Pinkney, Jerry. The Ugly Duckling. Pinkney, Jerry. Morrow Junior Books, New York, NY. 1999. ISBN- 0-688-15933-8
Plot Summary
From the beginning of this tale, a mother duck hatches an egg that is not quite like the rest of her ducklings. When mother duck finds a larger more pale duckling she is a tad shocked but loves and adores her ugly duckling just the same. On the way to the pond, the Ugly Duckling is attacked by other unkind ducks and he is saddened by their torturous behavior. The Ugly Duckling leaves his mother in search of a place where others are not as cruel, but the Ugly Duckling is treated the same by all he encounters. Over time as the seasons change so does the ugly duckling’s physical appearance into a majestic swan. He eventually defeats his fears and ventures to a pond where other magnificent swans are swimming. Overwhelmed with an enormous desire to belong he decides to join these elegant swans. He works up the courage to insert himself into their social circle and immediately the Ugly Duckling is greeted with kindness he has never experienced. The Ugly Duckling does not truly believe he has been accepted until he sees his own physical reflection and realizes he looks just like them.
Critical Analysis
The elaborate watercolor illustrations by Jerry Pinkney are exquisitely beautiful and help bring this story to life. The illustrations capture the Ugly Duckling’s sadness, his panic, and finally his excitement. Pickney is an experienced and decorated illustrator: winning three Caldecott award medals and holding four Coretta Scott King awards. When his readers stumble upon his elaborate paintings hanging in worldwide art exhibits of museums, their enthusiasm should not come to surprise. Especially after his readers have witnessed his historical artwork within this book. Pinkney uniquely captures the hardish and struggle of growing up different in society. He indefinitely brings to life how patience and perseverance can lead to one’s great happiness with time. Pinkney undertook the original Ugly Duckling written by Hans Christian Andersen and made the story come to life for a younger audience. Captivating a younger audience through his descriptions and dialogue, by way of his illustrations, while nevertheless conveying the Ugly Duckling’s life struggle. The Ugly Duckling chooses to depart from his family who did not appreciate his presence in their life, he left in search of friendship and acceptance. The Ugly Duckling was made to feel unsightly for a period of time, therefore, he can not understand kindness when unconditional kindness is expressed to him. Encompassing the Ugly Duckling’s life challenge with incredible illustrations helps young readers create a personal connection to this book.
Other Reviews
2000 Caldecott Honor book
‘Dramatic content, sensitive in line, and rich with color… Children who are not familiar with the story will be captivated; those who have had the story read to them before will find new things to shiver over.” - ALA Booklist (starred review)
Also Illustrated and adapted Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
An American Bookseller Pick of the List A Publishers Weekly
Best Book of the Year
A Smithsonian Notable Book for Children
Connections
Walt Disney’s Ugly Duckling video: https://goo.gl/uJNfLH The Ugly Duckling sequencing page: https://goo.gl/WF17uU
Modern Interpretation: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/uglyduckling/themes.html
Bibliography
Kimmel, Eric. Bearhead a Russian Folktale. Mikolaycak, Charles. Holiday House, New York. 1991. ISBN- 0-8234-1302-0
Plot Summary
As described in this tale a couple stumbles upon an abandoned baby while walking in a wooded forest. This extraordinary baby has the head of a bear in place of a human baby head. The concerned couple decides to make him part of their little family and care for his every need. They conveniently name him Bearhead. Through the years Bearhead has become a masculine man. Madame Hexaba, an evil witch, impactfully sends for Bearhead’s father to come and be her miserable servant. As a dedicated and protective son, Bearhead goes in his father's place. During his short stay with the Madame Hexaba Bearhead quickly outwits her to immediately return to his family with endless amounts of riches to share.
Critical Analysis
Kimmel has created an adaptation of the Russian tale Ivanko the Bear’s Son. The main character of this extraordinary tale had the physical body of a bear and the head of a human man. As an avid reader, I agree with Kimmel in changing the body to a man and the head to a bears head was more appealing. Throughout Bearhead's time spent with Hexaba, the evil witch, he is given responsibilities, one responsibility: to guard her treasury door! Bearhead decides to rip the treasury door off its hinges with all his might. Therefore with the treasury door off its hinges, he has the ability to carry the treasury door with him at all times and keep the door unquestionably safe, but in removing the witch’s treasury door, to guard it, all the witch’s precious treasures were quickly stolen!. While reading this tale I continuously stopped and grinned to myself because like Bearhaed in this tale, my inquisitive two-year-old and independent five-year-old are also extremely literal-minded with directions. Throughout the witches day, as she barks orders at Bearhead, he completes every requested task with his literal interpretation in which ruins the witches day! This ‘literal interpretation’ theme brought on chuckles as I have experienced this exact theme in my daily ‘mom’ life! Mikolaycak’s illustrations reminded me of the old folktale books I faithfully read growing up. Due to the origins of this tale from Russia, the dress and decoration in the illustration match the culture he is portraying.
Through Mikolaycak’s illustrations he allows the reader a glimpse of Russian culture, construction, landscaping, and countryside demonstrated in this story. My impression of Madame Hexaba was that she seemed more like an old haggard woman who had been endlessly wealthy and miserably alone for much of her life and in turn was labeled an evil witch even though she had no witching abilities. The goblin was illustrated more like a gentleman serpent rather than an evil goblin we imagine from other tales. Matching the text perfectly the illustrations brought the tale to life and allowed the reader to imagine themselves in the tale’s cultural setting.
Other Reviews
“Bearhead's new form is not quite as logical here as in the original, however, as his human body would probably not manage the feats of a bear, and his bear's head and face are not quite as expressive as a human would be. Still, this is a satisfying tale, and children will delight in the winning hero's literal interpretations of orders.” - Publishers Weekly
“Kimmel states that he has adapted ``Ivanko the Bear's Son'' by giving the protagonist a bear's head on a man's body rather than the reverse, and by having him outwit a witch instead of his stepfather. Obviously, these changes substantially alter the story's inner meaning, but Kimmel's version is an amusing tale of an apparent bumbler who repeatedly triumphs by taking instructions literally.” - Kirkus Reviews
Connections
Ivanko the Bear’s Son a video telling: https://youtu.be/XqK1DaOZI2w How well do you follow directions activity/lesson: https://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/dailylp/dailylp/dailylp022.shtml
Bibliography
Bruchac, Joseph, & Ross, Gayle. The Story of the Milky Way A Cherokee Tale. Stroud, Virginia. Dial Books for Young Readers, New York, NY. 1995. ISBN: 0-8037-1737-7
Plot Summary
In this tale, an old fragile woman and elderly frail man have their cornmeal cruelly stolen. The couple’s young grandson makes a decision to investigate, search for, and capture the culprit. In lue of his quest to find the culprit, their grandson witnesses a sparkling glowing dog approach his grandparent's cornmeal bin and partake of their cornmeal. The confused boy shares his story with the people of the village. Consequently he, in turn, receives advice from the Beloved Woman, a leader among their people. Beloved Woman instructs her villagers to make loud noises the next time the sparkling dog appears in an attempt to scare the dog away and to never return. Upon the dog’s return to the cornmeal bin, the villagers do as they have been asked and fearlessly create distracting noises with success. Their obediently created noise scared away the dog. The dog then leaps into the sky leaving behind a trail of cornmeal and disappears into the clouds.
Critical Analysis
Bruchac and Ross bring to life the origin story of the Milky Way as they learned from stories told to them as young children. This astonishing tale was presented to him by the Cherokee people in his life. As a reader, I appreciated the explanatory author notes and detailed illustrator notes as these additions allowed me more insight into the story. The notes impressed upon me a solid baseline and inevitably add to the driven message of the entire story. Ross and Bruchac include the Beloved Woman in their version as to portray the many powerful woman figures spread throughout the Cherokee community. The Beloved Woman was the character to ask advice and to counsel villagers about their needed tasks. As an innocent reader, you would not expect to have embarked on such a cultural Cherokee standard threaded into a child’s tale. Furthermore, with this theme of a powerful woman figure as an educator, you can add and create extensions to classroom lessons encompassing this tale’s cultural standard. Ross and Bruchac faithfully include the character of the grandson to show the endearment and love children have for their grandparents. I have to admit I would have done the same for my grandparents as I loved them with all my being. Their grandson immediately began investigating, searching, and waiting to catch the culprit who is stealing their livelihood. Children and students from all walks of life should find adequate relatability through their background knowledge and prior life experiences to this story.
Other Reviews
With lyric simplicity, this retelling of a Cherokee folktale posits an explanation for the origin of the Milky Way, at the same time stressing the merits of communal labor. - Publishers Weekly
The text and illustrations work well together, and the layout makes the book an especially good choice for storytime. - School Library Journal
Connections
Other Cherokee folklore:
Mooney, James. Myths of the Cherokee. Dover Publications; Revised ed. edition (March 27, 1996). ISBN: 978-0486289076
Among the myths included are these: How the World Was Made; Origin of Strawberries; Why the Deer's Teeth Are Blunt; How the Turkey Got His Beard; The Rattlesnake's Vengeance; The Ice Man; The First Fire; Why the Possum's Tail Is Bare; The Bride from the South; The Water Cannibals; The Haunted Whirlpool; The War Medicine, and many more. - Amazon
Other books about family and a grandchild’s love:
The Annotated version of Little Red Riding Hood http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/ridinghood/index.html
Other myths on the origin of the Milky Way
http://www.native-science.net/Milky_Way_Myths.htm
Extension ideas Have students write about the activities they have done for their grandparents.
Bibliography
Evans, Claire, The Three Little Superpigs. Evans, Claire. Scholastic Inc., 2016. ISBN: 978-1338245455
Plot Summary
In this profound tale, the Big Bad Wolf is captured and banished to “ Happily Never After Prison”! During the Big Bad Wolf’s days in “Happily Ever After Prison”, the three little pigs become fairyland super pigs. Meanwhile, the three little super pigs begin to actively assist their fellow townsmen to build all their much-needed homes out of brick. In the midst of the three little super pigs thwarting crime in their humble town, they stumbled upon the news of the Big Bad Wolf’s escape from prison. Moreover, the three little super pigs were then given the dangerous mission to investigate and bring to light the culprit who is stealing all the bricks around town. Finally, the three little super pigs find themselves in a very familiar, yet startling turn of events in their hunt to find their culprit.
Critical Analysis
The very creative Claire Evans was magnificent in her adaptation to the classic folktale of “The Three Little Pigs” as she drew in a twisted plot capturing readers of all ages. Evans extension from the original version elaborating what occurred after the final events of the story set the setting for a more exciting storyline to discover. She sets the story up perfectly and then throws in a huge unexpected curve, grabbing the reader's attention and leading them down her fun twist of events. Then much to the demise of the Big Bad Wolf, the third and final pig saves the day just as in the original version of this tale. This version of a classic folktale is very appealing to superhero lovers as it added another quality that may not have been imagined. Claire Evans’ illustrations encompassed in this tale are aesthetically enjoyable. Throughout this story, the almost graphic novel quality illustrations light up your imagination and allow you to step forth into a detective mystery caper setting. Within a graphic quality novel, early readers will find the animated illustrations exciting to view and allow the novice readers to visually explore throughout the book. Moreover, an eloquently seasoned reader will have the opportunity to discover the extensive illustration details Evans has intentionally included within her humorous well thought out storyline.
Other Reviews
“Evans' smart twist on the familiar tale will elicit giggles at its clever wordplay and fairy-tale cameos. The details in the. . . brightly colored illustrations will make repeated readings as much fun as the first.” -- Kirkus Reviews
“But Evans is an energetic, pop-culture-savvy storyteller: a smart blend of vignettes and spreads keeps the tale tightly paced, and she cleverly evokes the visual and textual tropes of horror and detective movies.” -- Publisher’s Weekly
Connections
An annotated version of the Three Little Pigs: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/threepigs/index.html Extending folktale activities: https://goo.gl/1pHkji
Other folktale variations:
Garner, James Finn. "The Three Little Pigs." Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Modern Tales for Our Life and Times. New York: Hungry Minds Inc, 1994. 978-0025427303
These stories are updated to account for modern political sensibilities, these revisionist folktales reflect wit and an engaging knack for irony. - Publishers Weekly
