Module 2: The Three Pigs

Book Summary

The Three Pigs starts just as you think it would with the Big Bad Wolf huffing and puffing away. Only this time, after a pig or two gets gobbled up, they’ve had enough. The three of them just walk off the page and out of the story. They fold up a page from the story into a paper airplane, hop on and fly off! Then they find themselves in several other traditional tales. They make several friends from the other stories, including a misunderstood dragon and decide to go home to the house made of bricks.  When the Big Bad Wolf comes puffing, the dragon opens the door and the words just fall off the page. Then the story ends as everyone, including the wolf, is called in to dinner.

APA Reference of Book

Wiesner, D. (2001). The three pigs. New York, NY: Clarion Books.

Impressions

This book manipulates the language and styles of traditional folktales. All children will enjoy this book, but I think older children will get more out of the twists and humor. The plot will capture the interest of older readers as the main characters - the three little pigs - reject their fate and leave their story, wandering through other traditional tales before returning to their own. Most older children will be caught off guard as the story shifts from traditional perspectives and reading to the end will be irresistible for them. There is so much to notice, such as the illustration styles changing along with the stories the pigs enter. That the pigs take their fate into their own hands and make a story to suit themselves will send a message of empowerment to young readers. 

Professional Review

Children will delight in the changing perspectives, the effect of the wolf's folded-paper body, and the whole notion of the interrupted narrative. Wiesner's luxurious use of white space with the textured pigs zooming in and out of view is fresh and funny. They wander through other stories--their bodies changing to take on the new style of illustration as they enter the pages-emerging with a dragon and the cat with a fiddle. The cat draws their attention to a panel with a brick house, and they all sit down to soup, while one of the pigs reconstructs the text. Witty dialogue and physical comedy abound in this inspired retelling of a familiar favorite.

Lukehart, W. (April 2001). The Three Pigs [Review of the book The Three Pigs]. School 
     Library Journal, 47(4), 126. Retrieved from www.slj.com

Library Uses

This book, along with other versions of this classic tale would make an excellent book talk. As a supplemental lesson to assist teachers for older students, you could use this and the other versions during a library lesson for exploring plot and perspective. Moving from the original tale, through the Disney version where the pigs don’t die, discussing the plot changes and their significance, we would then consider The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (Scieszka, 1996), and then finally, The Three Pigs.

Module 2: Mirette on the High Wire

Book Summary

Mirette’s life is busy as a young girl in 1892 Paris. She and her mother work hard to keep the guests happy at their boarding house for theater and music hall players. One day Mirette spies the reclusive new guest in the wash-yard behind the boarding house walking as if on thin air. It is Bellini, the famous tightrope walker. Mirette is drawn by the magical performance and begs him to teach her, which he does only after she spends day after day by herself practicing. When she learns just how famous he once was, she struggles to understand why he no longer performs. Bellini’s confession of fear disappoints Mirette. Not wanting to disappoint, he takes a chance and arranges a performance in the square outside of the boarding house. Mirette discovers him on the wire just as he freezes in fear and he doesn’t seem able to continue. Thinking quickly, she climbs to the other end of the wire and walks out to him. Together they complete the act to the delight of everyone. The possibility of a performing future for Mirette with M. Bellini is suggested.

APA Reference of Book

McCully, E.A. (1992). Mirette on the high wire. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Impressions

Most notable about this book are McCully’s illustrations, which are painted in the impressionist style, lush with color, featuring the costume and architecture of the period. The book is simply written for younger readers to understand. The characters are typical in their struggles to overcome weakness and do their best, but the plot is made more interesting and exotic because of the setting and theater folk at a boarding house in nineteenth century Paris.

There are several themes at play: hard work leads to success; believe in yourself; the power of the innocent to heal the fallen; fame and fortune bring happiness. While the message isn’t very deep, it does fit very well within the style of nineteenth-century fiction and can be appreciated as such. The illustrations alone recommend the book for inclusion in a school library.

Professional Review

As improbable as the story is, its theatrical setting at some historical distance, replete with European architecture and exotic settings and people, helps lend credibility to this circus tale. Mirette, through determination and perhaps talent, trains herself, overcoming countless falls on cobblestone, vaunting pride that goes before a fall, and lack of encouragement from Bellini. The impressionistic paintings, full of mottled, rough edges and bright colors, capture both the detail and the general milieu of Paris in the last century. The colors are reminiscent of Toulouse-Lautrec, the daubing technique of Seurat. A satisfying, high-spirited adventure.

MacDonald, R. (1993, January) Mirette on the high wire. [Review of the book Mirette on 
     the high wire by Ruth K. MacDonald]. School Library Journal, 39(1), 8. Retrieved 
     from www.slj.com

Library Uses

This book would make a magical storytime for younger readers. Activities that could accompany the story are painting with water colors or work on a balance beam. I suggest scanning the illustrations for projection on the Promethean board for full effect. Though library time with students is usually connected to core subjects, this book would be a wonderful addition to an art unit on impressionism. After the class, students could check out the book for further study. As well, it illustrates the Paris styles in clothing, décor, and architecture of the period that many find so captivating and could be offered as a library class supplement into the study of that period in history.

Module 1: Ramona Quimby, Age 8

Book Summary

Ramona Quimby is an eight-year-old from a close-knit, loving family. Dad has gone back to college and is working part-time while Mom works full-time, and the entire family has to scrape together to make it work. Ramona must do her part by going to the Kemp's after school because her parents have no money for child care. There she is forced to do the bidding of a much younger, spoiled child - the granddaughter of the sitter - so that the arrangement can continue and the parents can save money. In addition, Ramona has some very embarrassing moments at school that lead to a terrible misunderstanding: Ramona thinks her teacher doesn't like her. By the end of the book, everything is lovingly resolved and Ramona has grown from her experiences.

APA Reference of Book

Cleary, B. (1981). Ramona Quimby, age 8. New York, NY: Harper Collins.


Impressions

This book is simply yet entertainingly and humorously written using language that 3rd and 4th-grade readers could easily access. The main character, Ramona, is easy to identify with and the book is filled with serious real-life struggles with which many 3rd and 4th-grade students can relate. All of the characters are fully written with both good and bad qualities, rendering them believable. Ramona's family struggles and her place in them will ring familiar to young readers, but not in a predictable way. Tension is created as Ramona works through her emotional reactions and misunderstandings, and who she becomes leads to a satisfying ending. At times lingering over emotional themes and at time lightning-paced, this book will keep students interested through to the end as they discover how Ramona learns to cope with her new position in life. 

Professional Review 

Cleary has brought her "nice sticking-together family" into the 1980s. She's taken the best from the 60s and 70s - she's freer now (viz., neighbor Willa jean Kemp's playmate Bruce "doesn't wee-wee in the sandbox") and more feelings-centered. and, she's done it without sacrificing any of the decency or laughter that makes the Quimbys a favorite happy family. As if answering critics of her "perfect" family, Cleary puts the Quimbys under real pressure and lets the strains show. the elder Quimbys are trying to make do on one-and-a-half paychecks (when they were struggling on two) so that Mr. Q. can go to college. Straight-arrow Beezus is turning into a temperamental teen. Ramona and bratty Willa Jean are taken care of after school by doting Grandmother Kemp; and Ramona has to put up with other things that are unfair, embarrassing of both, like cracking a raw "hard-boiled" egg (her mother's mistake) on her forehead at school, or throwing up in class. But Ramona hangs in there and earns the highest honor, being "big enough for her family to depend on." No doubt about it, Ramona Quimby, Age 8 gets better with every year.

Pollack, P.D. (1981, August). Ramona Quimby, age 8. [Review of the book Ramona     
       Quimby, age 8, by P.D. Pollack]. School Library Journal, 27(10), 54.    
       Retrieved from www.slj.com

Library Uses

This book would be great for literature circles in the library. Many writing activities could be built around the themes presented. It would also be terrific for behavior-related library groups. Sometimes kids struggle because there is no one to talk to about the life lessons they must learn. The events experienced by Ramona - bully on the bus, the teacher doesn't like me, and other embarrassing situations - would all be great discussion starters.

Module 1: The Plot Chickens

Book Summary

Henrietta is a chicken who loves to read books. She convinces the librarian to check out books to her even though she is a chicken, and she reads every day to the other chickens on her farm. She decides that if reading is good, writing must be better and checks out a book on writing. As she reads the writing rules, she and the other chickens begin to develop a story. They go through the plot, character development, problem/solution, building suspense, and using sensory language. When all the publishers reject her book, she self-publishes. The reviews are terrible and Henrietta starts to doubt her writing ability. But in the end, the children of the library vote her book the best book of the year, and Henrietta proudly reads her book to the children (Buk, buk!)

APA Reference of Book

Auch, M. J., & Auch, H. (2009). The plot chickens. New York, NY: Holiday House.

Impressions

The Plot Chickens is written in a comic style, with some words written as a chicken would pronounce them, and with lots of puns. The characters are believable and easy to identify with, making the reader get behind Henrietta's determination to write a story when no one else believes that a chicken can write. In the end, Henrietta and the chickens succeed, but humor returns when she tries to read during author's night at the library and all that comes out is chicken clucks. The book clearly explains and illustrates through Henrietta's action the elements of literature needed by young students to both analyze a reading selection and compose their own. The illustrations are full of action and humor and help to make the story and concepts visible for young minds.

Professional Review

The illustrations, a combination of oil paints and digital technology, are bold and colorful. The pictures are busy, with Henrietta at her typewriter while her friends cavort around her. There are imagined scenes in cloud shapes, word balloons, and jokes aplenty. A droll chicken with a repeating line adds to the humor. This offering works on two levels. It's a funny picture book that could be used as a manual on writing. 

Bates, I. (2009, March) The plot chickens. [Review of the book The plot chickens, by M.    
       J. and H. Auch]. School Library Journal, 55(3), 105-106. Retrieved from www.slj.com

Library Uses

This book could be used in the library during story time as a good lesson for young readers in confidence and hard work. For older students, it could be used in the library to supplement classroom writing instruction and get the kids talking about the writing process and elements.