Midsummer Knight

Midsummer Knight by Gregory Rogers is an illustrated story. Another words, there aren't any words, just pictures. One might wonder why I would include a book with no words to a reading list. The reason is because this book is an incredible resource for letting the kids become the authors. It beneficial for both reading and writing lessons. The main character in Midsummer Knight is a big, cuddly, brown bear. Bear is shown riding in a little wooden boat flowing lazily down a calm river until, BAM! He crashes into land. Being curious, Bear gets out of the boat and wanders into the woods where he discovers a bee hive in a tree. As expected from a big, hungry bear he sticks his hand in to retrieve some honey. But the bees weren't too happy about that. They chase him until he reaches a huge tree with a door on it. Bear goes in the door, down a long hall, and comes out a door on the other end. He finds himself in magical woods where everything, trees, flowers, animals, are humongous. Then a giant bird snatches him up and drops him in her nest. Bear falls out and is saved in the nick of time by a fairy boy. The fairy takes Bear to the fairy village and on to the fairy Kingdom to meet the king and queen. But the king and queen are missing! Come to find out they've been betrayed by one of their own men and the knights. The king, queen, fairies, and Bear devise a plan to get the kingdom back. There is a huge battle, and in the end Bear captures the traitor. The king then knights Bear and gives him a medallion. After all the excitement the fairy boy brings Bear back to the big tree with the door on it. They hug goodbye and Bear goes home with a giant smile as he looks upon his gold medallion.

Midsummer Knight allows for a creative and fun writing opportunity. The students can use the pictures and their imaginations to write the story in their own words. First, they must decide on character names, plot, and descriptions of the settings. Then they can begin to write the story, complete with dialogue. Students who do well artistically can make a whole new illustrated story by drawing pictures. Also, the children can put on a dramatic production to reenact the story of Midsummer Knight.

The pictures in the book are adorable, and will catch the eyes of children. The illustrations make it easy to understand exactly what is going on in the story. This lesson could be done with any grade from kindergarten through fifth. Of course younger students will not be writing a full story to accompany the pictures in the book, but the lesson can be adjusted for any age group.

A Big Quiet House

A Big Quiet House is a Yiddish folktale which derived from Eastern Europe. Yiddish is a type of Hebrew slang spoken by the Jews. It is a mixture of German, Polish, Russian, and Hebrew. Although most of the Yiddish communities in Eastern Europe were destroyed during WWII, the elders have passed down some of their culture by telling the folktales. The author, Heather Forest, has published this folktale that she heard as a child from her immigrant relatives, to share and preserve her culture.

This book would be a valuable contribution to a social studies lesson focusing on Jewish history and culture. Also, the dialogue between the characters is spoken in a rhyming fashion which assists readers with fluency. The repetitive characteristic of the story is great for having students predict what will happen next, and for joining in during shared reading. The illustrations by Susan Greenstein really embrace the feeling of another time and culture in a far away place. Many of the pictures include the star of David, a menorah, or hebrew writing.

A Big Quiet House is a story with an important lesson. A man lives in a small house with his wife and children. He can not sleep with his snoring wife next to him and giggling kids in ear shot. The man decides to seek the advice of the village's old wise woman. After several visits to her, a house full of farm animals, and more sleepless nights, she finally gives the man her last suggestion. It is then that he realizes that he should not complain and be ungrateful because things could always be worse. Among the many ways this book can be implemented into a lesson, it teaches the children a very valuable lesson through an amusing story.

This book is suitable for grades 3-5.

Caps for Sale

Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina has been featured on Reading Rainbow and is currently on their website book list (pbskids.org/readingrainbow/). This story was one of my favorites as a child. I used to read it over and over. When I saw it on the library shelf I just had to take it home and review it from a teacher's point of view. Caps for Sale is a picture book about a peddler who sells caps. One day, when sales are slow, he decides to take a nap under a big tree. He wakes up to find that a bunch of mischievous monkeys have stolen his caps and put them on their heads. The peddler becomes angry and demands that they return his caps at once. After taunting the man for a bit the monkeys finally give them back. The peddler piles the caps back on top of his head and walks back into town calling, "caps for sale!"

This book is perfect for early readers and is level K on the Fountas and Pinnell leveled reading book list. The words are in large print and there are few sentences on each page. The pictures are simple but cute, especially the one showing the monkeys in the tree wearing the caps. Caps for Sale would work great for a drama activity. Two or three students can volunteer to narrate, two students could share the role of the peddler, and the rest of the class can be the monkeys. As the narrator reads, the peddler and the monkeys will act out the story. For example the narrator reads, "You monkeys, you, he said, shaking a finger at them, you give me back my caps. But the monkeys only shook their fingers back at him and said, Tsz, tsz, tsz." The class can also have fun making the caps for their presentation using construction paper in the colors specified in the story: gray, brown, blue, and red, to integrate art. This story is also useful for conducting a sequence lesson. Give the students construction paper cut into the shape of caps. They will glue story strips, in sequence order, onto the caps.

I loved Caps for Sale when I was a child and I know the students will as well.

Rainbow Bird Book Review

Rainbow Bird: An Aboriginal Folktale from Northern Australia by Eric Maddern is a pourquoi (por-kwa) tale about how humans attained fire. Pourquoi is a french word which means why? They are stories which answer questions that young children may ask such as, "why does a leopard have spots?" Rainbow Bird is a picture book with beautiful water color illustrations on every page by Adrienn Kennaway. In this story a mean crocodile is the only living being who possesses fire. He refuses to share it with any of the other animals or humans, claiming that he is the, "boss of fire". Bird Woman seizes the opportunity to snatch one of the crocodile's fire sticks. She flies through the forest implanting the magical fire into the trees so that humans can use dry branches to rub together and start fires. After placing the fire stick in her tail, Bird Woman becomes a beautiful rainbow bird. With her new found power she banishes Crocodile Man to live in the swamp forever. Actually, this story answers two questions. One, how did humans come to have fire? and two, how did crocodiles come to live in swamps? This book would work great for a read aloud. The story is brief enough and the pictures are large and colorful. After reading students the tale they can create their own pourquoi story. Simply have the students think of a why question, then write a story to answer the question. You can also incorporate art by having the students create their own rainbow birds using colorful feathers from a craft store. In addition, this book is a great compliment to social studies. You can devise a whole plan about Australia's Aboriginal tribe.
The author, Eric Maddern, has wrote many other pourqui tales as well. His works would be very useful when introducing students to folktales and pourqui stories. Also, most of his tales are derived from different countries and would be a great addition to social studies lessons on different cultures and beliefs.