1. ANANSI AND THE MOSS-COVERED ROCK by Eric A. Kimmel
Bibliography
Kimmel, Eric A. (1988). Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock. Ill. by Janet Stevens. Holiday House.
Plot Summary
Anansi the spider stumbles upon a moss-covered rock on his walk through the forest. He discovers that this rock has magical powers, and he decides to use this to his advantage. He spends the story tricking his fellow animals and taking from them what he wants. In the end, all wrongs are righted, and Anansi gets the tables turned on him.
Critical Analysis
Illustrations complement the story well. Janet Stevens makes Anansi come alive with lines hinting at movement around his legs.
The character of Anansi is depicted as the villain from the very beginning. His narrative is confined to making hurtful choices throughout the tale. The setting is established early on and is vaguely defined.
The tale begins with the traditional opener of “Once upon a time...” The plot is simple and repetitive in nature. The reader can easily predict what Anansi is going to do and what the reactions of his targets will be. This pattern repeats until the end, when (predictably) the tables are turned.
Review excerpts
- School Library Journal: “This new picture book Anansi tale will be welcomed by all trickster fans.”
Connections
- Further reading: Anansi and the Magic Stick, Anansi and the Talking Melon
- Reader’s Theater play
2. CAN’T SCARE ME! by Ashley Bryan
Bibliography
Bryan, Ashley. (2013). Can’t Scare Me!. Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
Plot Summary
In this trickster tale from the French and English Antilles, a young boy named Tanto is warned to be careful by his grandmother because hungry giants will find him and eat him if he is outside after dark. Tanto is amused by this and ignores his grandmother’s warnings. He runs from her one day and soon encounters two different giants. The boy falls for their tricks and gets trapped. In the end, he plays a trick of his own and escapes. Tanto learns that his grandmother’s warnings were correct and that he can be scared after all.
Critical Analysis
In Can’t Scare Me!, Ashley Bryan uses words and colors to paint a beautiful story. With rhymes and repeating lines, he crafts a voice for the main character that echoes the musical culture of the Caribbean. His use of onomatopoeia and song makes reading this story an experience for the ears, as well as the eyes.
The plot is driven by action. Tension builds with each conflict. The story resolves happily and with a bit of fun. Bryan uses culturally specific details to bring the reader to the Caribbean. The main character, Tanto, walks with his grandmother to “her fields” passing mango trees along the way. Bryan’s storytelling honors the folktales that inspired it and is obviously meant to be read aloud.
Review excerpts
- Booklist: “The buoyant watercolors, bordered in a stained-glass design, complement the musicality of the text…”
- Horn Book Magazine: “The master storyteller offers a sprightly rhymed retelling of a folktale first collected on St. Thomas, Virgin Islands…”- School Library Journal: “The lilting, loosely rhymed text reads well aloud, and the tempera and watercolor, brightly hued illustrations flood the pages with color and action.”
Connections
- Reader’s Theater play
- Students can paint their own scary monsters.- Provide a copy of Tanto’s chant for students to illustrate.
3. THE THREE PIGS by David Wiesner
Bibliography
Wiesner, David. (2001). The Three Pigs. Clarion Books.
Plot Summary
The Three Pigs is a 2002 Caldecott Medal winner. The story follows the main plot of the original. However, instead of being eaten by the wolf, the three pigs are blown out of the story and escape to other tales. They return home with two new friends who help them fend off the wolf’s attacks.
Critical Analysis
David Wiesner makes clever artistic choices in this retelling of The Three Little Pigs. His version of the story has the same cast in their usual roles of good and evil but adds two integral characters: a dragon and the cat from “Hey, Diddle Diddle”. While the conflicts in the two tales are similar, the wolf in Wiesner’s version does not eat the pigs. He knows that he is supposed to...but they have disappeared! This tale has a happy ending, with the wolf meeting a deserved, but unexpected fate. Themes of friendship and teamwork come together at the end as the new group of friends band together to defeat the wolf.
Wiesner’s detailed illustrations in this Caldecott winner are brilliant and enhance his storytelling perfectly. As the pigs travel to other stories by paper airplane, he intelligently depicts them with different artistic styles giving the reader a sense of timing and place. At the beginning of the story, he introduces three pigs that are drawn with life-like detail: their individual hairs illuminated. Later in the story, as they visit other tales, they change to more cartoonish pictures - lacking the detail of the earlier images. This beautiful book is an adventure to read!
Review excerpts
- Booklist starred review: “Wiesner has created a funny, wildly imagined tale that encourages kids to leap beyond the familiar...”
- Hornbook Guide: “David Wiesner's postmodern interpretation of this tale plays imaginatively with traditional picture book and story conventions and with readers' expectations of both.”- School Library Journal: “Witty dialogue and physical comedy abound in this inspired retelling of a familiar favorite.”
Connections
- Compare and contrast this story with other versions of The Three Little Pigs.
- Have students make their own paper airplanes from printed storybook pages.
4. THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS by Jon Scieszka
Bibliography
Scieszka, Jon. (1989). The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. Ill. Lane Smith. Viking.
Plot Summary
In The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, A. Wolf has been framed. Jon Scieszka writes this version of The Three Little Pigs from the villain's perspective. Things are not always as they seem. The wolf claims he wanted to bake a cake for his dear old granny’s birthday, but he needed a cup of sugar and had a bad cold. He proceeds to each pig’s house seeking sugar but ends up sneezing the houses down instead. A. Wolf walks the reader through the familiar story, defending his actions along the way.
Critical Analysis
Jon Scieszka’s storytelling resonates. The narration from the indignant A. Wolf is hilarious. Readers will easily imagine his defensive voice as he tries to explain that he has been framed, and they have been conned all these years. Like other stories of this genre, it is meant to be read aloud.
The theme of this tale is things are not always as they appear. Scieszka implores us to reevaluate our firmly held bias towards an infamous character from our childhood. The motif of this story is multiple perspectives. The author and illustrator reinforce this with the use of newsprint as a symbol throughout the book. Smith’s illustrations have a hazy, newspaper-like quality. Graphic lettering, reminiscent of a magazine, is present on several pages. In the end, the wolf’s reputation is smeared by bored news reporters awarding him his present moniker on the front page of the Daily Pig. The final line invites the reader to decide if their opinion of the villain has been changed. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs is a modern-day, media-filled explanation of what might have been.
Review excerpts
- Kirkus reviews: “Scieszka carries off this revision with suitably mordant humor...”
- School Library Journal: “It's the type of book that older kids (and adults) will find very funny.”- Publisher’s Weekly: “Designed with uncommon flair, this alternative fable is both fetching and glib.”
Connections
- Compare and contrast with other versions of The Three Little Pigs using a Venn diagram.
- Further reading: The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka- Reader’s Theater play
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