Traditional Books

Picture Books

Tom Thumb: Grimms’ Tales Retold/Illustrated by Eric Carle (Traditional Lit./Folk/Fables) 

Summary:  Eric Carle brings to life four tales written by the brothers Grimm with his gorgeous illustrations and charming retelling of the classic stories. These tales capture the interest and imagination of children and adults alike, showing that while we might wish and wander, we should be grateful for what we have and where we are in life. Theme is about Tom and his adventures. I liked this book because it was wonderfully redone and re-illustrated. 

The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka (Traditional Lit./Folk/Fables) 

Summary: Starts with the ended of the first book, “Kissed the frog, turned into a Prince and they lived happily ever after” but the really weren’t so happy because they they were too different. The Prince was jumping on things and wanting to go to the pond, but the Princess didn’t want to. All the Prince wanted to do was run away. One day, the Princess wished that he was still a frog and he got the idea to find a witch that could turn him back. The witch he found didn’t think he was the Frog Prince because he wasn’t a frog, but she wanted to cast a spell anyways so he doesn’t wake up Sleeping Beauty before the 100 years are up. The Prince didn’t stick around to see which spell she was making, so he left to find another witch. He told the second witch that he didn’t want to wake up Sleeping Beauty, but wanted to be a frog. The witch didn’t want a Prince to save Snow White so she gave him a poison apple, but he knew better and ran to the third witch. She said sure and let him into the gingerbread house. The Frog asked the witch if she knew Hansel and Gretel and she said she was expecting them for dinner. The Frog knew his fairy tales and ran to someone near a tree. This person was a fairy godmother and she was about to go meet with a girl for a ball (Cinderella), and was going to try to help him. She turned him into a carriage. He thought he was an idiot because he wasn’t with the Princess and scared and stuck in the forest. At midnight a clock from faraway turned to 12am and he ran back home. The Princess was mad that he was late, but he was happy to be home and with the one he loved. They kissed and both turned into frogs and lived happily ever after. Theme is to realize there is always more to the story and it doesn’t really end after “the end”. I loved this book because it ended nicely and there were many old stories in it as well. 

Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock by Eric A. Kimmel (Traditional Lit./Folk/Fables) 

Summary: Anansi was walking threw the forest one day when something caught his eye. He said “Isn’t that a strange moss covered rock?” And all of the sudden something hit his head and he woke up an hour later, said that again, and it happened a second time. After this time while his head was still spinning, he had figured out what happened. He thought this was a magic rock that would knock you out if anyone said that, so he went walking until he was at Lion’s house who was on his porch with a lot of yams. Anansi loved yams but was too lazy to get them himself. So in the forest he got the Lion to say the same thing and when he was out, Anansi took all of his yams. The Lion was sad that his yams were gone, but Anansi was happy and thought it was a great trick. So he did it again with the Elephant to get his bananas. After getting the bananas, he played this trick on the zebra, rhino, giraffe, hippo, and all the others expect for Little Bush Deer. She watched Anansi play the trick on everyone and decided it was time for him to learn a lesson. So she collected coconuts and waited for Anansi to come over. So in the forest, and said she couldn’t see anything when Anansi was trying to trick her too look and say something about the rock. She tricked him to say ‘strange moss covered rock’ and down fell Anansi. The Deer went back to the house and got the animals and walked to Anansi’s house to get back their stuff. When he woke up, no one was around and his house was empty; He still didn’t learn his lesson. Theme of this book is to respect and be nice to others and their belongings. I liked this book because it was interesting and fun to read.

The Lion and The Mouse by Jerry Pinkney (Traditional Lit./Folk/Fables) 

Summary: There are more pictures than words. The first page is an owl ‘who’ing, the second is the owl screeching at the mouse and trying to go after him. The mouse goes into his hole and goes through the back door to hide in the tall grass. Then he crawls up what looks like a hill, but it is a lion. The lion holds him and looks like he was going to eat him, but lets him go back to his nest of babies. Then the lion walks off and people in a car show up with a net and hammers. They catch the lion in the net. The lion  GRRRRRRs and the mouse hears it and tries to help him by nibbling threw the net. The lion falls to the ground and looks like he says thank you to the lion. The mouse walks home to her family and the lion goes back to his family. Theme is helping others. I love this story because it was short and sweet with little words and wonderful illustrations.  

The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter (Traditional Lit./Folk/Fables)

Summary: Four little rabbits named Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail and Peter lived with their mother underneath the root of a big fur tree. Their mother told them to beware of Mr. McGregor’s garden because their father was baked into a pie by hopping in there.  All of Peter’s siblings went to pick blackberries, while Peter went straight to Mr. McGregor’s garden and ate his lettuce, French beans, and radishes. While looking for some parsley he ran into Mr. McGregor! He chased after Peter with his rake yelling, “Stop thief!”. While running away, Peter forgot where he entered, lost his shoe and his new blue jacket got caught in a gooseberry net. Peter got himself out of his jacket and ran to the tool-shed and jumped into a can.  Mr. McGregor looked for in the flower pots until Peter sneezed and ran off with him chasing behind. Peter tried to get into the door but it was locked and the mouse could not help him with the pea in his mouth and Peter was so upset he cried. He past the white cat that was watching gold fish and went into the wheelbarrow for a better look.  In the wheelbarrow, Peter saw Mr. McGregor racking onions and the fence he entered the garden right across the way. He ran across the garden as fast as he could and didn’t look back at Mr. McGregor who started running after him. He ran under the fence and back home. Peter’s mother was cooking dinner and wondered why he lost his clothes again. Peter was sent to bed with some camomile tea while his siblings ate their milk and blackberries. Theme is to also follow the directions. I love this book because it’s a classic but I still think it could of ended differently. 

The Three Pigs by David Wiesner (Traditional Lit./Folk/Fables)

Summary: The first pig built his house out of straw. The wolf knocked on his door and said, “Little pig, little pig, let me come in!” The pig said, “Not by the hair on my chinny-chin-chin.” So the wolf said, “Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house in!” So the wolf blew the house in and was supposed to eat the pig, but he was blow out of the story. The second pig’s house was made out of sticks. The wolf and pig said the same thing, when the first pig told the second pig to climb out of the story because it was safe.  The wolf was supposed to eat the second pig, but looked confused because he was not there. The last pig made his house out of bricks.  The first two pigs got the third pig out of his house and pushed down all of the story pages with the wolf in them and folded the one he was in so he couldn’t escape. They folded it into a paper plane and rode it like a ride until it crashed. They then found another story, The cat and the fiddle and run around those pages. The next story had a dragon in it, that followed them out of the story as well as the cat and the fiddle. They next found a page with a nice brickwork building, and put the wolf as well as themselves in this story.  They messed with the letters, had soup “and they lived happily ever aft”. The end of the book the one pig was made the letters like what is in quotes above. Theme is how to stick together and get out of bad situations. I liked this book because it was so different, but it would be very confusing for smaller children and more for older children that would understand what was going on.

The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett (Traditional Lit./Folk/Fables)

Summary: Aloo-ki, a small little girl wondered into a family of polar bear’s igloo and drank from the biggest bowl, too hot; then the middle-sized bowl, too cold. The small bowl was just right. The next room she found three pairs of boots. The last and smallest pair wasn’t too fancy or big. In the next room she found three blankets and wanted to take a nap, but the first bed was too lumpy, the second was too soft, but the last day was just right. The bears came back and realized their soup was sipped or gone and their boats were missing or messed up.  The bears ran to their bedroom to find the parents beds to be messed up. They found Aloo-ki in Baby bear’s bed, just before she got up and ran between Papa Bear’s huge furry legs. She ran outside to her huskies and road off waving thank you to the bears as they all waved back. Theme is to ask before you borrow someone’s things. I liked this book because it was a spin-off of Red-Riding-Hood. 

Chapter Book

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (Traditional)

Summary; Four children- Peter, Susan, Edmond and Lucy were sent away from London because of the World War. The were sent to a big house and decided to look through it. There was a big wardrobe in a room and Lucy walked into it and looked around the coats. A moment later she was in a forest of snow, she was excited and scared at the same time. There was a light that she followed and then saw a fawn, with human top and goat bottom. Thomas was the fawn and asked her how she came into Narnia. They both went off through the woods to have tea in his cave. The fawn started to talk about the White Witch and how she is the one that is having winter all the time and no Christmas. The witch made Thomas be the one to find a human and bring her to the witch, but he didn’t want to, but he also didn’t want to be turned into stone. Lucy left and ran back to the wardrobe and went to the siblings to tell them about what she found. There was nothing behind the coats when the others looked to see with Lucy was talking about. While playing hide-and-seek, Lucy went to the wardrobe. Edmond followed her to Narnia. The witch greeted Edmond and asked what he was. She realized he was a Son of Adam and helped him out of the cold into her carriage. Edmond told her about Lucy and the rest of her family when he ate the enchanted food she gave him. She told him that she wanted to meet the others and would give him more food and make him the prince of Narnia, bribing him into being tricked. Edmond found Lucy and they talked about how the Witch was evil and he could turn someone into stone. Ending from the people in the house, all of the children hid into the wardrobe and they all went to visit the fawn, Thomas, but he was arrested because of disobeying the Queen. A beaver showed up and said that Alsan in on the move, making Peter feel brave and adventurous, Susan felt like music was walking by, and Lucy got the feeling like at the beginning of summer, but Edmund only felt mysterious horror. Mr. and Mrs. beaver and the children ate dinner at the beaver’s house and talked about Thomas being turned into stone. They talked about Alsan, the King, the Great Lion, who has came back to Narnia and must be seen by the humans to stop the Queen/Witch before she turns everyone to stone and take over Narnia. Edmund then was no where to be seen, the beaver said he was under his enchantment and was on the way to the Witch’s house. When he arrived at the castle, he walked passed the gate and to the wolf to let him in. The Witch was not happy that he came alone, but he was sure to tell her that they are not far behind. In the meantime, the others were getting tired and stopped for the night until they were woken up by Father Christmas.  He as come at last because the Witches’ magic is weakening and he gave them all presents. Peter and sword and shield, Susan a bow and arrow and Lucy a bottle of healing liquid and a small dagger. Edmund was having a horrible time, not getting his food and wished he was with the others. Suddenly the witch stopped the sled and turned everyone into stone and this made Edmund feel bad for someone other than himself. He then suddenly felt a lot less cold and realized he could see grass and the Witch’s winter was disappearing.  The others then found the Lion, Alsan.  Peter went up the King and said We have come. Alsan welcomed all of the him but realized that there was a child missing. All of the sudden, at the stone table, were wolves attacking Peter and Susan, and he didn’t feel brave but he tried to help and killing them. Alsan then yelled to the rest of the animals and told them to flee. Edmund all of the sudden felt someone un-tying him and he fainted realizing that the Witch was gone. The Witch soon appeared and wanted to kill or would ruin Narnia. The Witch and the Lion talked and everyone waited. After they were done, they left and went to sleep; expect for Susan and Lucy, who talked and watched the sad Alsan walk into the woods. They asked to walk with him and he said yes if they were going to stop if he asked. He then stopped and they were told that he was going to leave and should not be followed. The girls cried but the Witch captured him and he didn’t growl or cry. They realized he was a sacrifice. As the girls cried they heard a loud crack and it was the stone table that was broken in two and Alsan’s body was gone. Susan thought it was magic and Alsan appeared behind them and explained the magic. He explained that if a innocent person was killed instead of a traitor, that the table would crack and death would start to work backwards. He started to feel his strength to come back to him. They got on his back and started to go to the Witch’s castle to a courtyard full of statues. Suddenly the all the statues started to crack and the people appeared and they all went to fight the Witches battle. Most of the enemies were dead in the first charge and all that was left was the Witch. Peter was badly hurt and was then healed by Lucy’s magic potion. After Peter was up, Alsan announced him as the new King of Narnia. At dinner the all were crowded and the animals and other cheered during the feast. When the Kings and Queens noticed Alsan was gone, they didn’t worry because he would be back. They all ruled over Narnia together. They were told that the white stag that grated wishes was seen in the woods, so they sent out for a hunting party. As they saw the lamp post, they were surprised that they found the wardrobe and rolled back into the room in their own clothes.  It was the same hour of the same day and told their Grandfather about Narnia.  He said “Once a King and Queen of Narnia, Always a King and Queen of Narnia.” He told them that they might be able to go back, but not for awhile. Theme is family, working together and imagination.  I liked this book because it was a fun one to read and the story was great for an imagination.