The Avid Reading Mom

The Frog Prince, Continued was written by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Steve Johnson.  This story is the continuation of The Princess and the Frog.  Some people may think they know the true ending to the story, but they didn’t live happily ever after.  The princess is tired of the prince’s froggy ways and the prince is tired of the princess always nagging him.  One day he gets fed up and runs away to find his happy ending.  He meets up with three witches along the way who give him advice, but in the end, does the prince get his happy ending?

The Frog Prince, Continued is another great example of a fractured fairy tale based on the story The Princess and the Pea.  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.

This story is recommended for ages 6 and up.  I would agree with this.  The story line is fun but some of the illustrations throughout the book are dark and dreary and they might frighten littler children.  The story is written in a really easy way that makes the story easy to understand. 

When including this book into your classroom, I would suggest you include the following activities:

1.  Have students look at each witch that is included in the story.  Ask students to write a description of a horrible witch of their own.  They should describe how she looks and how she behaves.  Then have children draw a portrait of their witch and display the portraits and descriptions around the classroom.

2.  For a science project, break students into three groups.  Have one group research the frog life cycle.  Have another group find out where frogs live and what they eat.  The last group can find out about different kinds of frogs.  Have groups create an informational poster describing their findings.

3.  Have students perform this story by doing a reader’s theater.  Here is a great script for this project.

READER RESPONSE QUESTIONS:
1. What do you think the frog prince’s “worse” thoughts are while he was a carriage?

2. How do you think the princess will feel about being a frog?

3.  How can you change the ending of this book to make it become “happily ever after”?

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

Scieszka. (1991). The frog prince, continued. New York, New York: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated.

The Frog Prince Continued activity guide. Retrieved from http://www.liveoakmedia.com/client/guides/24905.pdf

The Frog Prince website and resources for the classroom.  Retrieved from http://rileycenter.msstate.edu/pdf/frog-prince.pdf

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/

The Rough Face Girl was written by Rafe Martin and illustrated by David Shannon.  This amazing story is a fractured fairy tale based on the fairy tale Cinderella.  The story is set in the Algonquin Indian Village.  The story is about an invisible being who wants to marry one of the ladies in the tribe.  All the ladies wanted to marry this being because he was rich and powerful and handsome.  In order to be considered, the lady how to prove to the beings sister that he was a real being.  Every lady in the village tried to convince the sister but no one could.  Then one day, the rough face girl came to prove to the sister.  The was all scarred up from working over the fires.  She was able to prove to the sister that the being was real.  She was transformed into a beautiful young woman and married the being.

The Rough Face Girl is a great example of a fractured fairy tale and is 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 Rough Face Girl which is patterned after the fairy tale Cinderella.

According to the Saint Leo University Core Values, respect is a vital part of our program.  This book is a great example of showing respect.  The rough face girl respected herself enough to put her trust into the hands of an invisible being to provide for her happiness for life.  Even though she looked all scarred up, she had a great amount of self respect, which is vital to survive in a life where people treat you badly because of how you look.

The book is recommended for children ages 8 and up.  I would agree with this recommendation.  The story is such a beautiful alliteration of the Cinderella story which most, if not all, students will know.  There is such an amazing lesson to be learned in this book, too.  Being able to read a very beautiful story to teach students to be themselves and by being true to themselves, good things will come to them.

When teaching this in the classroom, I would suggest the following activities to be included in your lesson plan:

1.  Students will write their own “Cinderella” story based on what they know about the story of Cinderella and what they have learned about fractured fairy tales.

2.   Create a Venn diagram based on the story of Cinderella and The Rough Face Girl.

3.  Students will research the Algonquin Indians and learn about their culture.  Then students will write a story based on facts they learned about the Algonquin Indians through their research.

READER RESPONSE QUESTIONS:
1.  How do you think Rough-Face Girl felt when her father couldn't give her the same beautiful things as her older sisters to go courting the Invisible Being?  How would you have felt?

2.  How did Rough-Face Girl show courage?

3.  What does it mean "to see all the way down to your heart"?

4.  Why was Rough-Face Girl able to see the Invisible Being where the other women of the village couldn't?

5.  Is it more important to look on someone's outer beauty or what they are like on the inside?  Why?

REFERENCES:
Cinderella Stories: A Multicultural Unit.  Retrieved from http://www.education.ne.gov/forlg/elementary/cinderella.pdf

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

Martin, R. (1992). The rough face girl. New York, NY: PaperStar Book.

The Rough Face Girl literary project.  Retrieved from http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=the%20rough%20faced%20girl%20activities&source=web&cd=7&sqi=2&ved=0CGAQFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mssunana.com%2Fuploads%2F5%2F8%2F3%2F4%2F5834463%2Flfu_-_rfg.docx&ei=bJUOUcrAEIn2qQH12YGoAw&usg=AFQjCNEKXIFuiRKRTUJhbLwniNidD3MX3w