Module 2

Traditional Literature

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kimmel, E. A. (2007). Rip Van Winkle’s return. Ill. by Leonard Everett Fisher. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0374363080

PLOT SUMMARY

Rip Van Winkle’s Return, by Eric Kimmel, is an adaptation of the Washington Irving classic folktale Rip Van Winkle.  The title character is a lazy, ne’er-do-well, who lives in a Dutch village, situated between the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains, in New York.  Rip is married and has a young son and daughter.  His wife, Dame Van Winkle is constantly nagging him to be a more responsible husband and father.   Her pleas fall on deaf ears as Rip seems to spend more time playing with the children in the village while his own offspring run wild.  One day, after being admonished by his wife in front of the other men at the inn, Rip and Wolf, head into the woods where he hears someone calling his name.  He sees a stranger, wearing old fashioned Dutch clothing, carrying a keg of liquor.  Rip helps the man carry the keg up the mountain were another unknown group of men, dressed like the stranger are bowling.  Although Rip finds the situation peculiar, he stays and serves the men while they bowl.  He also helps himself to some of their liquor and falls into a deep sleep.  When he awakens he remembers everything prior to falling asleep but he doesn’t understand why his rifle has rusted and his dog is gone. Rip returns to the village but doesn’t recognize anyone.  The American Revolution has taken place, as there’s a picture of George Washington hanging at the hotel where the inn once stood.  Rip discovers many of the people he knew have died, including his wife.  He’s saddened by her death and prays she’s at peace.  He’s reunited with his children and realizes he wasted his life.  He and his son rebuild their home and farm.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Kimmel’s version of Irving’s telling maintains most of the original storyline with some exceptions.  In Irving’s tale, Rip does not morn the passing of his wife nor does he change his ways.  This retelling is still a story of caution, which warns against laziness, but ends on a hopeful note, with the notion that it’s never too late to change one’s ways.  The illustrator, Leonard Everett Fisher, uses varying shades of color to reflect light and shadow. The trees and mountains of the Catskills are dappled with sunlight, shadow is enhanced on clothing, and the facial features of most of the characters are distinguishable, yet murky. 

REVIEW EXCERPTS
“Kimmel remakes the Washington Irving classic into a shorter, more moralistic episode, preserving major events but changing the original by having Rip, after his long sleep, suffer remorse for his lazy ways and go forth with his grown children to become an industrious farmer.” – Kirkus Review

"Fisher brings his dramatic painterly style to the large picture-book pages to enhance the read-aloud experience."-School Library Journal

CONNECTIONS

This story can be used in history to highlight the change in political attitudes in the American settlements before and after the American Revolution.

BIBLIOGRAPH Y

Schwartz, C. S. (2012). The three ninja pigs. Ill. by Dan Santat. New York: Penguin Young Readers Group.  ISBN 9780399255144

PLOT SUMMARY

This story, which is set in Japan, begins with the three little pigs being fed up by the wolf’s behavior.  The wolf is a bully who’d go around town blowing houses down.  The three pigs, two brothers and one sister, decided to enroll in ninja school to defeat the wolf.  Pig One begin training in aikido but quit in less than two weeks.  Pig Two took up jujitsu, but like Pig One, he quit after learning a few skills.  Pig Three learned the art of karate.  She practiced for months until she mastered her intended craft.  Eventually, the wolf visited Pig One at his straw hut.  Pig One was insufficiently prepared to do battle with the wolf and ran away to his brother, Pig Two.  Pig Two turned out to be equally unprepared and both pigs then ran to their sister, Pig Three.  It only took for Pig Three to demonstrate the depth of her skills to scare the wolf off.  All three pigs felt triumphant and went back to ninja school to complete their training.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

In this laugh out loud version of The Three Little Pigs, Corey Schwartz combines rhyme with martial arts to defeat the notoriously bad wolf.  As with most other versions of this fairy tale, Schwartz makes the three pigs siblings, but assigns the dedicated, wolf tail kicking role to that of the sister.  The characters are somewhat stereotypical in this girl power tale.  Dan Santat’s illustrations provide an authentic setting with elements found in Japan such as bamboo, cherry blossoms, snow capped mountains, and bonsai trees.  The finishes with a brief glossary of Japanese words used in the story.

REVIEW EXCERPTS

“A fractured fairy tale to outcharm the original, “The Three Ninja Pigs” manages to one-up the well-worn story by setting it in Japan, sprinkling it with the language and discipline of martial arts. All in hilarious, impeccable rhyme.” — The New York Times Book Review

“While the idea of three gi-clad pigs fighting the big bad wolf is a winner, the subtle-as-a-karate-chop moral about not quitting puts a bit of a damper on the fun.” -Publisher’s Weekly

“Santat’s illustrations are done with Sumi brush on rice paper and finished in Photoshop. The colors, patterns and themes nicely incorporate those of Japanese art, and the setting, with its background mountains, cherry blossoms and traditional rooftops, is firmly Japanese.”-Kirkus Review

CONNECTIONS

This story can be used for teaching students about the importance of staying in school or showing students they can do anything if they try hard enough.  This story can also be used in a compare and contrast activity with the original version of The Three Little Pigs.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Taback, S. (1999). Joseph had a little overcoat. New York: Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers.

PLOT SUMMARY

The story begins with Joseph working outside in his old, worn, and patched overcoat.  He restyles the overcoat into various clothing items, each one smaller than the last. When Joseph lost the last item he produced from the remnants of the overcoat, a button, he decided to write a book it. 

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This book was originally adapted in 1969 by Simms Taback from a Yiddish folk song.  The story itself is repetitious, much like a song, and easy to read.  The primary location of the story seems to be the countryside as there is livestock and crops.  The illustrations are colorful, fun, and include interesting details.  Every other page gives the reader with a context clue in the form of a pattern cut out as to what new clothing item Joseph is going to make.  The book ends with a copy of the sheet music and lyrics to the song, “I Had a Little Overcoat.”

REVIEW EXCERPTS

“Striking gouache, watercolor, and collage illustrations are chock-full of witty details-letters to read, proverbs on the walls, and even a fiddler on the roof.” -School Library Journal

“This diverting, sequential story unravels as swiftly as the threads of Joseph's well-loved, patch-covered plaid coat. A flip of the page allows children to peek through to subsequent spreads as Joseph's tailoring produces items of decreasing size.” -Publisher’s Weekly

CONNECTIONS

This book provides a refreshing outlook on recycling.  So often we hear of recycling cans and bottles, but next to nothing on recycling and reusing clothing.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Wiesner, D. (2001). The three pigs. New York: Clarion Books.

PLOT SUMMARY

The Three Pigs, by David Wiesner, is a retelling of the folktale The Three Little Pigs. In this story, the three pigs set out in the world, each building his house. The wolf visits the first pig and blows down his house of straw. Unbeknownst to the wolf, he blew the pig out of the story and into the books white space. When the wolf goes to the home of the second pig, the first pig rescues him by telling him how to get away. They go to the house of the third pig and show him how to escape. The pigs then flip the script on the wolf by butting the story frames off the page. They fold the wolf into a story frame by making it into a paper airplane and fly away on it. The three pigs crash land near the nursery rhyme, Hey Diddle Diddle, by Mother Goose. As they walk into the story, their bodies change to match the artistic style of the other characters. They quickly decided to leave and the cat with the fiddle follows them. The pigs then go into a story of a dragon who’s guarding a golden rose. They saved the dragon from being killed by taking it with them into the book’s white space. The pigs decided to go home and take their new friends with them. They reset their story frames and pick up the where the originally left off. Before the wolf could huff and puff at the brick house, the dragon came out and scared him away. 

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Wiesner uses his illustrations to extend the story. The most noticeable feature of the illustrations is although the actions of the characters change, the story text does not. The illustrations themselves provide the overarching theme of empowerment.  When given the opportunity the characters make their own choices, without regard as to how the story is written. The range of textures and colors Wiesner uses to mark the different illustration styles of each of the different stories represented in the book, pays homage to their respective authors and illustrators. 

REVIEW EXCERPTS

“On the last few pages, the final words of the text break apart, sending letters drifting down into the illustrations to show us that once we have ventured out into the wider world, our stories never stay the same.”-Kirkus Reviews

“Children will delight in the changing perspectives, the effect of the wolf's folded-paper body, and the whole notion of the interrupted narrative. Wiesner's luxurious use of white space with the textured pigs zooming in and out of view is fresh and funny.” -School Library Journal

CONNECTIONS

The illustrations of David Wiesner’s The Three Pigs could be used for creative writing.  This could be done using individual pages or specific story frames on a page.