Cinderella Skeleton

Sherrie Norris, thanks for sharing your review and your excitement about reading!

San Souci, R.D.  (2000).  Cinderella skeleton. New York: Harcourt.

        I chose Cinderella Skeleton for my poetry reflection this week.  Since reading Ella Enchanted for my modern fantasy, I have been caught up in story of Cinderella.  There are so many versions of this traditional fairy tale!  To me, poetry is an expression of emotions and ideas, so I read this single-illustrated poem very carefully, ignoring the colorful illustrations of this picture book during my first reading. I wanted to visualize the characters of the poem without any help from an award-winning illustrator like David Catrow. While this picture book could be considered a fairy tale and modern fantasy, I believe it is better suited to the poetry genre.  

       This is a narrative poem which tells the story of a young Cinderella Skeleton who lives with her Stepmother Skreech and two awful stepsisters, Gristlene and Bony-Jane.  Cinderella attends a Halloween Ball with the help of a witch, meets Prince Charnel, and falls in love with her, um, handsome suitor. You know the rest of this story, but San Souci makes it an unusual tale with a “Nightmare Before Christmas by Tim Burton” perspective.  With all of the disgustingly descriptive and narrative language that assault your senses to help you visualize these odd characters, San Souci writes a tale in which you simply can’t ignore the sense imagery along with the beautiful, and weird, cartoon art of David Catrow.  Cinderella is “everything a ghoul should be” with “dankish hair hung down hanks,” yellow nails, and green teeth.

       Much like other fractured fairy tales, this book is filled with poetic elements and figurative language hidden within an interesting and macabre twist to the beautiful, well-loved fairy tale we know and love.   For example, the sound patterns jump from the pages as you read this poem aloud. From the very first stanza, you read rhymes in words like “fright” and “right” and alliteration, the repetition of beginning consonants, can be heard with “decayed, decrepit” and “withered wreath.”   

       As for figurative language, San Souci cleverly compares characters to other objects. When Prince Charnel says, “Your beauty burns like bonfires ablaze at night,” he is comparing Cinderella’s dazzling looks to a fire burning at night using a simile. (Wow!)  When Stepmother Skreech is berating Cinderella, she calls her “common clay” meaning that she believes her stepdaughter to be plain, undecorated, and, well, ugly using a metaphor.  These are common themes from the traditional Cinderella, but the ideas are re-worked and retold to engage even the faintest of heart.

       Because of the complexity of text and abstract ideas, I would not recommend this book to students younger than fourth grade.  However, this poem could be read to older students in connection with other ghoulish literature to set the mood for Halloween in a Language Arts class.  With a quick Internet search, I found an audio version and a short cartoon version of this tale, so it would be interesting for students to experience the story in different mediums and then write a personal response about which version they liked best.  It might also be helpful to read another version of a fractured Cinderella tale and make a comparison of stories. 

Curriculum Connection: CCR: Reading Literature 6.7 Compare and contrast the experience of reading a story, drama, or poem to listening to or viewing an audio, video, or live version of the text, including contrasting what they “see” and “hear” when reading the text to what they perceive when they listen or watch.

Big Questions: Why is Stepmother Skreech so mean to Cinderella? How is this version different than a traditional Cinderella tale?  If we change the setting of a story or a character, like in a fractured fairy tale, does this change affect the story’s themes?

To Be a Drum

Brittany Thomas, thanks for the GREAT post, a new book, and some awesome big questions.

Coleman, E., & Robinson, A. B. L. (1998). To be a drum. Morton Grove, Ill: Albert Whitman & Company.

"Long before time, before hours and minutes and seconds, on the continent of Africa, the rhythm of the earth beat for the first people..."
To Be a Drum is a beautifully written and illustrated book about the trials and tribulations of the African people.  The book starts out with a father telling his children the story of the beginnings of the African people and their bond with the earth, hearing it like a drum.  He tells them how slavery begins and about the African American way of living.  The beat of the earth's drum never left the African people as long as they were together and fighting for what they believed.  The father weaves through the story of African Americans fighting in the civil war, the march for freedom, and the accomplishments, both academically and politically, of their people.  In the end, as the children lay on the ground, they can hear the drum of the earth, beating just like a heart. 

 The illustrations in this multicultural book are beautiful! The author used homemade dyes and paper, cloth, wool, sisal threads from Kenya, clay, sand, wood strips, vintage buttons, and basket fragments, put together like a collage and giving the pages different textures.  In the beginning of the book, it was indicated that some of the cloth scraps were taken from a quilt made by the artist's great - aunt when she was a slave in Georgia.  This story depicts the spirit of the African people and the theme of freedom.      

R.L. 1.7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.
Students could make an accordion book to illustrate and write about the events in the book.  The events will include:  Africa before slavery, the Middle Passage, slave auction, slaves working in the fields, slave survival through dance and music, civil war, inventions, march for freedom. 

Big Questions: 
What is the significance of the Earth's heartbeat? Why do you think it's important in the story?
Do you know your family's history?
African Americans are very proud of their history and things they have overcome. What are you proud of that you have done? What is something you have overcome?

There's a Wolf at the Door

One to remember from Chad Wells.

Alley, Z. B., & Alley, R. W. (2008). There's a wolf at the door. New York: Roaring Brook Press.

In There’s a Wolf at the Door, Zoë and R.W. Alley tie together five traditional stories and nursery rhymes about a big, bad wolf into one narrative. These stories include “The Three Little Pigs,” “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing,” and “The Wolf and the Seven Little Goslings.” The wolf is portrayed as a trickster with a good fashion sense who is looking for a meal, whether that be pork, mutton, goose, or human. The book itself is oversized, making it perfect for sharing in a large reading group. Although these folktales and fables traditionally come from sources ranging from ancient Greece to medieval England, they all share the common element of the wolf. Because of the inclusion of other animals with human characteristics and human communication with animals, There’s a Wolf at the Door is a perfect example of a beast tale.

The stories have been altered for a modern audience and to help the narrative flow from one story to another. Whereas, traditionally, the characters in each of these stories are not given names, in this particular telling they are. The only character that remains nameless is the wolf. There have been various aspects of both subtle and explicit humor added to the stories as well. Take for example Rhonda’s, a.k.a. “Little Red Riding Hood,” love of fashion, the fair with carnival rides that the wolf invites Blake the Pig to, and the townsperson who is illustrated carrying a blow dryer when Barry the Shepherd cries wolf. The wolf himself, having being shamed and beaten so many times, also humorously considers a change in diet by the end of the story.

It is also interesting to note that the text points out that many traditional stories have been changed in recent years to take out what is seen by some as excessive violence or frightening aspects. This is seen clearly in There’s a Wolf at the Door. For example, the wolf never actually eats anyone or anything in this particular work. Even the hunter in “Little Red Riding Hood” has been omitted.

The book has obvious benefit for an elementary classroom in that the message or moral of the traditional stories remain basically unchanged and can provide good character education. It could also be a great way to introduce these stories to children or present them in a new way with added modern humor. There’s a Wolf at the Door could also be used in an advanced art class for older students as well; the illustrations are beautifully done in cartoon art and are laid out in a graphic novel/storyboard fashion.

In the Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World

Sharing from Krystalynn Kuehn Wilson because I definitely am hooked.
Source: Hamilton, V., & Moser, B. (1988). In the beginning: Creation stories from around the world. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Genre: Traditional
Age: 10+

In the beginning, the Raven created man... No, in the beginning, Divine Woman created Earth... or maybe it was a turtle, a feathered serpent,  or Zeus. Whomever we can thank for this awesome gift of life varies from country to county. These are considered myths by most, but there are many who believe in the validity of a few of these. These stories also show a great deal about the cultures who shared them. For example, there were a few Native American stories that were centered around the power and importance of the natural earth, which is something I would expect from Native Americans (I'm actually part Navajo, and believe in the power of the natural earth as well!). Also, of course, the Greek story focuses on Zeus and the battles of gods. Traditional literature is a great window of insight to various cultural mores.

I found this collection to be absolutely fascinating, and a great tool to use in the classroom to introduce folklore and myth. It begins with a powerful hook: "Time was, there were no people on earth. The first man still lay inside the pea pod." What a cool way to start off a story! I can imagine most young readers would see this and wonder what in the world some dude was doing in a pea pod. It turns out, a raven had been "growing" man, and when he broke free of the pod, the raven showed him what food was, taught him about the world around him, and made him a perfect "helper" or woman. (I loved that we were known as "helpers" in most of the stories...)

This is a collection of 25 stories, so I couldn't even begin to review every one; however, my absolute favorite has to be the one that includes the most conflict: "Death the Creator." The story begins with darkness, and the only beings were Sa (Death), his wife, his daughter, and God Alatangana. God felt that the world was too full of darkness, so he created plants and animals to make it better. Sa was so thankful for this that he frequently allowed God in his house. Eventually though, God fell for Sa's daughter and asked for her hand in marriage. Sa did not want to give up his daughters and continued to make excuses to prevent it from happening. They secretly married and ran off, and began having many children. Sa was so angry that the next time he spoke to God, he said, "I welcomed you into my home, and you repaid me by taking my daughter. Now you must give me one of your children on the earth whenever I call one to me." This dialogue pushed the plot forward, and kept me intrigued and wanting to read more. I enjoyed this story for many reasons; number one, it gave a its own little twist on how the earth was created, but it also tells the story of how Death calls God's children. There are many "hints" as to what will happen in the future, and the contrast of characters (and complexity) makes a story like this great to teach foreshadowing, character, and conflict. I plan to use this to aid teaching my first unit. 

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has interest in various cultures, and history. What a great collection!

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears

Deborah Teague - some good big questions!

Aardema, V., Dillon, L. & Dillon,D. (1975). Why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears. New York: Puffin. 

Plot Summary:

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears written by Verna Aardema and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon is a Caldecott winning picture book that tells an African legend.  This cumulative tale has a simple plot with repetition, and trouble accumulates when a mosquito whispers a tall tale into the ear of an iguana.  The iguana, not wanting to hear such a lie, puts sticks in his ears, which caused the snake to think the iguana was mad at him because he did not answer him.  This misconception sparked a disastrous chain of events which claimed the life of a baby owlet.   The mother owl was so upset that she refused to wake the sun. As the King Lion tried to solve the problem, the animal antics became unraveled and the mosquito was blamed.  This could also be a pourquoi tale because mother owl was so upset that she refused to wake the sun, a way to explain a phenomenon of nature.  The illustrators used watercolor airbrush with bold vibrant colors to tell this tale. 

Standard: CCR: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

Reflection: This book lends itself to many teachable moments and opportunities for learning.  This would be a great story for young readers to retell, each portraying a different character.  It would also be a wonderful lesson on cause/effect using an organizer for intermediate level students.  I think I would play the “secret” game with my Kindergarteners.  I would have them all sit in a circle and I would start a tall tale.  Each student would have to whisper it all the way around the circle and see if the tale was correct by the very end.  You could also use a map and talk about African culture and research jungle animals.

Big Question: Why do you think some people tell tall tales or exaggerate?  What is the difference between an exaggeration and a lie? Do you think the mosquito is to blame?