Patrice O.

Toulson FREC 7232: Childrens Literature Reading Log 1 June 3, 2009 Author Pamela Espeland Title King Midas; Date of Publication 1951 Genre Myth Format Chapter Book Award None Found Summary: Greeks didnt know much about science so they used myths to explain nature. Around 150 B.C., the Romans took over the Greek civilization. They also adopted the Greek Gods and Goddesses. There really was a king named Midas. King Midas received a friend to his kingdom, Silenus, an old friend. Silenus arrived drunk. He had pointed ears and a long furry tail. After a large party, King Midas took Silenus home to Bacchus. In appreciation, Bacchus wanted to give King Midas a reward. King Midas was greedy. He loved gold more than anything. He asked for the power to turn everything he touched into gold. Although Bacchus thought it stupid, he granted his wish. Turning everything into gold, Kind Midas realized this was not a good thing so he went back to Bacchus and asked him to take his gift back. After this, he was sick of gold and went to live in the country. He began worshipping Pan, the God of the Fields. One day, Pan and Apollo, God of the Sun, had an argument of who played their musical instrument better. They had a contest and Tmolus, the Mountain God, was the judge. After they both played, Tmolus chose Apollo. King Midas heard the judgment and voiced his opinion to Tmolus and disagreed with his choice. Apollo was a more important god then Apollo and this angered Apollo. Apollo gave King Midas asss ears. No one knew for a long time except King Midas barber. The barber couldnt stand it any longer and he went to the field, dug a hole, and whispered the secret. In the spring, tall reeds grew up from the hole and whenever the wind blew, the reeds whispered that King Midas had an asss ears. Soon everyone knew and the reeds are still telling it to anyone who will listen.

Strategy: After reading the book to the children, I would like to discuss with them greed and what it really means. I will explain to them that a person can greed over numerous things. In this story, King Midas was greedy over gold. I will ask them what are other things that a greedy person can desire. (fame, money, toys, food, etc.) After discussing greed with the children, I will then do a group activity where I will group the children by threes. The group will write a myth explaining a natural phenomenon or create a story with a moral lesson. They can consider such emotions as love, envy, fear and jealousy. One child will write the beginning, one will write the body and other child in the group will write the closing. After this activity is completed, we will read each one to the rest of the class. Another activity that I would like to use for this book is letting the students draw items that turned to gold in the book. I will supply gold glitter and glue for this activity. I want the children to think about how useful these items were and how useful they are now after they turned into gold

Author/Illustrator retold and illustrated by Brad Sneed Title Aesops Fable Date of Publication 2003 Genre Fable Format Picture Book Award None Found Summary: Aesops Fables are short stories that usually include 2-3 animals that do something that leads to a moral lesson. The morals are very easy to read and very entertaining. They contain human lessons that we all can learn from. One of the fables in this book is The Tortoise and the Eagle. In this fable, the tortoise wants to fly like the eagles. The tortoise states that he will trade half of his gold for flying lessons. So the eagle takes him up on his offer and lifted the tortoise above the clouds and dropped him. The tortoise thought he was flying when he was really falling. So the moral to this story is be careful what you wish for. Another fable in this book is The Fox, the Rooster, and the Dog. One night a hungry fox told the fat rooster that the King Lion had issued a proclamation where there is to be a truce among the animals. No creature may harm another. The rooster was so excited. So, the rooster sees the farmers dog coming over and the fox started to leave. The rooster asked where he was going. He stated he would stay but he was afraid Mr. Dog many not have heard the proclamation. The moral to the story is cunning often outwits itself. Other morals in these fables include: no act of mercy, however small, is ever wasted,an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, those who cheat lose in the end, and we are not always as important as we think we are. All of the fables in this book give us a lesson in life.

Strategy: Aesops Fables is a book about life lessons. I would like to go over some of the morals that we learned about in this book with the children and explain how each moral can teach us if we live by it. I would also read them another fable that they may be more familiar with. This fable would be the Tortoise and the Hare. In this fable, the hare is boasting about how fast he is. The tortoise tells him that he will race him. The hare just thought this was funny and too ridiculous. So, the two race. The hare just knows that he is going to beat the tortoise because he is so fast and the tortoise is so slow. The tortoise exercises to get himself ready for the race. The tortoise starts off slow as expected and the hare gets a large lead on him and decides that he is going to rest awhile. So, he stops and falls asleep. Well, he slept just a little too long and the tortoise ended up winning. The moral to this story is slow and steady wins the race or perseverance pays off. We would do an activity where we would change the moral to this story of the Tortoise and the Hare. If the moral of the story was winning isnt everything, how would it be different? Then, I would group the children into pairs and let them write the new ending to the story. After they completed this task, we would share the new endings with the class. Another activity that I would use would be to invite the kids to share their experiences that they have had with people who have behaved in one or more ways that has been reflected in the morals in these fables. The kids could also draw a detailed map of the places and events in any story they choose from these fables.

Author/Illustrator Marcus Pfister Title Rainbow Fish Date of Publication 1992 Genre Fable/Legend/Folktale Format Picture Book Award Abby winner 1995 Summary: In the deep blue sea, there lived a fish that had scales of blue, green and purple that made him the most beautiful fish in the entire ocean. He was known as Rainbow Fish by all of the fish. They all wanted him to play with them. One day, a little blue fish asked him for just one of his scales. Rainbow Fish asked him, Who do you think you are and told him to get away from me. The little fish was devastated and swam away and told all of his friends. After that, no one would have anything to do with him. He became the loneliest fish in the ocean. He asked advice from the star fish on why no one liked him. The starfish referred him to the wise octopus. The advice was to give each of his scales to the other fish. Your beauty will no longer be but you will discover happiness. He said he couldnt. But, the persistent little fish came back again and asked for one little scale. Finally, the Rainbow Fish agreed. The little fish was ecstatic. After

showing off the one scale, all the other fish came asking for a scale. He shared all of his scales and he had one left. This made him very happy. All the other fish wanted him to play again. Strategy: The Rainbow Fish is a story about friendship and sharing which is what the theme centers around. I would like to discuss that each of us are all different students and teachers. We like different things about different people. Nobody is the same. We will go over different aspects of ourselves that make us different than others. It could be hair color, eye color, height, nationality, religion, etc. We will go around the room and tell something about each person that we like about that person. After we do this activity, we will do another activity. We will decorate a paper plate into the shape of a fish. Each child will decorate his fish with characteristic that describe him/herself. Of course, I will give the children pretty, shiny stickers that they can put on their fish for scales that make each one of them stand out. While doing this, we can share a snack of the different colored goldfish snack crackers with all of our friends in the class.

Author A Wolf; Jon Scieszka Illustrator Lane Smith Title The True Story of the Three Little Pigs! Date of Publication Genre Legend/Folktale/Fairytale Format Picture Book Award None Found Summary: This is the story of the three little pigs told by the wolf. He claims he was baking his dear old grandmother a birthday cake when he realized he was out of sugar. He had a terrible cold that caused him to sneeze a lot. He went to ask his neighbor if he could borrow a cup of sugar. His first neighbor lived in a straw house. He knocked and no one came to the door. He was about to leave when he began sneezing. He huffed and snuffed and sneezed a huge sneeze. The whole house fell down and the first little pig was dead. So, he ate him. He went to the second house for sugar and knocked on the door. The house was built out of sticks He knocked on the door and the pig was shaving his chin. The wolf grabbed the door knob, sneezed, and the second pig fell dead. So, they wolf ate him. Still without sugar, he went to the third house. The third pig and brother to the first two had built his house out of brick. He knocked on the door and the pig told him to go away. He decided to go home and make a card instead of a cake. But, he sneezed again. The pig said, youre old granny can sit on a pin! This angered the wolf and he tried to break down the pigs door. The cop drove up and saw the wolf sneezing and causing a scene. The news reporter got hold of the

story and made it more exciting. Instead of sneezing, they said he was huffing and puffing and blowing their house down and made him the Big Bad wolf. Wolf said he was framed. Strategy: First of all, I will talk to the children about another story that had these same characters in the book. I will ask the class if anyone knows what book I am talking about. They all will probably be familiar with The Three Little Pigs. I will ask for volunteers to help me tell the story of the original version by acting it out. After going through the first story, I will ask the class who was telling the story in the first version? Whose point of view is it from? I will talk to them about every story usually has two sides to it. I will ask them if they have ever wondered what the wolfs side of the story was. Then, I will go into reading the new version of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs! After reading this version, I will ask them what version they believe. We will take a vote of who believes the Pigs and who believes the Wolf. Then, I will go around the room and ask if there has ever been a time where they saw something happen and their friend saw it a different way. If anyone has ever had this to happen to them, I will ask for them to share this with the class. A snack that would be good to share with the children would be pigs in a blanket for this book.

Author Robert D. San Souci Illustrator Jerry Pinkney Title The Talking Eggs Date of Publication 1989 Genre Folktale Format Picture Book Award Caldecott Honor Book; Coretta Scott King Honor Book 1990 Summary: A widow and two daughters named Blanche and Rose lived on a poor farm. Rose, the older sister was mean, just like her mother. Blanche was sweet, kind, and very smart. The mother liked Rose better. Blanche had to do all of the work around the house and farm. Blanche was sent to the well to get them cool water. Upon her arriving, she met an old woman who asked her for a swallow of water. She was told she had a spirit of do-right in her soul. God is gonna bless you. Blanche returned home and the water was warm. Her mother and Rose scolded her and hit her and she ran into the woods. She met the old lady from the woods again and she was told she could go home with her but she couldnt laugh at anything she saw. Blanche agreed. She got there and found odd things such as a two headed cow that had horns like corkscrews and brayed like a mule, chickens that looked beautiful, the woman taking her head off of her shoulders and small amounts of food multiplied into larger amounts.

The old woman told her to go to the chicken coupe and if any eggs said to take them, do so. If they said leave me, then dont take them. Her order was to take the ones that asked to be taken and then walk through the woods and throw the eggs over her left shoulder. This she did. She was rewarded with beautiful clothes, jewels, a horse and carriage, etc. Upon her arrival home, the mother told Rose to go to the old ladies house so she could get the riches. Well, Rose didnt handle the task as well as Blanche. She went against the old ladys request of not laughing at anything. She laughed, made fun of everything and was very rude. Instead of picking the ugly eggs that said take me, she chose the beautiful eggs that said dont take me. When she threw them over her left shoulder, instead of getting riches, they turned into snakes, frogs, toads, yellow jackets and a big gray wolf. Rose moved to the city and remained sweet while her mother and Blanche spent the rest of their lives trying to find the old ladys house in the woods but never did. Strategy: After reading this book, I would like to stress to the children that when you are nice good things usually come to you just as it did for Blanche. Blanche was very sweet and kind and did exactly what the lady asked of her. She followed the directions of the adult and minded her and did exactly what she was asked to do. By doing this, she was rewarded with great riches. However, Rose did exactly what she was told not to do and did not reap the rewards of riches. After going over this lesson, I will give the children an activity to do. I will give them a sheet of activities to do similar to a scavenger hunt. They will have to follow the instructions and do exactly what it tells them to do. If they follow the instructions completely, the end prize for them will be a magic egg that will have a surprise in it. Another lesson that could be taught with this book is on similes. I would explain what a simile is and go over numerous similes that are included in this book. Some of the similes include: they were alike as two peas in a pod, the old woman took off her head and set in on her knees like a pumpkin, these chickens didnt cluck but whistled like mockingbirds, etc. To help them understand similes better, I would give them a handout of simile starters and let them finish the line. For example: I would give them sentence starters such as: Im pretty as., Im smart as.., I am as tall as..and then they would finish the line.

Author Mary Pope Osborne Title Pirates Past Noon Date of Publication 1994 Genre Modern Fantasy Format Chapter Book Award None Found Summary: It began raining and Jack and Annie must get to their magic tree house. They must meet the M Person. Jack got out the bookmark that had the M on it and the medallion that had the M on it. This was the same M that was on the tree house floor. Entering the tree house, they found that the M person had been there but was no longer. They opened a book and saw a sunny beach, a parrot, a palm tree, and a ship sailing. A talking parrot appeared. The wind began to blow, the tree house started spinning and it landed at the bright blue sea with Jack and Annie in it. In the horizon, they saw a ship sailing towards them with three pirates in it. They had come to the time of pirates. Annie ran but they grabbed Jack. Annie went back for Jack and she was captured too. The pirates searched the tree house and found the medallion. The pirates wanted more gold. Captain Bones had a treasure map telling about Kidds Treasure. He believed Kidds Treasure belonged to Jack and Annie. Jack and Annie opened the book and discovered where Kidds Treasure was hidden. They had a plantake the pirates to it and then run. The pirates began digging for the treasure when the parrot re-appeared and gave them a warning that a storm was coming. The pirates went back to the ship after this warning and Jack and Annie made their escape back to the tree house. Magically, they returned home. Upon arriving, the parrot turned into an old woman whom they soon discovered was the M Person. The M Person turned out to be King Arthurs sister. She was an enchantress and a librarian. She has come to the 20th century to collect books. Jack gave her the medallion because it belonged to her. She had put a spell on the tree house where she pointed to a picture and made a wish, the tree house would take her there. Jack and Annie are the only two besides her that has ever seen her tree house because Annie believes in magic and her belief helped Jack to see it. His love of books caused her magic spell to work. M Person told them good bye and returned to Camelot. They were sad. They walked home. Jack found the medallion in his pocket. They assumed Morgan, the M Person, put it there which in their mind meant she would be coming back again one day. Strategy: I would talk to the children about a special place that they may go to sometimes that seems magical to them. Children have such vivid imaginations that most of us as children have a special place like this. I will ask the children to share any special places that they may have. Then, after talking about our special places, we will make an edible snack together. I will supply the food. We will make an edible treasure chest. We will get a chocolate cake of some sort similar to a Little Debbie Snack Cake. We will split it in

half. We will stuff the chest with treasures of hard candy, candy rings and candy necklaces. Author Jon Saeszka Illustrated by: Lane Smith Title Knights of the Kitchen Table Date of Publication 1991 Genre Modern Fantasy Format Chapter Book Award None Found Summary: Joe was sitting at the kitchen table looking at all of his birthday gifts when his friends, Fred and Sam, found a gift that had not been opened. It was a gift from his uncle, Joe the Magnificent. It was a book called The Book. They opened it up and found a picture of a guy on a black horse dressed like a knight. Fred said wouldnt it be great to see knights? Pale green mist began to swirl around them in the kitchen chairs. Mom and the kitchen disappeared and the three friends ended up in a clearing in front of a knight on a horse. They asked him to show them how to get home but he thought they needed to be killed. So, he attempted three times to kill them with his lance. On the third try, Fred hit the knights helmet with a stick and the black knight fell to the ground. Three more knights appeared on horses. They turned out to be Sir Lancelot, Sir Percival and Sir Gawain. They requested that the boys go with them to King Arthurs castle and fight a dragon and a giant. So they got on the back of the knights horse and started their journey. King Arthur said that Sir Lancelot told him he had gotten rid of the black knight and asked how he could show his thanks. Fred raised his stick and asked could he get them back to New York. But Bleob the Giant appeared and King Arthur asked them to slay the giant. The giant wanted to eat the damsels. The giant burped a lot and was nasty. Sam gave the giant a dare to answer a riddle. If he got it right, he could eat the damsels. If he didnt he had to leave and never return. He didnt answer correctly but felt he was tricked. He went after Sam. Sam had a bright idea. He told the giant that dragons thought giants were weaklings. This angered the giant. So, he went after the dragon. The giant and the dragon tangled up. The giant burped and the dragon fired. The giants gas met the dragons flame and a large explosion occurred. King Arthur asked Sam since they saved Camelot what could he do for them. They wanted to go home. King Arthur said he couldnt do that but he named all of them Knights of the Round Table. Merlin appeared with a baseball and remembered seeing it in a book. Merlin opened the book to a page with a picture of three guys sitting around a table. A familiar green mist appeared and they found themselves home again.

Strategy: Fighting a giant and a dragon would have to be pretty scary for anyone. We all have faced certain things in our lives that scare us. I would share with the students one of my biggest fears. I am petrified of snakes. They always say that you need to meet your fear head on. I cant seem to do this. Whenever I am faced with a snake that someone is holding, I can not make myself touch the snake. At this time, I would let the children write a paragraph on what their biggest fear is. Then, I would let them state ways of how they could confront their fear and resolve it. I would also let them draw a picture of their fear and let them draw a method of conquering their fear.

Author E.B. White Illustrator Garth Williams Title Stuart Little Date of Publication 1945 Genre Modern Fantasy Format Chapter Book Award None Found Summary: A mother and father had a child and it resembled a mouse. The other family members were all normal sized people. They named this mouse, Stuart Little. Stuart could do a lot of things that normal people couldnt. One time his mother dropped her ring down the sink and they tried everything but could never get it. Stuart was able to go down the drain and retrieve the ring. His family loved to play ping pong. A lot of times, the balls would go under the sofas and it was difficult for them to get them. So, this became one of Stuarts jobs to go under the sofa and get their balls for them. The family piano also had a key that stuck. Stuart would get inside the piano and hold the key so that it would not stick. These were just a few things he did around the house to help out. One day, he went to Central Park and got in a toy sailboat and raced it. He won the race and ended up getting a job on a boat because of it. Along with him and his family, there also lived a cat named Snowball in his home. He and Snowball didnt like each other very well. Also, taking up residency in the home was a bird named Margalo. Stuart was very good friends with Margalo. One day, they got word that one of Snowballs friends was planning to attack Margalo that night and eat her. This petrified Margalo and she left. Stuart spent the rest of his days searching for Margalo. One day, he was searching around town for Margalo and he ended up getting a substitute teacher job for a day. He also met a lady named Harriet Ames in town that was just his size. He asked her out on a date but it turned out to be disaster. He had purchased this souvenir canoe and bought ice cream spoons to be his paddles. He hid it until Harriet met him. When they connected

and were about to go on the date, he found the canoe had been destroyed. Harriet attempted to try to help him repair it but he was disappointed that he could not even try to fix it. Harriet left without the date going through. Stuart slept under the canoe that night and the next day got in his car. He stopped at a gas station and asked for 5 drops of gas for his car. The attendant got a medicine dropper and gave him five drops of gas. He then started riding north still attempting to find his friend, Margalo. Strategy: I would start this lesson by talking to the students about no matter what someone looks like, they still need to be treated with respect. Although Stuart looked like a mouse, he was still a member of this family. Dont every talk about anyone or make fun of them because everyone has feelings and you may hurt their feelings if you make fun of them. Another lesson we learn from this story is you can do whatever you put your mind to. Stuart was very small but there wasnt anything that he couldnt do if he put his mind to it. We all need to have Stuarts attitude. At this time, I would allow the children to make a mouse house. I would ask that they scale it down for Stuart Littles size. I would ask them to include various items that were mentioned in the book that Stuart used. I would supply all of the materials that were necessary for this activity. This would give the students an understanding of the size difference between Stuart and his family.

Author E.B. White Illustrator - Garth Williams Title Charlottes Web Date of Publication 1952 Genre Modern Fantasy Format Chapter Book Award Newberry Medal Honor 1953 Summary: This is a story of pig that was born a runt. The farmer, the owner of the pig, was on his way to kill the runt with an axe. Fern, the farmers daughter found out what her father was about to do and she talked him out of it. She said it was unfair for the little pig. Her father finally gave into her and said she could raise it as her own. She nursed the runt pig with a bottle and pretended it was her child. She would stroll it in her baby stroller along with her baby doll. She named the pig Wilbur. Well, after a while, the pig began to grow and her father told her she was going to have to sell the pig. She sold it to her uncle and would go to visit Wilbur daily. In the first few days of his new home, when Fern was not there with him, he found himself lonely. But, he began making new friends. There was the geese, the sheep, and Templeton, the rat. His biggest friend became a spider named Charlotte. She heard news that they were trying to fatten Wilbur up to kill. She couldnt let this happen. She had to save Wilbur. So she spun in her web the words Some Pig. The reporter from the paper came and soon Wilbur became famous. Everyone was coming to see the famous pig. Charlotte would send Templeton

to the trash pile to bring back written words. The next word that Charlotte spun in her web was the word Terrific. The next word Charlotte wrote above Wilbur in her web was the word Radiant. People came from miles away. Well summer came and it was time for the county fair. They loaded Wilbur up in his crate to take him to the fair.Unknowing to the farmer, Templeton and Charlotte went along in his crate too. They got to the fair and Charlotte spun her last web and the word that she spun was Humble. After this, Charlotte didnt feel very well. She spun an egg sac and had 514 eggs in it. Charlotte new that her days were numbered. Wilbur won an award at the fair and it was time for them to return home. Wilbur was about to be put in his crate when Charlotte told him that she wouldnt be making the trip back. She was dying. Wilbur cried and was so upset. So, Wilbur got Templeton to get Charlottes egg sac down and give it to him. He told Charlotte that he would gladly give his life for her. He promised to take her egg sac with him and take care of her children. He put the egg sac in his mouth to protect it on the ride home. Two days later, Charlotte died at the lonely fair grounds. Finally, springtime came around and her children began hatching. All of them went away except for three. They decided to make their home in the barn cellar. Wilbur named them Joy, Aranea and Nellie. Years passed and he enjoyed Charlottes children and grandchildren but none of them were Charlotte. She was a true friend and a great writer. She was in a class by herself. Strategy: I would talk to the students about friendship. To have good friends, you must be a good friend. A friend is someone you can count on no matter what. They are always there for you. I would ask the students if they agree. Then, I would go around the room and ask the kids how friends treat each other. I would ask for some examples from their own lives. An activity that I would do with the children would be to make a Pom Pom Spider. We would use yarn, scissors and pipe cleaners. I would supply the materials. We would make two. The child who made the spiders would keep one and the other one would be given to a friend. I would tell them to remember Charlotte and Wilburs friendship everytime they look at their spiders and mold themselves after Charlotte and Wilbur. Our snack for this activity would be pigs in a blanket.

Author Stories adapted by: Emily Thornton Calvo, Barbara Armstrong, Schwartz, Cathy Ann Tell, Sylvia Root Tester; Illustrators: Dorothy Hraback, T.F. Marsh, Anita C. Nelson, Pat Schoonover, and Sam Thiewes Title Treasury of Stories Originally Created by Beatrix Potter Date of Publication 1995 Genre Modern Fantasy Format Picture Book Award None Found

Summary: This book has numerous stories that were originally created by Beatrix Potter. I am going to focus on one story in the book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit. This is a story of a rabbit family that consisted of a mother, Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter. One morning mother rabbit told her children that they could go play outside but stay away from Mr. McGregors garden because he doesnt like rabbits. Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail all listened to their mothers instructions and stayed away from his garden. However, Peter did just the opposite. He went straight for Mr. McGregors garden with his eyes on his radishes, carrots. lettuce, onions, green beans, and parsley. Mr. McGregor spotted Peter and started chasing him out of his garden. Scared to death, Peter was running and couldnt find the gate to get out. Peter lost his shoe and then tried to get out under the gooseberry net but his brass button on his new blue jacket got caught. He wiggled out of his coat and ran some more. He went to the tool shed and attempted to hide in a watering can but it was half full of water. Peter sneezed and Mr. McGregor found him again. Running again, he finally found the gate and he didnt stop until he got to his home. His siblings were having supper on his return home but he was too exhausted to eat. So, his mother tucked him into bed and gave him a tablespoon of camomile tea. She wondered where he had lost his jacket and shoe. Only Peter and Mr. McGregor knew the answer to this. Strategy: Before I read this story to the children, I would talk to them about making predictions. I would explain what a prediction was and then talk to them about how we predict what we think will happen in a story. After explaining predictions to them, I would begin to read the story and I would stop throughout the story and ask them what they predicted would happen next. Then, when we completed the book, we would look at our predictions and see if our predictions were correct. The activity that I would use for this book is a storyboard. I would allow the children to draw a storyboard based on Peters adventures. I think this would be a great story to do a storyboard with. It would be very easy for young children to do this task. This would allow the children to be able to see step by step what Peter did throughout the story.