LS5603-Traditional Lit. 3: The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Pinkney, Jerry. The Lion and the Mouse. Little, Brown and Company: New York, 2009. ISBN 9780316013567

2.     PLOT SUMMARY

The tale has no narration, so the reader must take its plot clues from the pictures themselves. It starts with a mouse running from an owl, ends up taking refuge on a lion! The lion looks ready to eat the mouse, when the mouse makes a plea for its life, and the lion lets him go back home to his family. Later on, some hunters set up a trap. The lion walks right into the trap and gets caught in a rope net. The mouse comes and chews through the ropes, freeing the lion. Both creatures go on to live happy, healthy lives.

3.     CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This nearly wordless tale retells the classic story of the lion and the mouse. There are about half a dozen sound effect words throughout the pages, but the entire narration must be made up by the one reading it. This has potential to be a very interactive book with younger readers—questions about what is going on in the scene and what they think will happen next are easy, especially when there are no words to take cues from.

Pinkney’s expressive watercolors are mesmerizing. He sets the story in the Serengeti, where lions actually live. Unlike many children’s books, his animals are accurately drawn, from the mouse’s oddly shaped feet to the owl’s wings. His pictures also bring in something that was not in the original stories—family. Both the Mouse and the Lion’s family are shown in this version, which is very heartwarming to see.

4.     REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

From PUBLISHERS WEEKLY – “Pinkney enriches this classic tale of friendship with another universal theme—family—affectingly illustrated in several scenes as well as in the back endpapers […] Pinkney has no need for words; his art speaks eloquently for itself.”

From NEW YORK TIMES – “The art of Jerry Pinkney’s new picture book is commanding enough to do without the author’s name or even the title on the front cover.”

From KIRKUS REVIEWS – “A nearly wordless exploration of Aesop’s fable of symbiotic mercy that is nothing short of masterful.”

5.     CONNECTIONS

Other books by Jerry Pinkney

·         Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Jerry Pinkney and Rudyard Kipling, ISBN 0688143202

·         Noah’s Ark ISBN 1587172011

·         The Tortoise & the Hare, ISBN 0316183563

·         Puss in Boots ISBN 0803716427

·         Aesop’s Fables ISBN 1587170000

Other books about helping others

·         How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham, ISBN

·         The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

·         Angelo by David Macaulay

Activity: Helping others with favors

·         For older children

·         In The Lion & The Mouse, the mouse helps the lion in a small but important way. How can our readers help others, like their parents?

·         Have them fill out favor coupons (a template can be found here,page 16--will download a .pdf)

Activity: Illustrating without words

·         Read another of Aesop’s Fables, such as “The Tortoise and the Hare” or “The Fox and the Grapes.” After reading the story, discuss the important elements of the story, and then have the readers make their own illustrated version. If this is a class, split them into groups and each group illustrate a different part of the story, instead of the whole story.  

LS5603-Traditional Lit 2: Anansi and the Magic Stick by Eric A. Kimmel, Ill. by Janet Stevens

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kimmel, Eric A. Anansi and the Magic Stick. Ill. by Janet Stevens. New York: Holiday House, 2001. ISBN 0823417638

2.     PLOT SUMMARY

Anansi the spider lives in a very dirty house with a poorly-kept garden. All his neighbors think Anansi is very lazy, or the house and garden would look better. In an attempt to prove his neighbors wrong, Anansi decides to steal Hyena’s magic stick to the work for him, so he can still be lazy but look like he’s hard at work. But taking shortcuts and using magic causes unintended consequences that Anansi is not prepared for.

3.     CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Anansi and the Magic Stick is loosely based off of a Liberian story called The Magic Hoe. The main character, Anansi, wants to get out of working and looks for any means by which he can connive his way to an easier task. Like The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, his attempt to make things easier on himself eventually overwhelms him and makes a much more difficult task that someone else has to fix. Although a similar moral follows this story, that taking short cuts in your task can lead to ill effects, it is overshadowed by the fact that Anansi basically gets away with it by cunningly lying.

The illustrations are strangely modern. The trash in Anansi’s yard is made of aluminum cans, milk cartons, and crumpled up paper. The zebra later on in the tale lounges on a beach chair and the warthog uses a swim tube to float around. When there’s a flood, there are two humans (renditions of the author and artist) carried off in it, a very unusual thing to see in an anthropomorphic story, and they look like two tourists from Minnesota. The pictures are bright and fun, and display what is going on in the narration, but they have no connection to the original Liberian story except for having animals instead of humans. Although the illustrations are lovely, I feel that it was a missed opportunity to celebrate the heritage of this story.

4.     REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

From PUBLISHERS’ WEEKLY- “Stevens’s comic creatures with their surprised expressions add kid appeal.”

From SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL – “The art has a softer focus than in Talking Melon but the same bright colors fill the pages, and the whole adds up to an enjoyable offering that is clever, funny, surprising, and traditional all at once.”

From BOOKLIST – “It’s a long way from the original tale, but Kimmel tells it with cheerful energy, and Stevens’ chaotic mixed-media illustrations, with lots of bright pink and green, show Anansi’s friends and neighbors—warthog, lion, hyena, zebra, and in one picture, Kimmel and Stevens—caught up in the mess.”

5.     CONNECTIONS

Try other Anansi the spider stories:

·         Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Harcourt School Publishers. ISBN 080503118

·         Anansi and the Talking Melon by Eric A. Kimmel, Ill. by Janet Stevens. ISBN 0823411672

Other books about Tricksters

·         Why Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears: A West African Tale by Verna Aardema, Ill by Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon. ISBN 0140549056

·         Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest by Gerald McDermott ISBN 0152024492

·         Jabuti the Tortoise: A Trickster Tale from the Amazon by Gerald McDermott. ISBN 0152053743

·         Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit by Julius Lester, Ill by Jerry Pinkney. ISBN 0142407208

LS5603 - Traditional Lit. 1: The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz, Ill. by Dan Santat

It's time to get your ninja on!

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Schwartz, Corey Rosen. The Three Ninja Pigs. Ill. by Dan Santat. New York: Scholastic, 2013. ISBN 978-0-545-60617-2

2.     PLOT SUMMARY

Once upon a time, there was a very, very bad wolf. In the face of the wolf’s tyranny, three pigs declared that they would fight for justice and confront the wolf head on. However, in order to do this noble deed, they would have to learn some sort of fighting technique in order to take the wolf down. All three pigs decide to train as ninjas. Each pig learns a different martial arts style, but not all the pigs are up to the commitment and dedication necessary to become a ninja master. As each of their training completes, they face the wolf in epic ninja showdowns.

3.     CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The Three Ninja Pigs is a variant of the much-loved Three Little Pigs story kids know so well. It follows the same plot, but does it in a new, refreshing way that might relate to kids more than the original tale; about 3.2 million children participate in martial arts every year (Moore 2011). It goes over different types of martial arts (aikido, jujitsu, karate) and uses martial arts words such as “sensei” instead of teacher. It also has a lot of attention to detail—the different martial arts have the animals using different techniques unique to that style, each pig has a different colored belt according to their ability, and even the pig’s uniforms have the Chinese characters for “1”, “2”, and “3” on them.

Unlike most stories of the three pigs, the story is not about three brothers, but instead about two brothers and their older sister. For girls reading this book, it shows a strong female protagonist who not only saves the day, but has amazing ninja skills as well, two characteristics that are traditionally given to male characters. This small gender change helps set it apart from other versions of this story.

The writing is very whimsical: each page is done as a rhyme (ABC/CB) with both external (the B/B) and internal (the C/C) rhyming. The cadence of the entire story flows with a rhythm that makes it fun to read out loud, and will help young readers sound out words based on the rhyme scheme.

The cartoon-styled illustrations give the story a sense of action, evoking a sense of comic book-like style. In fact, many of the pages are broken up into panes in a comic book layout. This style of art helps illustrate the progression of the storyline, so that even children who cannot read the story can guess what is going to happen based on pictures alone. Santat has not forgotten the Asian heritage of martial arts either and many of the scenes, even ones away from the dojo where the pigs learn their martial arts, contain Japanese elements, such as cherry blossoms floating in the wind at the final confrontation, or the way the wind is extra curly, the way it looks in traditional Chinese art.

4.     REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

From SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL- “Unlike the original tale, the pigs are given responsibility for their misfortune and a chance for improvement. The story has a clear message that success requires perseverance. […] Youngsters with an interest in martial arts and those seeking a strong female characters will relish this picture book.”

From PUBLISHERS’ WEEKLY- “Schwartz’s irreverent verse never falters—and any book that rhymes ‘dojo’ with ‘mojo’ is one that’s worth a look.”

From NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW – “The Three Ninja Pigs manages to one-up the well-worn story by setting in Japan, sprinkling it with the language and discipline of martial arts. All in hilarious, impeccable rhyme.”

From BOOKLIST – “This standout version has so much motion, action, and laughs, kids will feel like they’re hearing it for the first time. Schwartz’s clever rhyming text flows nicely, and illustrator Santat (who holds a black belt in Shotokan) really gets into things.”

5.     CONNECTIONS

Read other fractured fairy tales from Schwartz and Santat:

·         Ninja Red Riding Hood. ISBN 0399163549

·         Goldi Rocks & the Three Bears. ISBN 0399256857

Other books about Ninjas

·         Ninja! by Aree Chung, ISBN 0805099115

·         Wink: The Ninja Who Wanted to be Noticed by J.C. Phillipps, ISBN 0670010928

·         The Boy Who Cried Ninja by Alex Latimer, ISBN 1561455792

·         Ninjas! A Fun Guide For Kids Wanting to Become a Ninja by P.D. Adler, ISBN 179483670X

Ninja activities

·         Having a ninja boot camp is a great way to engage children in some physical activity while still having fun. There are some great websites with games that are adapted for ninja fun.

o   http://www.queen-of-theme-party-games.com/ninja-party.html

o   http://www.rookno17.com/2012/02/ninja-academy-party-enter-childdepart.html

References

Moore, John. 2011. “Martial Arts Statistics and Demographics—How Many People and Who in the US Practice?” San Francisco Martial Arts. January 26. http://students.expression.edu/jasonmarvinjones/demograhics/