Lion and the Ostrich Chicks

Lion and the Ostrich Chicks

Retold and Illustrated by Ashley Bryan

 

Bibliography

Ashley Bryan, Lion and the Ostrich Chicks And Other African Folk Tales, (New York, NY: Antheneum, 1986).

Plot Summary and Critical Analysis 

In the charming, rhythmic, poetic retelling of this African folk tale, Ashley Bryan creates a fun, vibrant and engaging book that instantly caught my attention and kept it.  Starting with the ubiquitous folklore meme of parents wanting to have a baby.  Using animals, Bryan tells a tale based in reality and with which children can instantly identify.   Using a mixture of black on white line drawings and tempera paint illustrations, the author creates a world like our own and unlike it at the same time.  The drawings are representative, but not realistic, creating a world of heightened reality into which the chicks are born. 

The line drawings on the first page show the lion and the chicks, but the painting on the second page shows the entire ostrich family in bold orange, red, black and white, the former foreshadowing a potential dangerous future and the latter showing the warm realities of home life.  Children will be able to instantly identify with the warmness of the painting and the happiness of the family portrayed.  Using traditional African colors, Bryan not only connects the children with the characters, but the character with their setting and the history of the tale.

Bryan uses poetry as a way to express feelings and when the chicks are first born, the parents celebrate by singing:

“Ostrich stretch, strut, stride and race.

Six little chicks just joined the chase.

Clap for Ostrich, one, two!

Stamp for lion, shoo, shoo!”

Papa Ostrich announces the good news with his loud roar, which scares the chicks and sounds like a lion and the children are scared until Mama Ostrich brings them closer so they can see he is not a lion, but their father.  Papa teaches the chicks that even though their wings are no good for flying high, they can still fly with their feet and he teaches them how to run, which is his way of teaching them to protect themselves.  Bryan repeats the refrain from the earlier song as he writes “Every day the chicks practiced their steps: stretch, strut, and stride.”

Soon the chicks are as fast as their parents, and their mother gives them the advice that is at the heart of the chicks’ story.  “You’re fast and that’s fine,” said Mama Ostrich.  “But don’t run off too far from home, not until you’re fully grown and know your way around.”  The failure of the chicks to heed this advice leads to the central conflict of the story.  Every child wants to test boundaries and limits, and will identify with the desire of the chicks to be carefree and run where they want just for fun without worrying about the consequences, but they will also recognize the Mother’s care in Mama Ostrich’s advice.

While the chicks run and play they soon find that they are lost and they call for their parents.  They hear the roar of their father, and follow it only to discover that the roar came from Lion who claims the chicks as his own.  The Lion is portrayed as ridiculous in the way the walks on his hind legs and pretends the chicks are his cubs.  However the other animals fear him and when Mama Ostrich tries to retrieve her chicks, the lion insists that they are his cubs. 

“Anyone can see they’re mine,” said Mother Ostrich

“Anyone is no one,” said Lion. “And you’ll need someone to stand up to me.”

I found this line to be especially meaningful to the story, because Lion is right.  Anyone is no one, without the ability to overcome the obstacles in front of them, either through physical strength or mental cunning. 

Mama and Papa Ostrich take their case to the Fox, who is chief counselor and who promises to help them, but when Lion brings the chicks into town, the fox and all of the other animals agree with the lion, out of fear, that the chicks are, indeed, his cubs.  Mama goes to Mongoose who has helped her in the past, and who is known to be clever. 

Mongoose’s plan for fooling the Lion is very clever.  He tells Mother Ostrich to build a hole underneath the anthill and out of the other side.  When all of the animals come together, each animal in turn gives in to fear and proclaims the chicks to belong to Lion.  When the Lion comes to the Mongoose, he speaks out for all to hear that

“Lion lies” Mongoose exclaimed. 

“We all have eyes. Lion may stand on two feet now, but he looks absurd.  He is no bird!”

Mongoose, by having the courage to stand up to Lion, stuns the lion for just enough time for Mongoose to jump into the hole and out of the other side, while Mama and Papa Ostrich flee with their chicks. 

Lion’s frustration at being bested is so great that when he can’t get into the hole where he believes Mongoose is hiding, that he declares he will just stay there until Mongoose has to come out.  His stubbornness and his anger over being tricked lead him to lie there waiting for revenge until he wastes away.  Lion’s belief in his own superiority, his stubborness, and his inability to accept that he could be bested leads to his downfall.  This is something with which children will identify.

Bryan closes his tale using poetry once again.

“Fur begets feathers, fur begets feathers

No one’s ever seen fur beget feathers.

Clap for the Ostrich, Mongoose, too.

Stamp for the Lion. Shoo! Shoo!"

Ending with poetry echoing the poetry from the beginning, serves to bring the story full circle with the chicks back home with their family, the lion gone, and the mongoose their friend.  Children will remember the rhyme which will lead them to remember the lessons of the story. 

Unlike the other books that I have reviewed so far, the text, not the illustrations are the focus of this story.  Bryan’s use of poetry, repetition, alliteration, and exclamations such as “uh-uh” and “uh-huh” serve to give the story a rhythm and beat that makes it fun to read aloud, and drives the story in a song-like way towards its climax and ending.

Review Excerpts

Amazon.com Editorial Review:  “Bryan presents lively, tellable (sic) stories about animal and human characters. He includes extensive dialogue and numerous songs from four previously published collections of the folklore of the Masai, Bushmen, and Hausa, and from Angola. The stories give no evidence of their African origin, which is a result of three of the sources that Bryan used being decontextualized, which was typical of African folklore collections at the turn of the century. The morals of these stories are universal in application. Bryan's lively illustrations focus on animals engaged in the action taking place in the stories, but without any context, thus reinforcing the generic content of the stories. The illustrations of people and houses from the stories about the Bushmen (who live in southern Africa) and Hausa (who live in northern Nigeria) are similar and misrepresent both the physical features of the people and their cultures. Although the stories can be enjoyed as narratives when read or told aloud, the collection reinforces the concept that Africa is a country, rather than a diverse continent with distinctively different cultures. The illustrations for most of Verna Aardema's recent retellings of African folklore more authentically represent distinctive features of the African cultures in which the narratives are told.”

Kirkus Reviews:  “Bryan presents us with another fine set of stories from African tradition, sure to be welcome in folk tale collections. Each of the four tales celebrates the ability of common sense to overcome brute force, and each represents a different African people: Masai (""Lion and the Ostrich Chicks""); Bushman (""The Son of the Wind""); Angola (""Jackal's Favorite Game""); and Hausa (""The Foolish Boy""). Three are animal trickster tales, while in the fourth a boy learns to be cautious when playing with superhuman forces. Heavy black-and-white drawings, with a few mustard and brick full-page illustrations, echo the lively style of West African printed textiles. The language of the original cultures can be felt in Bryan's retellings, as can his fondness for strong rhythms, which comes through even when the tales are read silently. Strong tales from black tradition presented in a way that will appeal to general American audiences.”

Connections

Use the story to talk about the importance of listening to parents and what can happen when children disobey.

Introduce the concept of anthropomorphism or personification in stories.

Discuss why all of the other animals, even with their larger numbers, are afraid of Lion and how children can overcome their fears.

Discuss the use of poetry and repetition in the story.

Have children draw their own illustrations for the story.

Talk about how Mongoose’s cleverness and intelligence overcame Lion’s strength and explore other areas in the lives of children where this may be true.

Discuss bullying, and how this story relates to the strong taking advantage of the week.

Rapunzel

Rapunzel

Retold and Illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

 

 

Bibliography: 

Zelinsky, Paul. Rapunzel. New York: Dutton Children's Books, 1997.

Plot Summary and Critical Analysis:

The story of Rapunzel is an ancient one in which a man and his wife are, for a long time, unable to conceive a child.  When the wife finds “her dress growing tight” she tells her husband that they are going to have a child.  While she is expecting the wife sits and looks into the beautiful garden next door.  The garden is owned by a Sorceress and, among other things, it contains an herb called Rapunzel which the wife craves greatly.  When the Sorceress catches the husband stealing the Rapunzel, she says he can take it, to save his wife, but their child must become hers upon its birth.  The child is born, the Sorceress takes the child, raises her, attending to her every need, and then puts her in a beautiful luxurious tower with no doors where she is to live.  The girl must let down her hair for the Sorceress to climb in order to enter the tower.  One day a prince comes along, falls in love with Rapunzel when he hears her singing, and they are secretly married, and when Rapunzel’s dress grows tight around her waist, the Sorceress cuts off Rapunzel’s hair and banishes her to the wilderness where she gives birth to twins.  When the Prince returns he is bereft at the news of Rapunzel’s banishment, and falls from the tower and is blinded.  He wanders aimlessly until, one day he hears Rapunzel’s voice again, and they are reunited.  Rapunzel’s tears fall into his eyes restoring his sight and they return to his kingdom to live “a long life, happy and content.”

Paul Zelinsky writes in “A Note About Rapunzel” at the end of the book that his tale is based on both the Grimms’ retelling and the earlier Neapolitan story called Petrosinella.  Choosing much of the structure of the Grimms’ tale with the themes and details of Petrosinella and other tales, Zelinsky creates a unique blend of the frightening aspects of the Grimms account with the more gentle nature of the French tale. 

The author’s illustrations, created in oil paintings that mirror, and sometimes quote artists such as Rembrandt and Raphael, create a vibrant and beautiful setting.    Zelinsky says that he took his inspiration for the paintings from the Italian versions of the tale and the paintings perfectly reflect the feel and look of the Italian renaissance period in art.  Through pictures and text, he portrays the Sorceress, at times, as someone frightening, and later as someone who cares deeply for Rapunzel and who provides everything that she needs, with the exception of companionship.

Rapunzel is portrayed as the innocent she is, with the text noting her fear when she first meets the prince because she has never seen a man before.  The painting that accompanies this section shows a young, handsome, eager prince first meeting a frightened Rapunzel after climbing into the tower.   The painting emphasizes the theme of the sexual innocence of Rapunzel who has been shielded from the realities of life for so long.  But a turn of the page shows that Rapunzel’s fear has faded in the light of knowledge and the painting of the two young lovers, her hand in his, with him kneeling at her feet, illustrates that Rapunzel has quickly adapted to the biological and sexual reality of marriage.

The paintings of the Sorceress discovering Rapunzel’s pregnancy, cutting her hair, and banishing her seem to show a distraught, rather than angry, woman who thought she had shielded Rapunzel from the “dangers” of sexuality and knowledge.  Along with the text, in its simplicity, the paintings tell a much deeper story. 

In a lesson plan on TeacherVision.com developed by Mr. Zelinsky’s wife Deborah, she notes that the painting of the Prince wandering blindly into the woods with his hands over his eyes is very much like the painting "The Expulsion from Paradise" by Italian painter Massacio which shows Adam and Even being expelled from the Garden of Eden.  Like Adam and Eve, the prince and Rapunzel are banished by the Sorceress for, metaphorically, eating from the tree of knowledge through marriage and sexuality.  

Lest we dig too deeply into the symbolism, hidden themes, and scope of this book, I think it is important not to lose sight of the fact that this retelling of the Rapunzel story as a work of art in text and paintings.

The story is essentially the same, the characters are the same, but the painting creates a unique way to view this story as one of love, overprotection, and loneliness.  The text, in its simplicity tells the story, and the artwork sets the tone and feel of the book, making this retelling moving and beautiful.

Review Excerpts:

goodreads.com:  Surely among the most original and gifted of children's book illustrators, Paul O. Zelinsky has once again with unmatched emotional authority, control of space, and narrative capability brought forth a unique vision for an age-old tale. Few artists at work today can touch the level at which his paintings tell a story and exert their hold.

Kirkus Reviews:  Exquisite paintings in late Italian Renaissance style illumine this hybrid version of a classic tale. As Zelinsky (The Wheels on the Bus, 1990, etc.) explains in a long source note, the story's Italian oral progenitor went through a series of literary revisions and translations before the Brothers Grimm published their own take; he draws on many of these to create a formal, spare text that is more about the undercurrents between characters than crime and punishment. Feeling "her dress growing tight around her waist" a woman conceives the desire for an herb from the neighboring garden--rendered in fine detail with low clipped hedges, elaborate statuary and even a wandering pangolin--that causes her to lose her child to a witch. Ensconced for years in a tower, young Rapunzel meets the prince, "marries" him immediately, is cast into the wilderness when her own dress begins to tighten, gives birth to twins, and cures her husband's blindness with her tears at their long-awaited reunion. Suffused with golden light, Zelinsky's landscapes and indoor scenes are grandly evocative, composed and executed with superb technical and emotional command.

1998 Caldecott Medal Book

Connections:

Have the story dramatized by the children, allowing them to make their own decisions about how to portray each character.

Explore the paintings and their similarities to Renaissance paintings.  Show the children side by side comparisons of the two.

Discuss why the father agrees to the deal with Sorceress and ask if the children think this makes him a bad person.

Discuss the good qualities of the Sorceress.

 

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by A. Wolf

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by A. Wolf

As told to Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith

 

Bibliography

Scieska, Jon. 1989. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by A. Wolf. Ill. by Lane Smith.  New York, NY:  Penguin Group.  ISBN:  0670888443 

Plot Summary and Critical Analysis

In the charming and devious The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, perspective is everything.  Told from the point of view of A. Wolf, or Alexander T. Wolf, this retelling of the 3 Little Pigs story contains the same plot and results as the original story we all know, but the way that things happen is very different.  As A. Wolf explains, the whole mess with the pigs was just a series of unfortunate, sneeze-related accidents, and he is at a loss to explain why no one will believe that he didn’t purposefully kill and eat the pigs.

The illustrations serve to portray the poor wolf as a sophisticated and decent fellow who just happens to like to eat cute things like bunnies and pigs and sheep.  With his horned-rimmed glasses and natty pin-striped suit, he is the very model of a respectable wolf just trying to fight off a cold and make a birthday cake for his Grandmother.

The illustrations of the homes of the pigs, helps to reinforce Mr. Wolf’s idea that they were silly to build their homes from such flimsy material and that he shouldn’t be blamed that a simple sneeze could knock down the house and kill a pig.  The large, painterly illustrations help to tell the story from Mr. Wolf’s perspective and to portray the pigs as silly or, in the case of the pig with the brick house, rude

Sometimes weaving the illustrations into the text, such as in Mr. Wolf’s title page where the letters are made up of drawings and bits of the artwork to come, or in making an N out of a drawing of sausages, the book seamlessly integrates the text and visuals to tell a complete story from one perspective.  The last drawing of Mr. Wolf, in prison, with a long white beard, and pig for a guard is hilarious and brings the reader back to the original story of the three pigs and casts doubt on Mr. Wolf’s account. 

This book is a very fun way to retell a story that most children have heard dozens of times.  They know the “huff, and puff, and blow your house down” refrain, which Mr. Wolf dismisses as media exaggeration, and will see right through Mr. Wolf and his story.

Review Excerpts

Parents need to know that the main character, Alexander T. Wolf, tells his version of the "Three Little Pigs" story from prison. (He's accused of killing and eating two of the three pigs.) The wolf presents his side of the story as the truth, but there's also the distinct possibility that he's lying. While adults will undoubtably (sic) draw larger lessons from this razor-sharp fairy tale parody, kids will probably just think it's funny. – Common Sense Media

… Here is the "real" story of the three little pigs whose houses are huffed and puffed to smithereens... from the wolf's perspective. This poor, much maligned wolf has gotten a bad rap. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, with a sneezy cold, innocently trying to borrow a cup of sugar to make his granny a cake. Is it his fault those ham dinners--rather, pigs--build such flimsy homes? Sheesh. –Amazon.com Editorial Review

Connections

Read a more traditional tale of the 3 Little Pigs to the children before introducing this version.

Ask them if they believe Mr. Wolf.  If not, why?

Have children draw what they think the houses of the pigs really looked like.

Dramatize the story with the teacher/librarian acting as narrator and the children portraying the parts.  Ask the children how being the Wolf made them feel.

In this version, two of the pigs die and are eaten by the wolf.  Ask the children how this makes them feel.  Do they see it as the natural order of things for a sheep to eat a pig, or do they see it as a bad thing.