824505
ISBN-13: 978-0689824500

Synopsis*: Thunder was a black Mama Sheep and Lightning was her white Ram son. Lightning and Thunder didn't always live up in the sky. They used to live here on Earth in a little village in Africa.  But when Lightning doesn't want to listen to what Thunder tells him to do, he causes trouble for the villagers and they are banished to the sky!

 

 

Review: Ashley Bryan uses a conversational style that reads as if Bryan were speaking directly to the reader. The text uses vernacular and onomatopoeia to mimic the sounds of lightning and thunder as they roll and crash through the sky. This is complemented by Bryan's vivid, stylized illustrations using geometric shapes and bright colors to draw young listeners' attention to page to tell the story of the consequences of being unruly and that even the best of intentions can go terribly awry. The expressions on the faces of the villagers are often quite humorous, and one can't help but feel sorry for Lightning's bumbling and fumbling that causes so much trouble for everyone.

 

 

Awards/Reviews: 

 

Although this particular work has not won any awards, Ashley Bryan has received several honors and awards in his career.

 

Bryan's books have won several awards in children's literature, including the Coretta Scott King Award, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award from Pennsylvania State University, and the Lupine Award from the Maine Library Association. Bryan himself also received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for achievement in children's literature and the University of Southern Mississippi Medallion from the Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival.

• 1981 Coretta Scott King Award Winner for outstanding illustration in Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum
• 1983 Coretta Scott King Award Honor for outstanding illustration in I'm Going to Sing: Black American Spirituals
• 1987 Coretta Scott King Award Honor for outstanding author in Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other African Folk Tales
• 1987 Coretta Scott King Award Honor for outstanding illustration in Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other African Folk Tales
• 1988 Coretta Scott King Award Honor for outstanding illustration in What a Morning! The Christmas Story in Black Spirituals
• 1992 Coretta Scott King Award Honor for outstanding illustration in All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African American Spirituals
• 1998 Coretta Scott King Award Honor for outstanding illustration in Ashley Bryan's ABC of African American Poetry
• 2004 Coretta Scott King Award Winner for outstanding illustration in Beautiful Blackbird
• 2008 Coretta Scott King Award Winner for outstanding illustration in Let it Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals
• 2009  Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for substantial and lasting contributions to children's literature

 "Joyful in both word and palette... Brilliantly colored and ingeniously patterned, Bryan's illustrations are a playful take on stained glass." Publishers Weekly

 

"A delightful adaptation of a Nigerian folktale. There is one of Bryan's uniquely vibrant, swirling, light-filled paintings on every page." Kirkus Reviews

 

 Connections:

 

Read the story aloud to students. Ask the students if any of them know what really happens to cause lightning and thunder. Using a computer or laptop ported to an overhead projector, go to http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-thunderstorms.htm for a kid-based explanation of what causes lighting and thunder, as well as answers to some questions related to thunderstorms.

 

Explain to the students that this is a folktale - a way people used to explain everyday things so that they won't seem so scary. Ask students to think about the things that scare them. Then call on students to ask them what scares them. After three students have given different answers, tell the students that the class is going to write and illustrate their own folktale about something that scares them. Write the three different scary things on the board. Tell the students they are going to vote over which one they are going to write about. Explain that students will raise their hands when the teacher calls out which scary thing they want to write about. Explain that each student may only raise their hand once. Then call out the different things, and write the number of students who voted for each one below the scary thing.

 

Repeat the above steps with a main animal character, the "explanation" of the scary thing, the setting, etc. The next day, the teacher will bring in old magazines and pictures off the Internet the students will combine with their own drawings to create illustrations to match the story. At the end of the unit, each child will get their own copy of the class folktale to take home, and the classroom will have a copy prominently displayed in the room for visitors to see.

 

*It is noted on the copyright page that this is based on Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa, by Elphinstone Dayrell (London: Longmans Green, 1910), 70-71.

Kitten's First Full Moon, Written and Illustrated by Kevin Henkes

Title:  Kitten's First Full Moon

Author/Illustrator:  Kevin Henkes

Publisher: Greenwillow; First edition. edition (January 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0439800560
ISBN-13: 978-0439800563

Synopsis: Kitten sees her first full moon and mistakes it for a large bowl of milk floating in the sky! Kitten tries her very hardest to take a sip of that delicious treat, but instead it always stays just out of her reach. Rather than getting what she desires, she winds up eating a bug, falling on her face, landing in a pond, and getting herself into one scrape after another. Poor Kitten! Will she ever get that bowl of milk that seems to be waiting just for her?

 

Review: Kevin Henkes uses bold lines, humorous prose and richly crafted black-and-white images to tell the adventures of Kitten as she seeks out her bowl of milk in the sky. The monochromatic pictures make the reader feel as though he or she is actually out experiencing Kitten's nighttime world. With a few lines and a wry twist to his words, Henkes conveys Kitten's frustration and determination to get her bowl of milk. Kitten's personality nearly leaps off the page. Children will easily identify with Kitten; this is a great book of encouragement for readers of any age!

 

Awards/Reviews: 

2005 Caldecott Medal Winner ALA Notable Children’s Book Bulletin Blue Ribbon (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books) Texas 2X2 Reading List Charlotte Zolotow Award Book Sense Pick Publishers Weekly Best Book School Library Journal Best Book New York Times Best Illustrated Book New York Public Library's "One Hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing"

"The narrative and visual pacing will keep children entranced, and the determined young heroine and her comical quest will win them over." Publishers Weekly 

 

"The rhythmic text and delightful artwork ensure storytime success. Kids will surely applaud this cat's irrepressible spirit." School Library Journal

 

"[A]rtful in its gracelessness and naivete, just like a kitten. Simply charming." Kirkus Reviews

 

 Connections: As the book deals with the nighttime sky, talk with the students about what is in the sky. Ask them to identify things they might see in the sky at night. How is that different from what they would see during the day? Ask the students if they know what makes night and day. McGraw-Hill has put together several activites based on the book. The activities can be found at the following URL: http://treasures.macmillanmh.com/california/students/grade1/book5/unit5/kitten-s-first-full-moon

 

Scholastic Lesson Plan contributor Jeremy Brunaccioni shared a lesson plan using the end pages of Kitten's First Full Moon to help students create a moon-themed hundreds chart. He also notes that this can segue into a discussion about patterns - patterns in the hundreds chart and patterns in the text and illustrations of the story. This lesson plan is geared toward Kindergarten students. http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/lessonplan.jsp?id=949

 

TeacherVision has compiled an author's guide for Kevin Henke's books, including "Kitten's First Full Moon". In the guide, TeacherVision suggests several pre-reading activities to help the students become interested in the book, and later tie-in the text with the pictures. There are also suggestions for getting students to do some early critical thinking. http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/harpercollins/world-of-kevin-henkes_tg.pdf

Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed, Written and Illustrated by Mo Willems

Title:  Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed
Author/Illustrator:  Mo Willems
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children, New York, NY (January 6, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 142311437X
ISBN-13: 978-1423114376

Synopsis: Wilbur, the naked mole rat, is not quite like the other naked mole rats. For one thing, he isn't naked! While all the other naked mole rats feel free to be, well, naked, Wilbur insists on wearing clothes. In fact, he even opens a clothing store! When the other naked mole rats get angry with him for wearing clothes and try to force him to stop wearing clothes, insisting "Naked mole rats don't wear clothes!" Wilbur's only response is, "Why not?" The other naked mole rats run to their founding patriarch, Grand-pah, "the oldest, greatest, and most naked naked mole rat ever", to try to get him to talk some sense into Wilbur. But Grand-pah's involvement has some unintended results!

Review: Mo Willems uses humor, simple lines and bright colors to tell the story of Wilbur, a naked mole rat who prefers not to be naked, even when all around him insist he must conform and be like everyone else in the community. By leaving the backgrounds of the pages nearly bare, Willems concentrates readers' focus on the characters in his storybook, allowing them to show children it is okay to be different from everyone else, and that we should accept each other - whether we're naked mole rats or clothed ones.

Awards/Reviews: 

• 2009 Parents’ Choice Gold Award 
• NY Times Bestseller  

"Willems’ art follows the simple style of his Elephant and Piggie books, and is dominated in color by (no surprise) naked-mole-rat pink. An ongoing horizontal line lends continuity to most of the pages, occasionally curving to add simple architecture to the scenes. But mostly it is Wilbur’s guileless observations that will have young readers feeling good about individual expression." - Booklist 

"Willems has a talent for creating funny lines, verbally and visually. Beige backgrounds provide an uncluttered stage for his pink creatures with their oversize rectangular heads, each conveying a distinctive personality. Much of the humor resides in the subtle changes in Wilbur's eyes and, of course, in his colorful costumes. Adults will embrace the message of tolerance, happy to have a tale that can be shared with young children. They will also appreciate the hints of Charles Schultz that surface here and there. Kids will giggle-and wish their daily dramas had similar endings. Now, however, they'll have a script." - Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library, in School Library Journal

Connections: Invite students to think about what makes us the same and what makes us different. Discuss whether different is necessarily bad, and whether or not "same" always means "good." Another connection: Use the book as a springboard to talk about animals and do some research on naked mole rats. What do they eat? (Students will probably be fascinated when they discover naked mole rats eat their own feces!) Alternately, teachers or librarians could read this book back-to-back with "The Emperor's New Clothes". Have students compare and contrast the message of the books. Additionally, several educators have posted  lesson plans or ideas to use with this book:

•  http://www.accessola2.com/superconference2009/thu/624/dressed.pdf
• http://colquitt.k12.ga.us/public_lib/book%20pages/Naked%20Mole%20Rat.htm
• http://literacylaunchpad.blogspot.com/2009/03/naked-mole-rat-gets-dressed.html

The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Written and Illustrated by Beatrix Potter

Title:  The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Author:  Beatrix Potter
Illustrator:  Beatrix Potter
Format: Kindle Edition
Publication Date:  June 20, 2010
File Size: 1107 KB

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services

Language: English
ASIN: B003TFE7NY
Original Publication Date: 1902
Publisher: Frederick Warne & Co./Penguin Group, London, England
ISBN: 0-7232-4770-6

Synopsis: Mrs. Rabbit must go on an errand, and trusts her children to do as they are told, "Stay out of Farmer McGregor's garden!" Three of her little bunnies do so, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-Tail. But her son Peter is a different story, even after being warned his own father was put into a pie after he was caught in the garden! Peter defies her rules, and has a terrifying time of things in Mr. McGregor's garden. Peter is made literally sick with fright!

Review: Beatrix Potter uses verbal imagery and lush watercolor illustrations to tell the tale of Peter Rabbit, a young bunny who defies his mother's orders and ventures into a neighboring garden - with nearly disastrous results. Potter gives her rabbits human-style dress and mannerisms to help illustrate for children the consequences that can occur when we misbehave. Her illustrations flesh-out the detail found in her text, allowing children to easily imagine what is happening to Peter - and sympathize with his predicament. The rich illustrations also help children in more urban environments whom have never seen a garden understand the obstacles Peter faces in getting back through the gate and safely home. Without being heavy-handed or redundant, Potter shows through her words and illustrations that parents have rules for a reason, and that children should follow these rules.

Awards*/Reviews: 

• Waterstones The Nation's Favourite Children's Books (1997, No 41)
•  1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up (2009.0043|2009, Ages 3↑)
• New York Public Library's Books of the Century (12|Favorites of Childhood and Youth)

"Beatrix Potter's animal stories have been a joy to generations of young readers. Her warm, playful illustrations in soft colors invite children into the world of words and flights of fancy. Once there, she gently and humorously guides readers along the path of righteousness, leaving just enough room for children to wonder if that incorrigible Peter will be back in McGregor's garden tomorrow." - Amazon.com

"Potter's book has softly colored spot illustrations, honing in beautifully on the drama or emotions of the facing pages of text." - School Library Journal

Connections: Read the story aloud to a group of students. Ask students what they think would have happened if Peter had listened to his mother. Ask students to think about a time when they disobeyed an adult who told them not to do something. Then ask students to imagine what they think they would look like if they were an animal. Pass out pencils and crayons and ask students to draw a picture of themselves as that animal, telling about what happened when they disobeyed. Then allow students to take turns using their pictures to tell a short story about what happened. As students to whom this book is geared are probably in the early stages of literacy, this allows the children to make connections between their spoken words and the story in a picture book.

*Awards Source: LibraryThing (http://www.librarything.com/work/46558)