Gold (David Shannon)

 

A great story to read when we do the decodable, The Prince's Foolish Wish. It would be fun to go find a bunch of versions of this fable.

Goodreads says:

A riotous retelling of the Midas myth by the Caldecott Honor-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author of No, David!

Maximilian Midas was a peculiar little boy.
He didn't much like chocolate and he didn't play with toys.
The first word that he uttered when he was one year old
Wasn't Mama, wasn't Papa; what Maxie said was, "Gold!"

Max Midas isn't like the other kids. Instead of trying to make friends, he decides to make millions and spends it all on what he loves best: GOLD. Gold statues. Gold fountains. Piles and piles of gold, and atop them all, a golden castle. But one day, things get lonely inside his shiny castle and Max finally learns that gold isn't worth anything without friends and family by your side.

David Shannon, the Caldecott Honor--winning and New York Times bestselling author of No, David!, is back with a riotous romp that's sure to be a beloved classic.

Little Red (Bethan Woollvin)

 

Don't mess with the girl in this version of Little Red Riding Hood. 

Good storybook for contrasts and contradictions because we are so familiar with the regular story of Little Red Riding Hood that this one takes us by surprise!

Goodreads says:

Little Red Riding Hood meets a wolf on her way through the woods to visit her sick grandmother. The wolf is hungry, and Red Riding Hood looks tasty, so he hatches a dastardly plan, gobbles up Grandma and lies in wait. So far, so familiar. But this Little Red Riding Hood is not easily fooled, and this big bad wolf better watch his back. In this defiant interpretation of the traditional tale, the cheeky, brave little girl seizes control of her own story (and the wolf gets rather more than he bargained for).

That Is Not A Good Idea (Mo Willems)

 

You all know how foxes are...tricky...and this one tries to lure a goose to his home to put her in the soup. When she turned the tables on him, my class all gave a huge and enormously loud gasp! 

Goodreads says:

One day a very hungry fox meets a very plump goose. A dinner invitation is offered.

Will dinner go as planned? Or do the dinner plans involve a secret ingredient...?

(Don't forget to listen to the baby geese!)

Once Upon a Goat (Dan Richards)

 

We loved the surprise when the Queen and King had a child and it turned out to be a goat. We laughed out loud. 

Goodreads says:

A twisted fairy tale about a king and queen who wish for a child of their own…and end up with a baby goat.

Once upon a time, a very prim and proper king and queen begged their fairy godmother for a child. They’d prefer a boy, with glowing skin, bright eyes, and two roses for lips…but any kid will do. When they find themselves gifted with a baby goat (also known as a kid) instead, they can’t imagine how he’ll fit into their lives.

After the Fall (Dan Santat)

 

This is well written and actually quite brilliant. Kids like it and it will speak to adults even more.

This speech goes well with this book:

https://youtu.be/tp7TQJ2q5QE?si=rGSqI6G6sDdTkUjb 

Goodreads says:

My name is Humpty Dumpty.
I'm famous for falling off a wall.

(You may have heard about it.)

But that's only half the story...
Because I decided to get back up.
And when I did, something amazing happened.

This story is about my life...
AFTER THE FALL.

Inspiring and unforgettable, this epilogue to the beloved classic nursery rhyme will encourage even the most afraid to overcome their fears, learn to get back up--and reach new heights.
(front flap)

Hensel and Gretel Ninja Chicks (Corey Rosen Schwarts and Rebecca Gomez, Illustrated by Dan Santat)

 

Totally Dan Santat style. Funny and amazing illustrations. This one will be really enjoyed!

Goodreads says:

These ninja chicks are anything but chicken!

When Hensel and Gretel's dad gets snatched by a fox, the sisters put their ninja skills to work to track him down before he can be stir-fried.

But are these two little chicks ready to take on a dark tangled forest, a tricky house made of corn bread, and an even trickier fox?

This plucky pair isn't giving up without a fight!

KIYA! 

The Rumpelstiltskin Problem (Vivian VandeVelde)

 

This is a great book for teaching story versions! Each story is quite unique! In one the girl is out to marry the single prince and tries to use made up threats from Rumpelstilskin (who has a wife and quite enough children) to get her wish. In another the girl's father is a foolish boaster who gets his daughter stuck in the castle having to figure out how to turn straw into gold. There are 6 stories and each one is quite unique. 

Goodreads says:

Vivian Vande Velde is whimsically clever in her six recreations of the Rumpelstiltskin story. With divine humor, she reveals the absurdity of the fairy tale. The book is coy, innovative and alluring.

What was with that bizarre fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin? Why would a miller claim that his daughter can spin straw into gold? Why would the king believe him? And why would a odd little man that can spin straw into gold do so in exchange for a tiny gold ring? The story is just silly.
In an attempt to make sense of it all, Vivian Vande Velde retells this wayward fairy tale, providing six alternative takes on the classic account. All six are woven into rich chronicles - all of which are far more intriguing and revealing than the original tale.

The Boy Who Cried Ninja (Alex Latimer)

This is one of those books where kids get together and roll their eyes at the adults in their lives. Adults just don't get it!

This is a twist on the boy who cried wolf. Time has a great fantasy life. Well, everyone assumes it is fantasy. One of my students was able to summarize the story before we read this one. I should have asked at the end if they really were similar stories. It could be a good compare and contrast exercise. Definitely a great discussion starter for imagination.

This book would be a great way to start into a discussion about telling the truth.

Goodreads says:

In this quirky twist on The Boy Who Cried Wolf, a boys excuses turn out to have an unexpected element of truth.

Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell (Chris Colfer)

This is a really fun read with all the additional insight on traditional stories. It would be a good book for kids ready for a book that is challenging yet an easy connection for them. Open up to any page and you could use much of this to teach elaborative detail. It would be fun to do this for an end of year book club pick.

Goodreads says:

Alex and Conner Bailey's world is about to change, in this fast-paced adventure that uniquely combines our modern day world with the enchanting realm of classic fairy tales.
The Land of Stories tells the tale of twins Alex and Conner. Through the mysterious powers of a cherished book of stories, they leave their world behind and find themselves in a foreign land full of wonder and magic where they come face-to-face with the fairy tale characters they grew up reading about.

But after a series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls alike, getting back home is going to be harder than they thought.

I Thought This Was a Bear Book (Tara Lazar)

It was fun to read the alien's voice in a robotic way. Tara Lazar did it again. Hilarious! This book breaks the 4th wall, speaks directly to the reader, and my students loved it. They told me to shake it a little harder, when we needed to shake the book.

Goodreads says:

When an alien crashes into the story of The Three Little Bears, it's a laugh-out-loud adventure and a classic storybook mash-up!

After an unfortunate bookcase collapse, Alien suddenly finds himself jolted out of his story and into a very strange world, complete with talking bears. Desperate to return to his book, Alien asks the Bear family for help so he can get back to his story and save his beloved Planet Zero from total destruction before it's too late.

Mama Bear and Papa Bear try all kinds of zany contraptions (with some help from their nemesis, Goldilocks) without much luck. Baby Bear might have the perfect solution to get the Alien out of the woods and back to his planet...but will anyone listen to the littlest voice in the story? 

Little Red Gliding Hood (Tara Lazar)

Another great Tara Lazar book! My class really enjoyed this and seemed to be quite caught up in the story. It has a good rhythm and many of the phrases we've heard before in other stories. The pictures are really detailed, which also brought about some interesting comments and showed that the kids were really taken in by this story. We had just had a decodable that had a fox in it and so a fox/wolf being tricky was a familiar meta-narrative. This wolf being a not-big and bad wolf brought the whole idea up again and made for an interesting discussion. All the references to different story book characters were a great review, especially for my students who are from other countries and aren't as familiar with all the traditional stories we sometimes assume kids know but actually don't.

Goodreads says:

Little Red Riding Hood straps on her ice skates in this fractured fairy tale! A figure skating enthusiast, Little Red has worn her skates right out and must win a pairs competition to earn new ones. But who will be her partner? The Dish is already dancing with the Spoon, and Hansel is spinning Gretel like sugar. You won’t believe what big eyes, sharp teeth, and long snout her partner has…all the better to spin her with!

The Chinese Emperor's New Clothes ( Ying Chang Compestine)

Since I have many Chinese students in my class, they were really keen to read this book. They all listened attentively. The story moves quickly enough but still is a good story for a substantial read at the carpet. I wondered if it really is a Chinese legend or just the creativity of the author. The author's note at the end was fascinating. The author loved to read forbidden books. It was a way to trick the rulers in China who banned certain books. She said due to the lack of books and other entertainment, she and her friends would pass the time by reciting stories from the illegal books they had read. This story is one she made up, adding her own twist to it, after hearing The Emporer's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen. The picture of the author at the end, taken during the Cultural Revolution in China, is delightful!



Goodreads says:

Ming Da is only nine years old when he becomes the emperor of China, and his three advisors take advantage of him by stealing his stores of rice, gold, and precious stones. But Ming Da has a plan. With the help of his tailors, he comes up with a clever idea to outsmart his devious advisors: He asks his tailors to make “magical” new clothes for him. Anyone who is honest, the young emperor explains, will see the clothes’ true splendor, but anyone who is dishonest will see only burlap sacks. The emperor dons a burlap sack, and the ministers can’t help but fall for his cunning trick.

Alice in Pastaland (Alexandra Wright)

We read/watched this on tumblebooks. The animation was not quite as robust as other tumble books, but there were interesting things that happened along the way: especially numbers and equations that kept scrolling on the bottom of the page or side of the pages here and there. The different voices in the story were great too.

I'm not usually a fan of books with math concepts embedded in them, but this one was quite enjoyable! Unfortunately they were imperial (inches and feet) instead of metric. There was a cat that had numbers on his nametag and it was actually a math family diagram. Funny word play on characters like a snake, an adder that sits adding numbers all the time. There was even an introduction to Soduko! The play on the story of Alice in Wonderland is super cute. There was even good science information.

Goodreads summary:

Suppose that Alice had fallen into a wonderland where pasta was the only common denominator. In this clever parody of Lewis Carroll's classic tale, Alexandra Wright presents a mathematically aware Alice whose adventures are an appetizing combination of numbers, humor, and fun. With the Math Hatter dishing it up, the Adder using his noodle, and the Quantum Cat adding spice, arithmetic is full of pastabilities.

The Princess and the Pizza

This story is quite funny. I like the independence the princess shows. My students loved the twists on the Princess and the Pea (the princess rolls her eyes at the fact that they're using the old pea under the mattress trick to see if she really is a princess). A bunch of princesses show up to compete for the chance to marry the prince. There's the one whose always tripping on her hair, the one who has all these strange little men with her, etc. In the end, she turns down the chance to marry the prince (he was named Drupert....so you can imagine how much personality he had) and opens her own pizza shop instead.

Goodreads summary:

An out of work princess must prepare a feast fit for a prince.

Little Red's Riding Hood (Peter Stein)

A great take on a classic story, with a fun twist for kids who really love vehicles! I know of a bunch of little boys who'd really love this one. We all had a good chuckle as we read it. My class did a lot of work last year on different versions of stories, so they really love this kind of story.

Goodreads Summary:

When Little Red's Granny Putt Putt gets sick, the tiny moped scooter races over the river and through the dark woods to bring her a basket of get-well goodies.

But when Little Red crosses paths with Tank, the biggest, loudest, meanest machine around, that no-good monster truck has plans of his own.

Why, Granny, what big wheels you have!
Why, Granny, what big headlights you have!
Why, Granny, what a big hood you have!

From the sparkplug, creative minds of Peter Stein and Chris Gall comes a full-throttle version of the classic LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD tale that will have everyone revving for more.

Life of Zarf (Rob Harrell)

As I read this, I could imagine my son chuckling away at the humour. I can't wait to share it with him! This book makes me think teaching middle school would be really fun :) They would really get a kick out of this humour.

This is kind of a mix of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and classic fairy tales. There is a troll (lowest in the middle school totem pole) named Zarf who gets teased because his names rhymes with barf. He has a bad temper and ends up beating up one of his classmates - the not so charming prince. The lunch lady at school is Goldilocks (yup, school lunches always involve porridge). Zarf's two best friends are a pig named Kevin (get it? Kevin Bacon??) who is a huge worrier and the Jester's son, Chester, whose jokes are just terrible. Their adventures together are hilarious. I hope there are more of these books to come!

Some of my favourite funny moments:

- Their cell phone provider is Grimm. "They are the worst!"

- The troll, the pig and the jester all go on an adventure. One night they end up staying with a family whose son has a nervous tic. Every twenty or so minutes he yells, "Wolf!" Of course, this doesn't go over well with Kevin the pig.

- Along the way they find a candy house!! They start indulging until suddenly it strikes them....Hansel and Gretl made this same mistake! In the end it turns out the lunch lady goldilocks bought the house from the original owner. The owner has. Now moved to Cabo and opened a tiki bar.m

One question I had:

Why does TrollPower always have a copyright symbol after the words? (I.e. P. 252)

Goodreads Summary: 

Shrek meets Wimpy Kid in this epically funny tale of a troll trying to figure out how to be more popular

It’s not easy being Zarf. As a troll, he's stuck at the bottom of the middle school hierarchy, way below
the prince and knights (populars), ogres and giants (jocks), and even the lowly minstrels (band geeks). Plus, trolls aren't exactly known for their brain power or cool demeanor. But it gets worse. When the king disappears and Zarf's archenemy, the prince, ascends the throne, he makes Zarf's life even more miserable. And so it is that Zarf and his two sidekicks (a neurotic, mutton-obsessed pig and the not-funny son of the court jester) set out to find the missing king as well as their way to middle school heroism. (Okay, the heroism part might be wishful thinking.)

The first book in this brilliant new illustrated series from comics creator Rob Harrell has the perfect mix of real world and fairy tale.

Chicken Big (Keith Graves)

Goodreads summary:

On a teeny little farm, in an itty-bitty coop, a very small hen laid a big, giant egg. And out of this egg came one big, humongous . . . something. "It's big!" clucked the little rooster. "It's enormous!" clucked the small chicken. "It's an elephant!" peeped the smallest chicken. "Run for your lives!" they cried. No matter how they try, these clueless chickens can't make sense of the gigantic new member of their familyuntil he saves the day. With wacky, laugh-out-loud humor and silliness to spare, this BIG twist on the classicChicken Little story lends a whole new perspective to what it means to be chicken. 

This story is a take off from Chicken Little except the chicken is not little, he is Chicken Big. Chicken Big sticks out and isn't accepted by the other chickens. The story is about the chickens all trying to come to an understanding of whether or not he really is like them. They go through a series of assumptions and in the end, do become friends. We loved the not quite so bright chickens and the crazy antics all along the way. Fun illustrations. It is a great book for a laugh. Good be a good story on friendship and making judgments about people before you really know them.

Inkheart (Cornelia Funke)

For some reason this has often been a stall book for me. I get half way through it then don't finish it. Despite all the times I started and didn't finish it, I love this book! (I did finally finish it) I love the idea of having stories come to life. I loved how people escape into the stories and escape out of the stories. I loved that reading well can make it all happen. I loved all the references to other books and stories. Fabulous story! Goodreads Summary: Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can "read" fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service.   Characters from books literally leap off the page in this engrossing fantasy. Meggie has had her father to herself since her mother went away when she was young. Mo taught her to read when she was five, and the two share a mutual love of books. He can "read" characters out of books. When she was three, he read aloud from a book called Inkheart and released characters into the real world. At the same time, Meggie's mother disappeared into the story. This "story within a story" will delight not just fantasy fans, but all readers who like an exciting plot with larger-than-life characters

Battle Bunny (Jon Scieszka)

John Scieszka is hilarious, and is doing good things for kids and books! In this book, a boy named Alex is given a picture book that is boring boring boring. He changes it from boring to everything 8 or 9 year old boys love!

I thought this book would be a good starter to writing our own version of a story.

Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Story(Steven Guarnaccia)

Goodreads summary:

In this quirky, artsy retelling of "The Three Little Pigs,” the pigs and their homes are nods to three famous architects—Frank Gehry, Phillip Johnson, and Frank Lloyd Wright—and their signature homes. Each house is filled with clever details, including furnishings by the architects and their contemporaries. Of course, not all the houses are going to protect the pigs from the wolf’s huffing and puffing. Which one will? The wolf, and readers, are in for a clever surprise ending.

This book would be a great one for our Structures and Design unit! It would be interesting to teach them about the three great architects mentioned in the book (Frank Gehry, Phillip Johnson, and my personal favorite: Frank Lloyd Wright). Frankly, I think this book would be a great one for all ages)