The Ant and the Grasshopper

by Luli Gray and illustrated by Giuliano Ferri

Week 7:  Folklore

           The thing that I love about folklore is that it almost always teaches a lesson and "Ant and Grasshopper" is one of my favorites.  Luli Gray takes the original story and adds some fun twists that kids enjoy. I also choose this version because the illustrations are amazing.  In the story Ant is busy gathering food for the winter, and mocks Grasshopper for just playing music and dancing instead of preparing.  However, Ant too finds himself getting distracted by the music and dancing.

  

          However, when the harsh winter hits and Ant finds Grasshopper cold and hungry in the snow, he can't help but bring him inside. Only when after opening his home to Grasshopper does Ant realize that music, dancing, and laughter have their place in his life, too.

          The story of the "Ant and the Grasshopper" dates back to 620 B.C.  to the Greek storyteller Aesop.  This story teaches that it is good to have fun, but it is better to get your work done and be prepared.  There will always be time for enjoyment but if there is no joy if you are in a bad situation  and you understand it is because you didn't put in the work.   

         In class, this story has a lot of fun activities and lessons that can be incorporated into the lesson plan.  I like to teach "cause and effect" with this story because it really puts it in a way that first graders understand. 

 Crave

by Tracy Wolff

Week 7:  Fantasy 

            When I began this book I didn't realize it was a "young adult" book.  I have recently gotten into where I love listening to audio books, because I can cook, clean, and be productive while listening to a good book.  My new favorite audio books are the ones done by a company called "Graphic Audio."  They not only read the book, they have actors come in and read different parts and put music and sound effects to the book.   It's like listening to a movie.   I had just finished  "Fourth Wing"  by Rebecca Yarros and it was done by Graphic Audio, it was not a young adult book. However, I enjoyed it so much I started looking for other audio books by the same company and "Crave" was one of them. 

        I could tell right off that this was made for a younger audience, so I started researching the book and saw that it was indeed a "young adult" fantasy book. It felt like a newer version of "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyers, which I never read it but saw the movie.  It's about a girl named Grace whose parents are killed in a car accident and she has to move to Alaska.  There her Uncle runs a boarding school that is very isolated in the mountains. It looks like a normal school until events start happening that are not normal.  She meets a boy named Jackson and after some time learns that he is a vampire. I prefer not to give too much of the books away in my blogs in case someone ones to read it, I don't want to spoil it. 

             This is not a normal book that I would read but it was entertaining, so I did manage to make it through the book.  Where in "Twilight" there are vampires and wolves, this book has students that are witches, dragons, wolves, and vampires.  They all have their own cliques also.  The book did leave me longing to find out "what happens next."  So I looked and "Crave" is the first of a series of seven books.  "Graphic Audio" did make one for the second book called "Crush."  I figure I'll listen to it also. I do think that book series are good for young readers because it makes them want to keep reading.   

            I'm glad that I did read it though, in spite of it being for a younger audience, because now if a teacher asks if it is age appropriate I can tell them. "Crave" was better than some that I have read, there were no explicit sexual scenes that were inappropriate for a young adult. It does have some inappropriate language and cussing if that is a concern of a parent or teacher.  If it was a movie I might give it a PG-13 rating due to language and some violence.  I do know that there are lot of books are being read by young adults right now that are not age appropriate and parents don't know they aren't.  They are learning about them on social media and teachers and parents don't know they reading adult books.  We do need to make sure that the books that our young adult readers are reading are age appropriate and not for adults only.  I'm not talking about banning books, I'm talking about making sure the content is not to explicit for young readers.  "Crave" is a good book that I would feel comfortable with older students reading and feel good about it because I have read it as well.        

 The Long Winter

by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Week 6:  Historical Fiction 

"The Long Winter" is one of my favorite of the "Little House" Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I even read it aloud to my third grade class one year.   I enjoy historical fiction because it is entertaining while teaching about history at the same time.  Every winter I think of this book, and when I feel cold I just remember Laura and her family with snow up to the top of their house with very little fire to keep the house warm.  Most of us have never experienced anything like what they went though.

The winter that Laura is talking about did happen.  In the year 1880-1881 in the Dakota Territories, it is one of the worst winters in history.  Laura was 14.  In the book she writes of an old Native American man  that comes to the general store in town to warn the settlers that a hard winter comes in seven-year cycles and the hardest comes at the end of the third cycle.  Laura and her family make the decision to move to town for the winter after hearing this information.   One of the historical facts that is mentioned in the book is about how there was so much snow and ice that the train could not bring supplies to the town. 

Laura and her family then have to ration food and fuel for the rest of the winter.  They have to grind their own wheat because there was no other flour to make bread.  They had to become very creative in finding ways to heat the house and make candles.   

I'm not sure why this book stuck with me more than the others because I loved them all.  I guess it was just what they had to do to survive.  We thought the pandemic and quarantining in our houses was horrible, they had to for seven months.  For seven months blizzard after blizzard came,  keeping them confined to their homes for much of the time.   This is one of those book that when winter comes you can think "well at least it wasn't that bad." 

Johnny Appleseed 

by Reeve Lindbergh

Week 6: Historical Fiction 

Even though some consider "Johnny Appleseed" just folklore, it is also historical fiction.  Johnny Appleseed was a real person.  His name was John Chapman and he planted many apple orchards along America's Western Frontier.  Even though the children's books have altered his story to be more like a folktale,  educators can still use his books for a historical lesson. 

 

         

I chose this version of the "Johnny Appleseed" story because it is written like a poem.  Books with rhyming poems help students with phonemic awareness. This illustrations are also really fun and pretty to look at.  It goes through the story of how Johnny Appleseed planted many apple trees across the United States. 

Many school across the United States, Pre-K thru First Grade, celebrate Johnny Appleseed's birthday.  We dedicate that whole week to activities with apples.  We do crafts where students learn the different parts of an apple,  we have an apple tasting to see what color apple students like the best, we do a writing assignment about Johnny Appleseed, and we make applesauce.  It makes the whole school smell wonderful.  There are so many fun and engaging lessons that can be done during this week and we look forward to it every year.