The Gingerbread Man

Author:  Jim Aylesworth
Illustrated:  Barbara McClintock, 1998, Scholastic
Traditional Literature

"Run, Run, as fast as you can.  You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!" 

As soon as I saw this story, I knew I had to read it for my blog.  I can still remember reading The Gingerbread Man when I was a young child, and I had to reread how a cunning cookie could outwit so many, and be outwitted by an equally cunning fox.  The Gingerbread Man runs away from the people who baked him, from a butcher, from a cow, and from a sow, but a sly fox tricks him and gobbles him up.  It is a fun tale that many children have probably heard, so as a teacher, you can have the children act it out or retell it to each other.  The pictures in this particular version are quite amusing, and they include cows and sows who wear dresses and bonnets.  I laughed at the expressions on the characters' faces throughout the story and, in the end, I knew that the Gingerbread Man had gotten what he deserved.  Have fun with this piece of traditional literature, and allow your students to actively take part in the telling of this tale.

    

The Emperor's New Clothes

Author:  Hans Christian Andersen
Illustrator:  Eve Tharlet
Traditional Literature

In the classic tale The Emperor's New Clothes, a young ruler loves his wardrobe so much that he changes clothes every hour of the day.  When two weavers come to town saying they make beautiful clothing that can only be seen by intelligent people, the emperor decides he must have them.  He orders these conniving men to design him a set of clothes so that he may impress everyone in his kingdom.  Day after day, the young emperor sends his most trusted authorities to the clothesmakers so that he can hear the progress that is being made.  No one wants to admit that they can't see the clothes because, if they admitted it, people might call them stupid.  So, everyone assures the emperor that his clothes look wonderful.  The day finally comes for him to wear the custom-made garb in public, so he orders a parade, gets dressed, and begins walking among the villagers.  Everyone, including the emperor himself, pretends that they can see the clothes, but it isn't until a child cries out the obvious that realization occurs.  The tricky designers had already skipped town and had taken the gold paid to them by the gullible emperor.

This is a story that applies to many.  Often, "keeping up appearances" is a way of showing how put together one feels, instead of simply being truthful.  This is exactly what happened to the emperor.  He was so vain that he had to have the best clothing money could by, and someone capitalized on his stupidity.  This is a good lesson for students to learn early.  The book was easy to read, and the pictures were simple, yet informative.  I noticed that this book was translated from the original story.  If students have heard it before, this might be a different version.  Let them tell you the differences, and compare/contrast the many versions.  It will make for a great discussion!

The Lion and The Mouse

Author:  Jerry Pinkney, 2009, Little, Brown & Co.
Traditional Literature

Take a timeless fable, put a new spin on it, and tell it without using words.  That is essentially what Jerry Pinkney did with The Lion and The Mouse.  A mouse happens upon a lion one day, and in a great show of compassion, the lion lets the mouse go free.  Later on, when the lion is captured in a poacher's net, the mouse hears his cries, finds him, and nibbles through the thick cords to free his lion friend.  The moral of this story, in Pinkney's words, is that the meek sometimes trump the mighty.

I read this story in my children's literature class recently, so some discussions in our class lent insight into the differences between this modern version and the original tale.  Some of my classmates have read a version in which the lion gets a thorn in his paw and the mouse frees him.  Regardless of the differences, Pinkney brings this piece of traditional literature to life with his rich watercolor drawings and word-less pages.  The reader is forced to use his imagination to pull the pillars of the story together in his mind.  I am always in awe of Jerry Pinkney's illustrations, and this book certainly does not disappoint me.  Allow your students to draw upon their prior knowledge of the story (if they have heard it before), and open the classroom to a discussion of differences between the two (or more) versions.  It is a great way to appreciate rich artwork, and in the meantime, to apply a moral standard to real-life situations.