The Very Smart Pea and the Princess-To-Be

The Very Smart Pea and the Princess-To-Be was written and illustrated by Mini Grey.  The story is based on the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea.  The story is about a queen who wants her son, the prince, to marry.  The prince goes out in search of a true princess.  After a year of searching, the prince returns home with no bride.  So, she takes matters into her own hands and places a special pea underneath twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds.  She told the prince that any princess who can feel the pea underneath all of those mattresses would be his true princess.  After many months and many princesses, no true princess had be found.  One stormy night, the gardener girl showed up at their door.  Thinking she was a princess, they invited her in to sleep.  The pea then takes matters into his own hands and the next morning, the prince had discovered his true princess.  They were married and lived happily ever after.

The Very Smart Pea and the Princess-To-Be is a great example of a fractured fairy tale and is also a fictional story.  According to the textbook, Literature and the Child, on page 15, it explains that folklore, another name for fairy tale, is composed of stories that have been passed down from generation to generation, by word of mouth.  The story has no known author.  Folklore comes in many different forms, including rhymes, fairy tales, fables, and many more.  Fractured fairy tales are explained in further detail on page 198 of the textbook.  It states that many authors have created their own literary fairy tales which are stories patterned after traditional tales, such as The Very Smart Pea and the Princess-To-Be which is patterned after the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea.

The Very Smart Pea and the Princess-To-Be is recommended for ages 5 and up.  I think this book would be great for that age group.  The story is told in a fun, whimsical way.  The illustrations throughout the book are very expressive.  The color is bright and cheery and will definitely draw students into the story. 

When including this book into a lesson plan, I would suggest the following activities:

1.  Have students take various strips of decorative paper and cut out 20 mattresses and 20 feather beds.  Glue them to a paper to represent the mattresses in the story.  Have them take an actual pea and glue it to the bottom of the stacks of paper.  Have them draw a princess on top of the mattresses and use their imagination on whether she is a true princess or not.  Then, have them turn over and write a brief narrative of why the chose to make the princess a true princess or not and some details from the story to support their decision.

2.  This story is a lot like a job interview.  Have students pretend they are the prince looking for their true princess.  Have students list the characteristics they would look for in their princess and then come up with a test that will help them find the right candidate.

3.  Using information from the Harvest of the Month handouts on peas found here and here, do a unit on peas which could include cooking peas in class, growing and harvesting peas, reasons to eat peas, how much do you need to eat, etc. 

READER RESPONSE QUESTIONS:
1. How can someone so delicate, who can feel a pea under 40 mattresses, live in the world?

2. What was wrong with all those other princesses?

3. What do you think the moral of the story is?

REFERENCES:
Galda, L., Cullinan, B. E., & Sipe, L. R. (2011). Literature and the child. (7th ed. ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth Pub Co.

Grey, M. (2003). The very smart pea and the princess-to-be. Knopf Books for Young Readers.

The Princess and the Pea lesson plan.  Retrieved from http://www.myfreshplans.com/2010-07/princess-and-the-pea/