The Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey

 An Author's Odyssey 

The Land of Stories - book 5

by: Chris Colfer

My son and I have been reading all of the Land of Stories together. I read it aloud to him. My son is 12 and still loves to be read to each night. Reading Aloud to students and our own children is such a powerful engagement tool. This past July when book 5 was released. Chris Colfer did an author's tour to different cities. He happened to come to Dallas so my son and I were able to go together to hear Chris Colfer talk about his book series. The Land of Stories is an excellent read aloud each story has a new different adventure to be part of. In book 5, Connor was able to travel into his own short stories with his sister and mother. Unfortunately, he is not doing it for fun he has to recruit his characters to help save the Fairy Tale World from being taken over. Book five would be a great book to read in 4th grade here in Texas with preparing students for the state writing test. The book talks about the descriptive language that Connor wrote so the story could feel so real. Of course he had a few typos which were funny. For example he had wanted the crew on the Dolly Lama to eat rotisserie chicken but her wrote a rosary chicken. So the chicken was not for eating, but was alive and wearing a rosary. In the end Connor entered all of his stories and was able to recruit all the army members he needs to help save the fairy tale world. Unfortunately his Uncle the Masked Man has other plans for him and his sister. I can't wait to read book 6 to find out how this series ends.

Rodeo Week Books

We just celebrated rodeo week this week in my Pre-K classroom. The students enjoyed the rodeo that we had at the end of the week. We rode tractors, wrangled pigs and roped some cows. The students made their own cowboy/cowgirl hats and got a stick horse to travel around the school on our rodeo adventure. Our three favorite books we read this week were:

We read The Gingerbread Cowboy and used visual picture cards of all the animals the Gingerbread Man passed on his escape. The students loved retelling the story using the cards. They also like helping read the repeated parts in the story - Giddyup, Giddyup, you can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man. We also have previously read Gingerbread Man stories in December and the children liked comparing and contrasting the different versions.

  

I love to read this story. I add a southern accent while I read and the students are captivated. The week before I always read Cinderella so the students have back ground knowledge on how the traditional story goes before exposing them to the fractured fairy tale. The students love the Fairy God Cow. We always compare and contrast to the original story of Cinderella and the kids love it.

Little Britches is a cowgirl. I like to read this story since the main character is a girl. Most traditionally the students see cowboys as only being boys. I like to add the diversity of the cowgirl. She is riding her horse to the rodeo and comes upon rattlesnakes. She bargains with the snakes and gives away her clothes piece by piece so the snakes do not swallow her up. By the end of the story she is left in her long johns and then hears the snakes bickering to each other. In the end the snakes swallow themselves up and she gets her belongings back. She makes it to the rodeo just in time to rope her cow and win first prize. I had the students think about what cowboys and cowgirls wear. Each child created a journal page drawing themselves as a cowboy or a cowgirl. Then they had to tell the teacher if they were a cowboy or a cowgirl and about one thing their cowperson was wearing. I of course modeled drawing and writing my sentences. Sounding out the words as I wrote. I encouraged students who are at the emergent writing level to try and write some of their sentences.

Amelia Bedelia Cleans Up

Amelia Bedelia Cleans Up

by Herman Parish

Illustrated by Lynne Avril

Summary: Amelia Bedelia is a busy, creative girl. She is always up for a new challenge. Amelia Bedelia and her friends decide that they want to have an adventurers club. They set out on an adventure one day and find an empty lot. The empty lot is perfect for a tree house. The girls get their parents to help them clean the lot, so they can use it for their adventurers headquarters. While hanging out at the lot to make plans for the adventures club the girls see a for sale sign. They are so sad that the lot and tree will be gone and turned into something else. They find out that a lady named Mrs. West owns the lot. They set out to meet Mrs. West and try to convince her not to sell the lot. They find out that Mrs. West needs repairs on her house and needs the money to help with the repairs. Mrs. West needs the girls help to find her cats and if they can, then she will think about holding off on selling for a little while longer. While looking for the cats Amelia Bedelia discovers some old classic cars in Mrs. West garage. Mrs, West does not want the cars any longer. Amelia Bedelia has lots of connections around town and she calls her friend Wild Bill the used car sales man to come check out the cars. Wild Bill is able to sell the cars and get enough money for Mrs. West so she does not have to sell the lot. Instead she turns it into a public park with a great tree house for adventurers.

Teaching Note: Amelia Bedelia is very literal with her language in the story. The book is a great read aloud to use with 1st or 2nd grade or ESL students. In the back of the book is a section with all the "Two ways to say it" phrases used by Amelia Bedelia in the story. An example is "I'll eat my hat! really means "I'll be super surprised." A fun way to explore hyperbole's with young learners or beginning english learners.