City Foxes

Title:  City Foxes

Author:  Susan J. Tweit

Illustrator:  Photography by Wendy Shattil

Publisher:  Alaska Northwest Books

Genre:  Informational

Level: Intermediate

Number of Pages: 31  

Pub. Date: 1997

Summary: City Foxes is about a family of foxes that live in a cemetery in the city. It tells their personal story along with highlighting facts about red foxes on each page of the book. In this book, the mother and father red foxes feed and raise 6 kits (baby fox) in a den in a cemetery. The mom and dad take turns going to find food and watching the babies. When the kits are about two months old the family split with the mom taking one baby and the dad taking two. The author thinks that is because one baby still needed to be nursed while the others were ready to start learning how to hunt because normally red fox stay with their babies until they are about five months old and ready to live on their own. The babies grow up and disappear from the cemetery, but next summer a fox that looks just like the mother fox shows up again and raises another family.

Critique: This book is tells a story about how wild animals can live in the wild while teaching children about red fox and their characteristics, habits and facts about them. This is a real-life story that was documented by a wildlife photographer, so the sources are very accurate. There is also a section in the back called “Red Fox Facts” and the photographer’s story of how she was able to capture this touching story.  The book is also backed by the Denver Museum of Natural History which gives it a lot of merit as well.

Response: The setting of my story is very

unique when you think of a wild animal. The Red Fox in the story have found a little oasis in the city where they are somewhat protected from predators and humans. They are found sunbathing on graves and making dens near headstones.  It really got me thinking about how animals have been forced to adapt because the human population has expanded so much and developed so much land. It’s sad to see that they have to find the one grassy area in a city, the cemetery, to survive in that area.

Assignment:

Other works by Wendy Shattil, wildlife photographer: 

The Night the Moon Fell

Title:  The Night the Moon Fell

Author:  Retold by Pat Mora

Illustrator: Domi

Publisher:  Groundwood Books

Genre:  Myth

Level:  Primary

Number of Pages: 26

Pub. Date:  2000

Summary: This is a story of the Moon who is shining in the sky when her grandfather’s blowgun goes off and scares her, which causes her to tumble from the sky and fall into pieces along the bottom of the ocean. The moon must now think of a way to get herself back together and get back to the sky because many of her friends like the wind and the birds are lost without her.  She enlists the help of little fish in the sea and they help to glue her back together with their shiny scales. When she is finally round again, she rises back up into the sky, inviting her new fish friends to come with her. This creates the Milky Way, which can still be seen shimmering today.

Critique:  This is a myth that describes the creation of part of the solar system, the Milky Way. The main characters in this story are animals and elements of nature with a simple story structure; the moon falls from the sky, but is put back together with the help of shinning fish that create the Milky Way as they help guide her back into the sky. Her getting back to the sky also constitutes a happy ending, another element common in traditional literature.

Response: My favorite part in the story was when the little fish helped to roll her back together.

Even though they were so little they were so important in getting the one of the world’s lights back on and she invited them back with her to shimmer and shine for all to see. It’s such a cute way to tell how the creation of the Milky Way was formed and a great story of teamwork and selflessness.

Pecos Bill

Title:  Pecos Bill

Author: Steven Kellogg

Illustrator: Steven Kellogg

Publisher:  William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York

Genre:  Tall Tales

Level: Primary

Number of Pages: 38

Pub. Date: 1986

Summary:  Pecos Bill is only a baby when his family leaves New England for the wide, open expanses of the American west. As their train of covered wagons crosses the Pecos River in Texas, baby Bill falls out, and an old coyote saves him from drowning. She adopts him as one of her own, and Bill grows up eating, sleeping, and howling just like his new coyote family.Then one day a drifter comes across Bill napping by a stream and convinces him that he isn't a coyote but a Texan — and as a Texan, he ought to be herding longhorn cattle. Bill makes his name into a legend after he wins a battle with a giant rattlesnake, tames a wild horse he calls Lightning, and teaches every cowboy how to lasso a bull. He then marries Slewfoot Sue after her only requests were that he buy her a dress with a big bustle and let her ride Lightning in the wedding ceremony. When he bustle hit the horse, he shot her right up into the sky. She kept bouncing from Earth and back up into the sky until Pecos Bill was able to lasso a tornado to help him catch her. They ended up

The author, Steven Kellogg

landing on top of his Ma and Pa’s wagon and having one big family reunion. It says his family still lives in Texas to this day.

Critique:  This tall tale features a boy who is seemingly a common person, but has exaggerated character traits that allow him to accomplish unbelievable tasks. Pecos bill seems like a normal kid, except for the fact that he was partially raised by coyotes of course. He is able to squeeze all of the venom out of a snake and use him to lasso a wild bull. He is also able to defeat a creature that was part grizzly, part puma and part tarantula. Pecos Bill tamed the wild horse lightning and even lassoed a tornado to rescue his wife.

Response: I made a text to self connection when it talked about Pecos Bill taming the wild mustang. The text that said, “Finally he cornered the stallion and jumped onto his back. Lightning exploded from the canyon, leaping and bucking across three states,” really made me laugh.  When I was training my mustang I definitely didn’t get bucked across three states, but there was one time that definitely felt like I had the next morning! 

Video of Steven Kellogg talking about Tall Tales:

 http://www.startwithabook.org/booklists/folktales-fairy-tales-and-myths

The Three Cabritos

Title:  The Three Cabritos

Author: Eric A. Kimmel

Illustrator: Stephen Gilpin

Publisher: Marshal Cavendish Children

Genre: Folk Tales

Level: Primary

Number of Pages: 32

Pub. Date: 2007

Summary: This is a creative retelling of ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff.’ It’s a Mexican version  that is about three goats named Reynaldo, Orlando and Augustin. The loved to play music and heard there was a fiesta across the Rio Grande that they wanted to go play at. Their mother pleaded them not to go because she had heard that to get there you have to cross a bridge where a goat-sucking Chupacabra lives. They dismissed her warnings and went anyway. Reynaldo went first and tricked the Chupacabra by saying that his brother was coming next who was bigger and would be better to eat and by playing a little music for him. Orlando tricked him in the same way. When Augustin came to the bridge he tricked the beast by telling him that his accordion was magic and everyone had to dance while it was being played. The Chupacabra danced until he was so exhausted he deflated like a balloon and they were all able to pass and enjoy the fiesta without being eaten.

Critique: This story is a new and creative retelling of the folk tale “Three Billy Goats Gruff.” It is set in Mexico somewhere near the Rio Grande which makes the story seem timeless because of its indistinct location. The characters are goats, which is ironic because of the original story. This folk tale features succinct language, with repeated chants from the Chupacabra like, “Say your prayers. I’m going to eat you” along with a happy ending where the brains of Augustin winning out of the brawn of the huge Chupacabra.

Response: This was a very entertaining book that I really enjoyed. My favorite character was Augustin because he not only tricked the Chupacabra into letting him pass; he also defeated him so everyone could pass safely anytime they wanted. The ‘magic accordion’ trick was pretty clever and made me laugh:0. 

Assignment: 

This book would be a great option of the drama station in literacy workstations! 

Here's an example of how it could be set up: 

 

Of your class could even do a dramatization of The Three Cabritos like they did: