Tell the Truth, B.B. Wolf

Tell The Truth, B.B. Wolf

Author:  Judy Sierra

Illustrated by:  J. Otto Seibold

Copyright: 2010

Published by:  Random House Books

Number of Pages: 30

Genre: Fantasy

                I chose this book because I thought it would be an interesting adaptation of one of my childhood favorites.  The wolf gets a phone call inviting him to the library to share how he met the three little pigs.   The Wolf lives in Villain Ville with other villains from other stories.  All the villains give him advice to change the story and give it a happy ending.  The wolf said he was only blowing on a dandelion when he accidentally blew the first house down.  The wolf said the reason he blew on the second house was that it was on fire.  He said that when he got to the third house he was exhausted and that is why he was banging on the door.  He thought the pig told him to come in through the chimney.  The wolf apologizes to the pigs.  He decides that he needs a new middle name.  He decided it was bodacious.  The wolf and his friends build a big house for all three pigs.

                The illustrations in this book are digitally created.  The colors in this book are very vivid.  The illustrator uses bright primary colors.  The book has informal and very informal text placement.  They book includes text bubbles to show dialogue as well as the text of the book.  The illustrator also uses vignettes.  The book has end pages with picture of many of our favorite fairy tale characters.

                This book would be appropriate for ages 3- 8 years old.  I would use this book to teach children the importance of always telling the truth.  I would also teach the students that people can accomplish great things when they work together to reach a common goal.  I would also use this book to compare and contrast different versions of this story.  This book would be a great addition to any fairy tale unit that I might teach.  This book has not won any awards.

Honestly, Red Riding Hood was Rotten!

Honestly, Red Riding Hood was Rotten!

The Story of Little Red Riding Hood

As told by the Wolf

Author:  Trisha Speed Shaskan

Illustrator:  Gerald Guerlais

Copyright:  2012

Published by:  Picture Window Books

Number of Pages:  22

Genre:  Fantasy

                I chose this story because I thought that it might be a funny version of a classic book.    This book was written from the perspective of the Wolf.  The Wolf was out of food and was hungry.  Red Riding Hood was vain and was always admiring herself.   All she wanted to talk about was how pretty she was.  All Wolf could think about was that he was hungry.  Wolf challenges Red to a game to see who can get to the grandmothers house first.  Wolf wins because he knows the forest well.  Granny is dressed all in green.  Wolf thinks that she looks like a granny smith apple so he eats her.  All he could think of was apples.  When Red came in he thought her eyes looked like apple seeds.  All Red could do was talk about how perfect she was, so Wolf ate her.

                The illustrations in this story are created digitally.  There is a bold use of color.  The use of color compliments the text.  The illustrator uses bold reds whenever illustrating Little Red Riding Hood. 

Granny is depicted with bright and vivid greens.  In the story as Wolf gets hungrier his character begins looking scarier.  At the beginning of the story he was a cute little wolf and by the end he was a little scary.  The characters in the book are very large in proportion as compared to the background scenery.

                This book would be appropriate for ages 3-8 years old.  I would use this story in the class to compare and contrast different versions of the story.  Because the author decided to use apples to describe Red and her Granny, I might talk about different types of apples.  I also think that there is a character lesson in this book too.  I would teach the students that it is important to think of others and not only ourselves.  This book has not received any awards or honors.

Seriously, Cinderella is so Annoying!

Seriously, Cinderella is so Annoying!

The Story of Cinderella

As told by the Wicked Stepmother

Author:  Trisha Speed Shaskan

Illustrated by: Gerald Guerlais

Copyright:  2012

Published by:  Picture Window Books

Number of Pages:  22

Genre:   Fantasy

                I chose this book because I thought it might a humorous adaptation of a traditional story.  In this version the stepmother will tell us the “true” story of Cinderella.  The stepmother’s husband (Cinderella’s father), goes away on business.  Cinderella is a bit flighty and the house is a mess.    Cinderella just wouldn’t stop talking.  Cinderella did all the chores so fast that she had to find more chores for her.  Cinderella even lost her voice from talking so much.  That is the reason that Cinderella had to stay home from the ball.  Cinderella ended up going anyway.  As the traditional story goes the prince fell in love.  The stepmother said the prince had no idea what he was getting into.

                The illustrations in this book were created digitally.  There is both formal and informal text placement in the book.  The pictures are whimsical in nature.  There is a great deal of attention to detail.  The illustrations are very expressive.  The illustrator also used vignettes to highlight details in the story.    They use both double page spreads and single page layouts.  The colors in the story are bright and vivid.

                This book is appropriate for ages 3-8 years old.  I would use this book to compare other versions of Cinderella.  I might ask my students to right a version of the story from another perspective.  For example, I might encourage them to write from the perspective of the fairy godmother or the stepsisters.  I would include this book in a study of traditional literature.  I would also teach the students that this is a fractured folktale.  This book has not won any awards or honors.

The Three Little Pigs

The Three Little Pigs

Retold by:  Patricia Seibert

Illustrated by:  Horacio Elena

Copyright:  2002

Published by: School Specialty Publishing

Number of pages: 32

Genre: Traditional Literature

                I chose this book because I love the story of The Three Little Pigs.  It was one of my favorites as a little girl.  This is the classic tale of three pigs that went out to explore the world.  While they were out exploring they realized that they needed to build a house to live in.  Each pig built their own house.  One built a house out of hay.  Unfortunately, the Big Bad Wolf came along and blew his house down.  The next pig built a house out of sticks.  It Wolf came along again and blew his house down too.  The last pig built a house out of bricks and when the Wolf came along the house was strong and stood. 

                The illustrations in this story were cartoon-like.  The Wolf actually looked goofy instead of scary. 

The artwork was whimsical in nature.  The illustrations are rendered in watercolor, gouache, ink, oil, acrylic, pastel and pencils.   The illustrator used many techniques to create colorful and vivid pictures.   The text placement is informal.

                This book is appropriate for ages 4 -8 years old.  I would use this book to compare and contrast different versions of this story.  I would also use this book as part of a nursery rhyme and fairy tale unit in my class.  This book could also be used in a lesson about farm animals.    This book has not received any awards or honors.

The Frog Princess: a Tlingit Legend from Alaska

The Frog Princess: A Tlingit Legend from Alaska

Retold by Eric A. Kimmel

Illustrated by:   Roseanne Litzinger

Copyright: 2006

Published by: Holiday House Publishers

Number of pages: 32

Genre: Traditional Literature

                 I chose this book because I thought it was a version of the story The Frog Prince.   I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t.  It turned out to be a similar but unique story.   This is the story of the daughter of the headman (the chief).  The daughter is at the age where she should be getting married.  Many men begin to come to the village hoping to marry the headman’s daughter.   She turns down each one.  None of the suitors are good enough for her. She becomes exhausted from the search and proclaims that she would rather marry a frog than to marry one of these suitors.  Sometime later, a handsome man with somewhat bulging eyes comes to fulfill her wish.  She follows him underwater to the land of the Frog People.   She is happy there.  Her happiness is interrupted when her parents demanded that she be returned to the village.  She is returned to the village but she is very unhappy.  She ultimately ends up returning to the land of the Frog People.

                The illustrations are rendered in opaque and transparent watercolors.  They provide beautiful illustration for this Alaskan folktale.  Many of the illustrations are done in shades of blue and green.  The colors support the two cultures depicted.  The blue represents the land of the Frog People and the Green the Tlingit people.  I read the use of the red by the Tlingit people represented power.  The father and mother in the story are depicted using red colors.  The pictures are very cartoonist in nature. 

                This book would be appropriate for children ages 3- 10.  I would use this book to discuss folktales.  This version is very similar to the popular Frog Prince stories that have been written.    Students could compare and contrast the different stories.  This would also be a great story to read if you were studying Alaska.   I also think this would be a great book to teach about Native Americans.  Most people think of Native American as the stereotypical Indian with bows, arrows and canoes.  I think it would be important to teach that there are many types of Natives.  This would also be a great addition to a unit on traditional literature.  This book won the Best Children's Books of the Year, 2007.