Bronx Masquerade

Bronx Masquerade

By Nikki Grimes

 

Bibliography

Grimes, Nikki. Bronx Masquerade. New York: Dial Books, 2002. ISBN: 0803725698

Plot Summary and Critical Analysis

When Wesley “Bad Boy” Boone is assigned an essay on the poetry of The Harlem Renaissance, he instead brings in a poem that he has written, which his teacher, Mr. Wards asks him to read to the class.  This is the beginning of what will become open-mike Fridays in Mr. Ward’s English class.  The stories of the 18 young people are told in 18 different voices through both poetry and prose by Nikki Grimes.  There is also a Greek chorus of sorts, in the person of Tyrone Bittings, who believes that there is no future for him or for black people until the poems of his classmates, and then his own poems, give him hope and power over his own destiny.

Each poem is preceded by first person narrative giving us a window into the, often, difficult lives of the characters. This is followed by a poem written by the character and read in class.  Tyrone’s first poem, written in a rap style, talks about the dangers of everyday life, ends on a hopeful note when he writes:

Still you can chill and celebrate

All that’s great about life, like music

And the tick-tick-tick of time

Which is equal parts yours and mine

To make of the world what we will

But first say no to coke and smoke.

Say not to police brutality

And causing fatality.

Say no to race hate.

Don’t underestimate the power of love.

But most of all

Take two poems

And call me

In the morning.

Even at this early stage of the book, Tyrone is moved by the artistic expression of his friend. Wesley.  The simple act of creation and performance has instilled in this character a sense of possibility and hope, which will only grow as the book progresses.

Chankara Troupe who comes to school sporting what she calls a “Johnny-mark” named after the guy who smacked her the night before.  In her prose section she talks about how she threw him out when he pushed her to have sex and hit her.  Her poem, written in free verse concerns coming downstairs in the middle of the night to find her sister, bruised and limping from a beating she had taken from her boyfriend.  The poem is about how she won’t let herself be treated like her sister.

“He’ll never do it again,”

She swears

But he will, because

She’ll let him.

Now, me?

I’ve got no use

For lame excuses

Or imitation love

That packs

A punch.

 

Raul Ramirez, a painter who uses Mr. Ward’s desk to do his artwork writes about growing up Puerto Rican in the Bronx and about how he wants to smash the stereotypes writing in his prose section “we are not all banditos like they show on TV, munching cuchfritos and sipping beer through chipped teeth.  Instead, he wants to paint the beauty of “los ninos” and his Mami and the way his friends turn a street into dance floor.  His poem is about throwing out the old stereotypes but keeping the mask

Why make it easy for you to choose whether I am Zorro or el bandito when I am neither, he writes in his “Z” shaped poem.

Diondra is a tall girl and everyone expects her to be into sports, but she isn’t.  “I’m an artist, like Raul. The difference is, I don’t tell anybody.  I refuse to give them new reasons to laugh at me.”

Her poem, “if”  written in a more traditional four line stanza rhyming scheme is lovely and moving.

If I dipped my brush in starlight

Painted a ribbon of night

On your windowsill

Would you still laugh?

Her insecurity is in full display, and her urge to convey her talent is powerful.  This is one of my favorite poems in the book.  It doesn’t have a sophisticated form, and the content is simple, yet powerful, but the fear of rejection is powerful and out there for all to see.

As the open-mike Friday’s continue and more of the student’s are emboldened to share their poems, we meet and learn about Devon Hope, a star basketball player who wants to be so much more; Lupe Algarin, a daydreamer, who thinks that having a baby will fill the hole in her life and give her someone that will love her.

We meet Gloria, who is already a single mother and learn the folly of Lupe’s dream.  She views her youth as over now as she writes in her poem “Message to a Friend”

The crashing sound

Of years lost

Shattered in her ears,

And new fears emerged

From the looking glass

Sometimes I wonder

If she’ll ever sing again.

Janelle Battle is overweight, and suffers the teasing and taunts of her classmates, but opens up in her poem and finds some acceptance; the Anglo girl who transferred in from a rich neighborhood after her mother died feels alone rather than unique, but find she has the death of a mother in common with Porscha Johnson, an African-American girl who also lost her mother.  There are far too many characters to detail every one, but the need for acceptance and love and happiness, or even just survival runs through each story and each poem.

The way that Nikkie Grimes is able to capture the voices, in poetry and prose, of so many different characters is wonderful, the Prose-Poetry format that she uses is extremely effective in showing the way that the poems come from the lives of the poets.  Using Tyrone as a wrap-around narrator is very effective in showing, in microcosm, the positive changes in attitude, self-esteem, and general life outlook of all of the characters.  As Tyrone progresses through the book from someone who see no hope for a brighter future, to a young man who has learned through writing and performing poetry and getting to know his classmate through poetry, that his future is his to build, the same progression can be seen in many of the characters.

Self expression, in the form of poetry and the performance of poetry transforms the lives of the young characters in a way that is quite beautiful and moving.  Ms Grimes is positing here that, through art, through self-expression, through creation, and learning to understand one another, we can become the master’s of our own fates.  That this lesson is learned in Bronx classroom, where the odds are stacked against the characters from the start, is nothing short of spectacular.

Her major accomplishment in this book is making those who are not in the same situation as the characters see and understand that message as well.  My high school days were spent in a small North Texas, 99% white high school, and yet through the stories and poetry, I was able to relate directly to the universal aspects of the human experience. 

As a high school student, the love of poetry and literature transformed my life, and led me from my graduating class of 31 to the 50,000 student campus of The University of Texas, where this small-town boy grew to love poetry even more.  If a message that poetry and literature and love can transform lives can appeal to fictional group of Bronx high school students and to 1980’s Texas teen, then the appeal is pretty close to universal. 

Grimes work is poetic, in the prose and poetry sections of the book.  The language of the book moved with the natural rhythms of young life and love and heartbreak and triumph and the relationship between the stories and the poems was executed with clarity but without obviousness.

I was moved by this book and I highly recommend it to those who would seek to use literature to enrich lives in the classroom, in the library, or at home.

Review Excerpts

School Library Journal: …flowing, rhythmic portrait of the diversity and individuality of teen characters in a classroom in Anywhere, U.S.A. Each teen's story is told by combining his or her poetry with snippets of narration. Readers meet Tyrone, an aspiring songwriter who sees no use for school; Lupe, who thinks that becoming a mother would give her the love she lacks in her life; and Janelle, who is struggling with her body image. As their stories unfold and intertwine with those of their classmates, readers are able to observe changes in them and watch the group evolve into a more cohesive unit.

Booklist:  Tyrone Bittings doesn't believe in a future: "Life is cold . . . What I've got is right here, right now, with my homeys." But an English-class open mike changes everything. Grimes' first novel since Jazmin's Notebook (1998) comprises brief monologues in the voices of students and their poems. Funny and painful, awkward and abstract, the poems talk about race, abuse, parental love, neglect, death, and body image ("Don't any of these girls like the way they look?" asks Tyrone). Most of all, they try to reveal the individuals beyond the stereotypes.

Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner

Connections

This book is ideal for having students perform.  Have each student take a character, read aloud the prose and the poetry section for that character and have them explain what they think the character is saying about their lives.

Have the entire class perform the book as a play

Discuss the challenges of growing up in an inner-city school district

Ask students which character they most relate to and why.

Ask how they feel about Tyrone and his role in the book.

Have students write poems of their own to perform in class.

Jazz

Jazz

Poems by Walter Dean Myers

Illustrated by Christopher Myers

Bibliography

Walter Dean Myers, Illustrated by Christopher Myers, “JAZZ”, (New York: Holiday House, 2006).  ISBN: 9780823421732

 

Summary and Critical Analysis

In the poetry collection  “Jazz”, the father and son team of poet Walter Dean Myers and illustrator Christopher Myers have created a book that sizzles and sings with the rhythm and beat of Jazz and pops with the colors and free-wheeling style of New Orleans and Mardi Gras.  Dedicated “To the children of New Orleans” this collection of poems and paintings is joy to read and delight to view.

Beginning with a two page introduction explaining the evolution of Jazz as “the blending of two musical traditions, African and European,” Myers goes on to note that African music, “with its five-tone, or pentatonic, scales and complex rhythms came to North American during the slave trade.”  He goes on to describe the way that black musicians, who as slaves were forbidden to learn to read and write, learned to play “by ear” and thus were more inclined to improvisation.  To solve the problem of musical illiteracy, the musicians began to use European chord structures as the basis of their music, knowing that, within that chord framework, “a player could stray from the melody as originally composed and still make music that sounded as if it belonged to the same composition.”

The main body of the book, written to reflect differing style of jazz, and the culture of Jazz and New Orleans contains poems that move with the rhythm of jazz at the same time they speak to the heart and soul of the music.

The opening poem, entitled “Jazz,” is set on the right side of a two page painting showing a shirtless black man playing drums, and a more modern black man intently listening.  With its sky blue background and yellow and white words, the Myers duo lays out the foundation of jazz music.  This short poem sets the tone for the rest of the book.

 

Jazz

Start with Rhythm

Start with the heart

Drumming in tongues

Along the Nile

A Black man’s drum speaks

LOVE

Start with

Rhythm

Start with

the HEART

Work songs

Gospel

Triumph

Despair

Voices

Lifted

From the soul

This poem, about the heart of Jazz being based in rhythm, heart, and soul is echoed throughout the book in different ways.  In the poem “Louie, Louie, How You Play So Sweet?” Myers writes, presumably about, presumably Louis Armstrong repeating the refrain, “What have you heard, down on Bourbon Street?” as the source of the inspiration for the music.  The words of the poem, in purple, set against a yellow background is contrasted by the dapper figure of Louie whose background is divided between the bright yellow and the darker black and red indicating complexity to his music.

Each poem in the book, along with their individual illustrations set the tone for the type and style of music about which the poem is written. “OH, MISS KITTY” ,  is written in the cadence and style of a blues song with white and yellow words on a purple background across from a painting of a man playing a bass that dwarfs him in scale illustrates the cadence of the poem and the thumping bass lines of the blues, which are beautifully represented.

Perhaps my favorite poem of the book, “GOODBYE TO OLD BOB JOHNSON” is set on two pages that neatly encompass the two halves of a New Orleans funeral parade.  The first page, with brass and drum musicians displayed against a blue back ground and its chorus of

The drums are solemn as we walk along

The banjo twangs a gospel song

Let the deacons preach and the widow cry

While a sad horn sounds a last good-bye

Good-bye to old Bob Johnson

Good-Bye

gives way to second page of the poem on a bright yellow background with illustrations of men dancing and playing music representing the second half of a traditional New Orleans Jazz Funeral, with the first word on the page being (Faster) as the sadness of the first page gives way to the celebration of life and the belief that death is not the end.  The poem uses a syncopated rhythm with repeated rhymes in the lines:

We’re stepping

And we’re hipping

And we’re dipping, too

We’re celebrating,

Syncopating

And it’s all for you.

The illustration shows a crowd that is grieving loss and celebrating the after-life with the rhythms and music that were loved in life.

The poems in the book continue, each emphasizing an aspect of jazz from “Twenty Finger Jack” with its illustration of an African-American piano player in black suit lined with red pinstripes and a yellow shirt and tie using his long fingers to make music using the piano evokes a hopping New Orleans jazz club on a sultry Saturday night.

The keyboard is jumping,

And the music’s going round

And round

Other poems such as “Be-Bop”, “Jazz Vocal”, and “Blue Creeps In” are written as other forms of jazz in both tone and rhythm, along with lush illustrations that echo each poems theme.  Of these poems, “Blue Creeps In” is the most moving.  With a double page spread with a Royal Blue background, a lone man in shadow, pictured on the left side of the painting plays a stand-up bass, while on the right side, a beautiful woman, dressed in yellow, a sadness palpable on her face reflects the loneliness that is presented in the poem.

Myers closes the book with a “Glossary of Jazz Terms” and a “Jazz Time Line” which sets out, by year, major milestones in the development of jazz and some of its greatest musicians.  These tools will be very useful in using this book as a teaching tool and as a key to understanding some of the finer points of the poetry.

In books that we have read this semester, there have been times when the text was of a higher importance than the illustrations, and books where the opposite was true.  In this beautiful book, both take center stage.  The illustrations, which are bathed in the purples, yellow, blues, and greens of New Orleans and Mardi Gras are an integral part of the effect the poems which they accompany can convey.

Likewise, the text, and the way the Myers plays with rhythm, and rhyme, and timing, always eager to improvise within set patterns has the true ring of music.  In this book, the illustrations and poems take on equal value and are perfectly complimentary.  Although each could stand on their own, combined, the illustrations and the poems create something that is greater than the sum of their parts.  As someone who always has Jazz playing in background while I study, write, paint, or draw, this book, although ostensibly a children’s book, spoke to me in a very moving way.

While younger children might not be able to grasp the intricacies of the poems, older children, and adults, especially those who love jazz will want to share these poems and paintings with others.  However, it is not necessary to grasp the deeper intricacies of the work to enjoy the book.  Children will love the colorful illustrations and the rhythm of the poems.  Read aloud, in an expressive way, they will hear the music as well.

Review Excerpts

Google Books:  From bebop to New Orleans, from ragtime to boogie, and every style in between, this collection of Walter Dean Myers's energetic and engaging poems, accompanied by Christopher Myers's bright and exhilarating paintings, celebrates different styles of the American art form, jazz. "Jazz" takes readers on a musical journey from jazz's beginnings to the present day.

Goodreads.com:  From bebop to New Orleans, from ragtime to boogie--and every style in between--this collection of energetic poems, accompanied by bright and exhilarating paintings, celebrates different styles of the American art form, jazz.

Winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Award Poetry Award

 

Connections:

Read and review the introduction and Glossary of Jazz Terms prior to reading the book aloud to students so that they will have a basic understanding of the terminology and history of which Myers is writing.

If you have students with musical abilities, have them attempt to set a poem to music and perform it for the class.

Discuss the history of slavery, and other contributions brought by Africans to America.

Read the book as an exploration of Mardi Gras and its history and traditions and its importance to the culture of New Orleans.

Discuss how the illustrations reflect the subject of the poems, and how the use of color is used to evoke emotion.

Ask the children what they think about the clothing in the paintings and if they think the clothing portrayed is important to the illustration.

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.