AESOP'S FABLES- BEVERLY NAIDOO

I'm a huge believer in the power of a good folktale. Folktales communicate important life lessons with only a little bit of text. Folktales are great for teaching metacognitive strategies like inferring. The repetitive structures and language support kids who are just starting down the reading road.

Maybe most importantly, folktales build children's sense of story. And that sense of story strongly impacts children's ability to write well, especially when it comes to personal narrative, memoir, and fiction. I think it's important then, to expose kids to lots of these short, strong, texts that can embed in their hearts, brains, and tongues. And so I read aloud tons of fairy tales, myths and legends, and trickster tales.

AESOP'S FABLES, by Beverly Naidoo, author of Journey to Jo'Burg is definitely going in that pile. The collection of 16 fables beg to be read, practiced, and performed as Readers' Theaters. There are some old favorites-- The Lion and the Mouse, The Grasshopper and the Ant," but there are also lots of others that are new to me- The Farmer and his Children, The Mosquito and the Lion, and The Eagle and the Warthog. And what kid is going to be able to resist South African animals like Rinkhals and Klipspringers and Tamboti? Each of the fables carries a great life lesson:

• It is easier to be friends than enemies
• If you betray a friend, don't be surprised when someone betrays you
• Just wishing for something doesn't make it happen

Naidoo's fables are enhanced by Piet Grobler's absolutely gorgeous watercolor, (I think), illustrations. This one is a must have for your folktale basket!

Review copy provided by publisher.

KING HUGO'S HUGE EGO by Chris Van Dusen

OK, so I'm trying to get back into blogging again, but alongside a full time job, and single mom, not to mention football board member (my second full time job every Fall!) it's a teeny bit much. This, then, will be another one of those mini-reviews.

KING HUGO is a king who thinks very highly of himself. One day, on a foray of his kingdom, his path is blocked by Tessa, a villager, carrying a heavy load. Not knowing she is actually a sorceress, he orders her to move aside. She responds by placing a spell on him, so that every time he thinks/speaks about himself his head grows a little. Before long, his head is so large that he can't get through doorways, or stand on his balcony to give his weekly "Speech of Adoration."

This book has a fairy/cautionary tale kind of feel. It's told in rhyme, which I usually don't love, but this one is terrific. I loved it, as did my fourth graders!

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Quote of the week (by one of my little ELL guys who had come in to help me set up a science experiment one day during lunch recess):

Student: When I get old, I am going to have a men's club.

Me (stopping mid-sand pouring, a little startled): You are?

Student: Yes. We are going to drink Coca Cola and then go to bed. And that's all.

As the very tired mother of two teenagers who came home after their football game, and then went out again to visit their adoring fans (girls), I think this sounds terrific. I hope my boys join soon!

ONCE UPON A ROYAL SUPERBABY- Kevin O'Malley

In February, I blogged about ONCE UPON A COOL MOTORCYCLE DUDE. which quickly became one of my students' favorite fractured fairy tales. Somehow, in the move between schools this summer, I lost that book. When I was at the Tattered Cover yesterday, however, I found a new Kevin O'Malley.

The premise of the story is similar to ONCE UPON A COOL MOTORCYCLE DUDE. Two children, a boy and a girl, are assigned to write a fairy tale that includes a king and a queen . The problem is, the two have very different ideas about how the story should proceed.

In this story, the king and queen have a baby, Sweet Piper, when the girl is telling the story, or Strong Viper, according to the boy. The king and queen are kidnapped by a giant cyclops, and it is up to Piper/Viper to save his parents. Of course, that's more than a little difficult because the two narrators can't agree on a solution.

Like COOL MOTORCYCLE DUDE, ROYAL SUPERBABY once again has several different illustrators. O'Malley is in charge of the boy and girl narrators, with their cartoon bubble arguments. Carol Heyer does the illustrations when the girl narrator is telling the story. Scott Goto illustrates the rough and tough muscle guy scenes.

Another one kids are going to love!

THE THREE LITTLE DASSIES- Jan Brett

Last night my son had drivers' ed for three hours. Right after rush hour. About 45 minutes south of our house. Some people might have have thought, "Hmm, it's only about ten days until Christmas," and seized the opportunity to travel to a conveniently located shopping center and do a little shopping. Others might have thought, "Hmm, it's only about ten days until Christmas and I haven't sent out any cards." And they might have gone to a local coffee shop and addressed cards. Not me.

Instead, I took the opportunity to head to the closest bookstore and peruse the children's section. And I was really glad I did! Just look at this new treasure I found! THE 3 LITTLE DASSIES is an African version of the Three Little Pigs. Mimbi, Pimbi, and Timbi (rodent-ish creatures kind of like prairie dogs or ground hogs) set out into the big wide world. They build huts of grass, wood, and stone, but soon encounter the Big, Bad Eagle, who threatens to "flap and clap and blow their houses in." Two of the dassies end up in the eagle's nest, and have to be rescued by a classily dressed lizard, Mr. Agama Man.

The illustrations are classic Jan Brett, with a story, but then a whole other subtext going on going on in the sidebars. Brett created the book after a visit to Namibia, and I especially loved her use of African textiles-- the color, line, and design are absolutely gorgeous!

And there's even a readers' theater!

A must have for your folktale collection!

ONCE UPON A COOL MOTORCYCLE DUDE- Kevin O'Malley, illustrations by O'Malley, Carol Heyer and Scott Goto

Summer is just around the corner. The boys want to go to at least three football camps each. There will be combines. They will need new cleats and gloves and ankle braces. Everything costs lots of money. So I tried to exercise restraint at CCIRA. But I had to pick up at least a couple of new books to bring back to my kids.

ONCE UPON A COOL MOTORCYCLE DUDE is a classic, collage style, fractured fairy tale. Three kids- two boys and a girl- are supposed to retell a favorite fairy tale. They can't decide what story to tell, so they make up their own. Their story begins with the beautiful Princess Tenderheart. When the story begins, Princess Tenderheart has eight ponies. Each night, despite all of her best efforts, someone comes and steals one of the ponies, until finally, she is left with only her favorite, a pony named Buttercup. Then a cool motorcycle dude steps in to save the day…

The illustrations,done by three different illustrators with three really different styles, are the funnest part of this book. Kevin O'Malley, the author/illustrator, tells his story with the three main characters, talking in comic-like conversation bubbles. Carol Heyer tells the story of Princess Tenderheart, with classic fairy tale illustrations similar to those of KING BIDGOOD'S IN THE BATHTUB. When the Cool Motorcycle Dude roars onto the scene, then Scott Goto takes over.

I'm thinking about teaching a collage class in the spring. This will be a fun book to add to my collection for that class…

PRINCESS AND THE PEA- Rachel Isadora

I am always on the lookout for new versions of fairy and/or folktales, and especially those with a bent toward diversity. While I was at the library tonight (did you notice this does NOT say bookstore?), I found a new to me version of the Hans Christian Anderson folktale, PRINCESS AND THE PEA. It's actually a couple of years old, so maybe everyone in the world has seen it, but I hadn't and I fell in love immediately. The story is set in Africa. The illustrations are one of my favorite genre, collage. This would make a fabulous addition to any folk tale collection.