Tell the Truth B.B. Wolf

Tell the Truth, B.B. Wolfis the second of the B.B. Wolf stories by Judy Sierra.

While working at Saturday fix up day at the Villain Villa, the Big Bad Wolf is invited by the local librarian to come to the library and tell his side of the incident with the Three Little Pigs. His friends at the Villain Villa suggest he spin his involvement in the story. After all everyone likes a happy ending.

He starts his story with a song and comes up with some creative stories about how the houses came to be blown down. It turns out this is not really an open time for the wolf to tell his story. This is more of an intervention designed to make the wolf take responsibility for his actions. Pinocchio tells him his nose is growing longer and other fairy tale characters demand he tell the truth regarding his actions. The wolf finds it impossible to apologize with words, but does sing an apology. He also decides to change his middle name to Big Bodacious Benevolent Bookish Wolf.

With the help of his friends at Villain Villa, he redesigns the Pig's home as penance for his previous bad actions against them. Peace is created between Pigs and Wolf.

Mind Your Manners BB Wolf

Amidst all his financial worries over the money he owes for settlements to various fairy tale characters, BB Wolf receives a welcome distraction in Judy Sierra's Mind Your Manners, B.B. Wolf.

The local librarian has invited the Big Bad Wolf to tea. Never having been to a formal tea he asks his best friend at the Villain Villa, the crocodile if he should go. After all, the wolf is not a fan of tea. The crocodile informs him one does not go for tea, but for the cookies. Before he heads off the crocodile gives him a list of rules to remember and the wolf creates a song as a memory technique.

The wolf is first thrown when he realizes that not only Red Riding Hood, but the Three Pigs, and several other characters he has hurt in the past are present. However, he holds on waiting for the cookies. His stomach starts to get upset after his third cup of tea and he forgets the rules regarding burping. He rushes to the computer to find a book on etiquette. He finds the word he seeks just in time as his burp nearly blows down the library. While the three pigs tease him and the gingerbread man flees in terror the librarian is impressed with his manners. She tests his will power once more when the only cookies she serves are gingerbread men. He refuses to eat them, but promises to return and tell her the real stories of the books she has on her table.

This was a cute Big Bad Wolf Story and it is part of a character series. The second book deals with telling the truth. It gets the message across in a cute way that will entertain children and perhaps even get them to remember the rules.

The Book That Jack Wrote

The Book that Jack Wroteis Jon Scieszka's adaption of the nursery rhyme, The House that Jack Built.

With the assistance of Daniel Adel's beautiful illustrations, Sciesaka creates a story that is slightly different from the one most of us remember from the traditional nursery rhyme. He leaves out a few characters, changes a few, and adds a few to create a little different take on Jack's story. We visit with Humpty Dumpty, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, and a few other familiar characters on our journey through Jack's rhyme.

I found myself going back to check the original language because I could not remember everyone who had been to Jack's house and I wanted to see how it compared to the situation with Jack's book.

Giants Have Feelings, Too

Giants Have Feelings, Too: Jack and the Beanstalk Retold (Another Point of View)is another Dr. Alvin Granowsky Point of View book published by Steck-Vaughn. The format continues with the traditional Jack in the Beanstalk Story told on one side and the giant's story told when you flip the book upside down.

One thing I noticed as I reviewed this book is the font and the illustrations are very different for the two stories. The illustrations in Jack's stories are bright and vivid. The font is very traditional. The Giant's story has more of a cartoon style and a different font designed to set the story apart.

Any child who has heard the story of Jack in the Beanstalk will be familiar with the traditional version. The second tale ponders questions that have been raised for generations. Is Jack a hero or a thief? Was it OK for Jack to steal from the Giants and because they were giants? Since the story is told from the Giant's perspective, it does not begin with the magic beans and the cow, but with the first encounter between Jack and the Giants. The Giant's wife makes a very clear case that she and her husband Herbert were taken advantage of by Jack and as a result lost all of the treasures they accumulated through hard work and sacrifice. She even expresses hope at one point in the story that Jack's mother will not want her boy to prosper from stealing and have him return what he has stolen.

This book would be the basis for a very lively debate even among older children who may believe they are past the age for reading fairy tales. The issues are very interesting and some students may never have considered the questions raised by the Giant's wife.