Mock Caldecott Club 2013 Day 10

Today's Picture Book Month theme was FRACTURED TALES.  I chose Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems to share with my students, and I'm so glad I did!  They laughed and laughed!  They got a huge kick out of the end pages and all the rejected ideas of "Goldilocks and the...." crossed out.  There's a lot to "get" - in this retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, so sharing it with gifted fourth grade readers was perfect.  We also discussed the meaning of parody and allusion (Willems's beloved Pigeon makes several subtle appearances in the story).  They enjoyed the sarcastic/ironic humor.

We watched this entertaining interview of Mo Willems:
 

Here are some comments from my students:

"I saw this as a creative picture book."

"The Norwegian flag on the bed, the little sign that had ".2 mile to trap" crossed out and replaced with "very nice house"  - little details made the story really funny."

"I liked the pictures because they had hidden pictures of Pigeon."

"I loved the front and back pages because they tell all the crossed out ideas."

"The pictures ROCK!"

"My favorite character is the random Norway dinosaur."

"I like how both the dinosaurs look alike and then the one from Norway was orange with spikes."

"So she finally put the puzzle pieces together and got out of there!"

"I really like the illustrations because they had allusions in them.  One was where Pigeon was in the cookie jar.  The other one was a portrait of Pigeon."

"I liked the picture when Goldilocks was swimming in the pudding.  It was funny."

"The thing I liked about the pictures were that they were cartoony."

"I liked trying to find Pigeon."

"It was sarcastic and funny."

"I liked Goldilocks wide eyes in the pudding."