Fantasy & Science Fiction!

For this week’s post I read:

Classic Fantasy Unabridged: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, published in 1998

Newberry Award Winner (2017): The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill, Published in 2016

Picture Books: The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, Published in 1902

Clever Jack Takes the Cake by Candace Flemming, Published in 2010

For this week’s genre of fantasy and science fiction, I decided to review the book “Clever Jack Takes the Cake” by Candace Flemming. This story is about a poor boy who gets invited to the castle for the princess’s birthday. He wanted to go very badly, but he didn’t have anything to give her. He ended up trading to get ingredients to bake a cake. He made the cake and picked a perfect strawberry to go on top of the cake. On his journey to the castle, his cake got eaten and he used the candles that were on top of it. The only thing left of the cake was the perfect strawberry for the princess. When he made it to the castle, he noticed the princess was bored with all the gifts people were giving her. The guard ended up eating the strawberry he got because the princess was allergic to strawberries. He didn’t have anything for the princess, so he told her the story of what happened and she loved it!

I think this is a really fun fantasy book for children. In chapter 8 of the ECL book, one of the questions asked for evaluating fantasy is “does the story have an internal logic and consistency that allows the impossible to be real?”. In this fantasy, the author does a good job setting up the plot and creates a realistic fantasy by adding fictional characters to a normal storyline. When Jack is on his journey through the forest, he gets stopped on a bridge by a troll who demands to be paid. The added element of the troll adds a twist on his journey to the castle. Another question to ask while reviewing fantasy books is “does the author provide a unique imaginative setting?”. Like I said above, the author adds in fun characters that make the story a fantasy. The illustrator adds to the story by adding amazing detail throughout the book that makes the story come alive.

One activity I would have my students do in relation to the book is create a gift to give to the “princess”. I would give the students only a certain set of supplies, but they can create whatever gift they would like. This would be a fun way to let students be very creative, with a set of rules and supplies. One way to evoke reader’s response is using the strategy “leaning in” where students rely on the pictures to help them understand the story in more detail. While students are reading, you have them pause and think about how the pictures add to the story and students write their response in their notebook.