Week 4: Chicken Little

Emberley, R. (2009).  Chicken Little.  New York: Roaring Book Press.

The summer between my junior and senior year of high school, Chicken Little was out in theatres.  My four-year-old cousin Kathryn came to spend the week with me as her mother was at a conference in Dallas, Texas.  Kathryn had mentioned wanting to see Chicken Little and so one day during that week we took her.  I sat right beside her and was amazed by how entranced she was at being in a movie theatre.  I had never been to a movie with a toddler and to watch her giggle and laugh at all the silly things in the movie made my heart so happy!  When I saw this story on the reading list for traditional literature, I knew immediately I wanted to read it.

Rebecca Emberley’s Chicken Little is the story of a chicken, named Chicken Little, who becomes quite certain that “the sky is falling” due to an acorn falling on top of his head.  He runs to escape what is sure to be the falling sky and happens upon his other bird friends.  Chicken Little, Turkey Lurkey, Loosey Goosey and others all experience the same event (“The sky is falling!  The sky is falling!”).  Upon their escape, Chicken Little and company come across Foxy Loxy, who seems to be particularly interested in helping them find a safe place.  Will Chicken Little take Foxy Loxy’s advice?  Will the birds and fox perish from the falling sky?

As a piece of traditional literature, Chicken Little is considered to be a fable.  In a fable, the story incorporates very simple characters that are usually animals where a lesson is taught or a universal truth is revealed.  A fable can be one of those “…and the moral of the story is…”  One feature of Chicken Little being of traditional literature is the action throughout the story.  As a reader turns each page, a new comrade of Chicken Little has been added to his group as he tries to outrun the falling sky.  The action in traditional literature is typically very concentrated and fast-paced. 

After reading Rebecca Emberley’s Chicken Little, two activities came to mind.  One would be to teach elementary students the features of fables.  Teachers could use Chicken Little, in addition to a variety of other fables, to teach the elements of fables such as plot, action, characters, etc.  The illustrations are very bold and the story would lend well to a read aloud.  The other activity would be geared toward middle school students.  Teachers could read the fable and then watch the movie.  After having completed both, students could learn how to compare and contrast a book and movie or perhaps be taught how to write a movie review. 

Big questions to ask students after reading Chicken Little: Why does Chicken Little believe that “the sky is falling?”  What actions make him believe this?  What are the similarities between Chicken Little and his friends?  What do you believe Foxy Loxy’s intention was when he first saw Chicken Little and his friends?  What is the moral of the story?

Week 3: Ralph S. Mouse

Cleary, B. (1982).  Ralph S. Mouse.  New York: William Morrow and Company.

I distinctly remember being in fifth grade, and hanging on the edge of my seat listening to my teacher read Beverly Cleary’s The Mouse and the Motorcycle.  I simply could not wait until the next chapter.  Unfortunately, Ralph S. Mouse did not have the same effect on me.  It was a cute story but I was bored from chapter one until the end at chapter nine.

Ralph, the mouse, lives in a hotel called the Mountain View Inn where he enjoys riding his motorcycle.  Ralph has several relatives who have moved in to Mountain View Inn because of the cold weather.  This is bad news because these relatives are becoming a problem for Ralph’s human-friend, Matt, who works at the Inn.  Because he doesn’t want Matt to get in trouble, Ralph decides to leave.  Ralph meets another human, Ryan, who takes him to his school.  This is where Ralph elects to stay.  What happens to Ralph when Ryan takes the suggestion of his teacher to make Ralph his science project?  What will happen to Ralph and his beloved motorcycle?

The nature of the conflict of Ralph S. Mouse comes in different varieties.  While Ralph does struggle with others, mainly his relatives who have moved into the Inn, he also struggles with the society of Ryan’s classmates; thus creating multiple conflicts for Ralph.  He experiences both person-against-person and person-against-society in the story. 

Beverly Cleary’s Ralph S. Mouse would be a very appropriate book to discuss story elements with students.  Both the readability and content are elementary and so any teacher could pick up this book to educate students on elements of fiction such as plot, characters, setting, theme, and style. 

Big questions to ask students after reading Ralph S. Mouse: Why is it important to Ralph that Matt not get in trouble at the Mountain View Inn?  Why did Ryan take the suggestion of his teacher to keep Ralph to show to his school?

Week 2: Twenty Heartbeats

Haseley, D. (2008).  Twenty heartbeats.  New York: Roaring Brook Press.

What would happen if an image you have held inside your head for so long was to become a reality?

One very rich man has always pictured hanging a painting of his most beloved horse on a wall inside his home.  This rich man finds Homan, a well-known artist of horses, and asks him to paint an image of the horse.  Nearly ten years pass before the rich man hears from Homan and he has yet to even see what Homan has painted.  The rich man is stunned when he visits Homan to retrieve his painting. 

Author Dennis Haseley writes the fantastic tale of the rich man and his painting.  With Caldecott Metalist and two-time Caldecott Honor Book illustrator Ed Young painting each page of the story, it is easy to become intranced with the story of the rich man, his painting, and Homan.  Read Twenty Heartbeats to discover the image of the rich man’s most beloved horse. 

http://vocaroo.com/i/s021e2sFz1O0

Week 2: Henry the Dog with No Tail

Feiffer, K. (2007).  Henry the dog with no tail.  New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. 

I am definitely an animal-lover and I am certainly, positively a sucker for dogs.  When I saw Henry the Dog with No Tail at my local library, I grabbed it and immediately began reading it.  Although the illustrations are wonderful and the story does have moral, the content is a bit too cheesy for my taste and it is a story I probably would not pick up again.

Henry is an Australian shepherd and like many of this breed – and just as the title suggests – Henry was not born with a tail.  His many dog friends all have tails of different colors, shapes, and sizes.  Grady, Pip, and Larry all have great tails that serve a particular purpose, yet Henry is left feeling sad due to his lack of appendage.  In search for a tail, Henry finds a tailor and a wagon maker, and even goes to Battery Park in New York City.  With advice and suggestions from his friends, Henry is able to find just what he has been looking for…but is it really what he wants after all? 

Illustrator Jules Feiffer does a magnificent job of depicting Henry the Australian shepherd and his story.   The color of the story is a mix of cools and intense colors, all of which complement the text on the individual pages in the book.  Feiffer uses charcoal pencil to establish the line of an illustration and fills in with watercolor. 

Henry the Dog with No Tail would be a good example to use within the literature setting to teach students how to write stories that end with morals.  Henry learns a life lesson on the last page of the book.  Students could follow the series of events that leads Henry to discover this life lesson and model their own story after Feiffer’s.  I believe it would be difficult to use the content of the story for a lesson.

Big questions to ask students after reading this story: Why was it important for Henry to have a tail?  If you were Henry, would have wanted a tail?  Do you think Henry was happier at the beginning of the story or at the end of the story?