The Three
Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark by Ken Geist Illustrated by Julia Gorton
Age Level: 4
& up
This is an adorable remake of ‘The Three Little
Pigs’ classic. Just like the piglets, the three young fish (two brothers Tim
and Jim, and their sister Kim) must leave their mama and build their houses in
the ocean. The Big Bad Shark destroys Jim and Tim’s house made of seaweed and
sand, but is outsmarted by Kim’s idea to live with her brothers in an abandoned
boat. It is a very cute fractured fairytale and the illustrations are awesomely
bright; young kids will love this book.
The Three
Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas Illustrated by Helen
Oxenbury
Age Level: 7
& up
Here is
another remake of the famous fairytale, only this time it is the pig that is
bad and the wolves are the good guys. The wolves are smart so they build houses
of brick, concrete, and eventually barbed wire and armor plates. But the ending
is a little silly to me; the Big Bad Pig smells all these lovely flowers and
decides to change his mean ways. He decides to become a good pig and becomes
friends with the wolves. I didn’t buy it, but I think that children would enjoy
the role-reversal theme.
The True
Story of the 3 Little Pigs! By A. Wolf as told to Jon Scieszka Illustrated
by Lane Smith
Age Level: 5
& up
I have read
this with students before and it is a hit! It is the story of, once again, ‘The
Three Little Pigs’, only it is told from the Wolf’s point-of-view. Alexander T.
Wolf explains how the story that’s heard is all wrong and that he isn’t the bad
guy everyone thinks he is. His story describes that he was out of sugar and
went to ask his neighbors, the pigs’ houses, to borrow some. He also had a cold
that was making him sneeze, accidently breaking the pigs’ houses. The houses
collapsing caused the pigs to die and he couldn’t leave “a perfectly good ham
dinner lying there” so he ate two of the three pigs up. The third pig was mean
to him and said mean things about his granny so the wolf got angry and was
trying to break his door down as well as huffing and puffing and sneezing. He
did not eat the third pig because the cops were called, and he was “framed” by
the news reporters trying to “jazz up the story”.
The Three
Silly Girls Grubb by John and Ann Haassett
Age Level: 5
& up
This is an
adorable take on ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’. There are three sisters named
Grubb; one is small, one is medium, and one is extra large. Instead of a troll
under the bridge, there is Ugly-Boy Bobby who wants to not eat the girls –but
their jelly donuts. The smallest sister tells Ugly-Boy Bobby that she only has
one jelly donut but to wait for her medium sister that has six and the medium
sister says she only has six but the extra large sister has twelve. The extra
large sister scares off Ugly-Boy Bobby by saying she will give him her dozen
donuts after she gives him “a dozen mushy kisses” on his nose. He runs off and
the girls get to school safely. The illustrations look like they are made with
watercolors and are very nice!
Three
Cool Kids by Rebecca Emberley
Reading Level:
Ages 4 & up
This
rendition of ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’ tells about the three Cool Kids. The
Cool Kids come in small, medium, and large sizes and they live in the city.
Alike the original fairytale, the three main characters are goats who need to
go elsewhere to find grass to eat. In this version though, they must face a
big, ugly rat that lives in the sewer in order to cross lots. I am not a fan of
rats, and the illustrations of this rat are grotesque; long whiskers and claws
and a long tail - yuck! I think children will like the modern and hip details
of this story such as one goat’s love of his new sneakers, and the girl goat
wearing “jingling silver bracelets”.
The Three
Little Gators by Helen Ketteman Illustrated by Will Terry
Grade Level:
Pre-K & up
This also is
a version of the ‘The Three Little Pigs’, only it involves three sibling
alligators and a ‘Big-Bottomed Boar’ as the bad-guy. Same story line: the mama
says you must build yourself houses. They go off and two out of the three build
houses that don’t stand up against the bad-guy or in this case, the Boar. The
first gator who worked hardest building his house comes to the rescue of his
siblings and the three of them scare off the boar when he climbs down the
chimney and burns his bottom. This is a cute book and the illustrations are
wonderful; they are full-paged and bright. I bet students, especially young
ones, will have a laugh every time they hear about the boar’s “rump” or
“bottom” – they love stuff like that!
24 girls
in 7 days by Alex Bradley
Reading Level:
Ages 14 & up
Jack
Grammar, the main character and narrator, is an all-around nice guy who is in
his senior year of high-school and alike many seniors-feels the pressure of
having the perfect prom date. His two best friends Percy and Natalie know what
a great guy he is and decide to place an ad in the school newspaper for him.
They pretend that the ad is from Jack himself and ask girls who are interested
in being his prom date to e-mail him. Jack feels inexperienced and nervous with
girls. He says awkward things when he gets nervous, so “dating” 24 girls in 7
days is completely overwhelming for him! I won’t give away the ending, but what
I liked about this book was that it was a romance book coming from a boy’s
perspective. I think that a lot of seniors, boy or girl, feel that pressure for
the perfect night and date and could easily relate to how Jack feels.
Angus, Thongs,
and Full-Frontal Snogging Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise
Rennison
Reading Level:
Ages 13 & up
This book is
hilarious!! It is also the first in a series of ten (the Confessions of Georgia
Nicolson), which is great because now I want to read the others! Georgia
Nicolson is 14 years old and lives with her “mum” dad, and 3 year old sister in
England. The book’s design is her journal entries. The entries are her
hysterical outlook on life. They discuss the typical teenager topics such as
boys, kissing or “snogging”, parents not understanding, rebelling, and so on.
Not only is the book very funny, but Louise’s interview in the back of the book
explains that all the situations that take place in the book are based off of
her true life experiences!! Louise also provides an excellent glossary;
‘Georgia’s Glossary’ that helps explain some of the terms that are used that
may not be known to American readers. I think it’s safe to say that any female
teenager would enjoy this book!
I also read Then
He Ate My Boy Entrancers #6 in the series by Louise Rennison and it was
just as good as the first! When I checked out these books, it was the titles
that grabbed me (I also have Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? but
have not yet gotten to it). And after I read the first book, I knew that I liked
the author because of her humor – only I wasn’t sure if the books could continue
to be as funny as the first was...yet they are! She packs out these books from
front to back with witty jokes and hilarious comments and never fails to bring
a laugh or smile to your face while reading. The language that she uses, not
only is it a little foreign to us like “bloke” and “knickers”, but Georgia the
main character, and her girlfriends have their own language as well, shortening
and abbreviating a lot of words (just like American female teenagers!) like “pressies”
or “gorgey” or “fabby”. I could go on and on about this series but I will wrap
it up by saying it is brilliant! And that I would absolutely recommend them to
mature middle-school/high-school students.
Reading Level:
Ages 13 & up
If We
Kiss by Rachel Vail
Reading Level:
Ages 12 & up
Charlotte also
known as Charlie, a freshman in high-school, calls herself a prude because she
has never kissed a boy yet. But that changes one day when Kevin takes her to
the side of the building and kisses her. Before Charlie gets the chance to
describe to her best friend Tess all about her first kiss, Kevin kisses Tess at
a party! Then Tess and Kevin start dating and Charlie decides to not even
mention that she and Kevin kissed. She hates having to hear about Kevin through
Tess because she likes him and kissed him first, but then it gets even worse-
Charlie’s mom and Kevin’s dad start dating! As if it wasn’t weird enough hiding
this secret from Tess, now Charlie must see Kevin and spend time away with him
and his family for Christmas. That would be a good thing though right? Being
able to spend time alone with the guy you liked. Well then Kevin kisses Charlie
again although he’s still dating Tess, and oh yeah- their parents get engaged
making them step-siblings! Cute book; if I was in middle-school I’d love it.
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