MODULE 2 - TRADITIONAL LITERATURE

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kimmel, Eric A. 2004. Cactus soup. Ill. by Phil Huling. New York: Marshall

Cavendish. ISBN 0761451552.

2.PLOT SUMMARY
Eric Kimmel sets his rendition of “Stone Soup” during the Mexican revolution. Orchestrated by the town mayor, the citizens of St. Miguel feign poverty and hunger in order to discourage the traveling army from making camp and expecting food and hospitality. The wise army captain commiserates with the locals’ condition and promises to make enough “cactus soup” to feed his soldiers as well as all the townspeople. Asking only for firewood, a spoon, a kettle of water and a single cactus thorn, the captain goes to work. As with all other versions of this variant, the “soup” grows into a grand group effort with everyone contributing their part and in the end uniting the outsiders with the community. Celebration ensues as everyone is fed their fill and entertained into the night with song and dance. Kimmel provides an author’s note concerning the Mexican Revolution (1910-1922) and a glossary of Spanish terms.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The fast-moving text, the good versus the not-so-good, the uncomplicated characters and the happy ending all help place this work within the traditional literature genre. Without doubt this picture book is a fine blending of text and illustration. Kimmel’s dialogue and use of Spanish terms give the story an authentic Mexican feel. The captain’s repetitive question, “Why ask for what you don’t have?” invites audience participation. Phil Huling’s illustrations smoothly carry the plot along while nicely keeping pace with the text. Movement and energy are conveyed beautifully through color, body position, and facial expression and add immeasurable depth and enjoyment for the reader through the vibrant visual antics portrayed. The striking physical differences between townspeople and soldier, the soldiers are elongated with oddly bending limbs, the town folks, more proportional, help define the two opposing factions. However, by placing Cactus Soup during the Mexican Revolution in the town of San Miguel, Kimmel distances this story from the folktale norm, that of nonspecific place and time in the past. Also, Kimmel never provides any basis for the story’s having Mexican origins; in his author’s note he gives a somewhat polarized explanation for the revolution that appears totally removed from this story about pulling together and sharing for the good of all. All in all, Cactus Soup is a funny and exciting addition to the “Stone Soup” variant.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

HORN BOOK MAGAZINE – “The fast-moving narrative is rich in Spanish vocabulary and generous with opportunities for the audience to participate in the telling…The curved sombreros, the townspeople’s rounded figures, and the circular coking pot suggest a warm community that complements the soldiers, who are modeled after Picasso’s whimsical, lanky Don Quixote.”

PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY – “Kimmel, ever the master storyteller, incorporates especially vivid cadences in the words of the wily, world-weary captain; but it’s Huling who makes the story sing. His comically exaggerated characters garner laughs without shedding their humanity, while his swooping, elongated lines and radiant colors recall the sun-drenched earthiness and high spirits of early 20th-century Mexican art.”


5. CONNECTIONS
This book is a great candidate for a reader’s theater production. Fourth and fifth graders could participate in writing the script if given the appropriate guidance. With more effort a simple production with basic props and costumes would make a nice multi-cultural project.


Other recently published “Stone Soup” tales:

Bonning, Tony. 2002. Fox tale soup. New York: Simon & Schuster Books

for Young Readers. ISBN 0689849001.

Gershator, David. 2005. Kallaloo!: A Carribean tale. New York: Marshall

Cavendish. ISBN 0761451102.

Muth, Jon J. 2003. Stone Soup. New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN

043933909X.

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Schwartz, Alvin. 1992. And the green grass grew all around. Ill. by Sue

Truesdell. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0060227583.

2. PLOT SUMMARY
In And the Green Grass Grew all Around, Alan Schwartz defines folk poetry as anything made up and communicated person-to-person by word of mouth and unidentifiable to any one author. For the adult reader, this wonderfully silly book of poetry, rhymes, songs and pure nonsensical verse brings back many surprising memories of childhood and the realization that many of these ditties they already know. Know them, yes, and yet the versions presented in And the Green Grass Grew all Around seem to deviate ever so slightly from those remembered. That is the true nature of folklore! As the songs, stories, rhymes and verses spread from group to group the words change anywhere from drastically to ever so slightly. Beginning the text with a conversational introduction, Schwartz lays the groundwork for his juvenile anthology. The fifteen chapters of the book are divided into “folk poems” categorized by topic: from poems concerning people, food, and school to those that tease, make wishes and promise love, to those lamenting work, posing riddles and spouting utter nonsense. The length of each entry varies from several lines to several pages, many accompanied with cartoonish ink illustrations and/or simple musical notations. Detailed source notes will benefit the serious folklore enthusiast.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Schwartz presents his audience a large slice of linguistic Americana in this dynamic work of prose and poetry. True to the folklore genre, the action is fast-paced; the distinction between good and evil, blatant, no character develops any significant insights, and “happily ever after” is a forgone conclusion. The book’s whole purpose is to energize: to be read, sung, clapped, jumped, chanted, added-on-to or in any other way celebrated enthusiastically; to be thoroughly enjoyed on the most child-like level! Sue Truesdell’s illustrations pack a hilarious punch to this party as they frolic across the two-page spread. These black-and-white cartoons provide the necessary visual element, some extremely simple, others more complex, to heighten the reader’s comprehension and tickle-the-funny-bone enjoyment. And the Green Grass Grew all Around masquerades as tongue-in-cheek fun and games while effortlessly exposing young children to invaluable cultural and literary material that will only serve to widen their worldview and broaden their personal perspective.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

BOOKLIST – “The late Alvin Schwartz has left a joyful legacy in this collection of folk poetry for everyone to share. He put together 300 of his favorites-chants and teases, wishes, jokes and riddles, skip-rope rhymes and stories, fun and games.”

KIRKUS REVIEWS – “In b&w pen and watercolor, Truesdell’s marvelous characters dance across the generously broad pages, peering inquisitively at the hilarious goings-on or gleefully joining in the shenanigans.”



5. CONNECTIONS
Activity: Ages 6-9. Have the children divide into pairs or groups and chose one of the included poems, stories or chants to act out. After demonstrating have the rest of the class join in for another round!

Other folktale poem and chant collections:

Beaumont, Jeanne Marie and Claudia Carlson. ed. 2003. The poets’

Grimm: 20th century poems from Grimm fairy tales. Ashland, Oregon: Story Line Press. ISBN 1586540270.

Schwartz, Alan. 1989. I saw you in the bathtub, and other folk rhymes. New

York: Harper and Row. ISBN 0060252995.

Strauss, Gwenn. 1990. Trail of stones. New York: Knopf. ISBN

0679905820.

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jackson, Ellen. 1994. Cinder Edna. Ill. by Kevin O’Malley. New York:

Lothrop, Lee & Shepard. ISBN 0688123236.

2. PLOT SUMMARY
Cinder Edna lives right next door to Cinderella. Living parallel lives, both young women suffer the indignities and abuses of a wicked stepmother and cruel stepsisters. But that is where the similarities end, Cinder Edna tried sitting in the fireplace ashes as Cinderella often did, but she found they only made her clothes dirty; instead she keeps warm by doing extra chores and odd jobs to earn money in her spare time. When invitations to the prince’s ball arrive, Cinderella is helpless without her fairy godmother, but Cinder Edna already has the perfect dress on layaway, dons comfortable loafers for serious dancing and hops the bus to the palace. Bored by the self-absorbed Prince Randolph, Edna is smitten by his klutzy, bespectacled, ecology-minded younger brother, Rupert. At the stroke of midnight Cinderella and Cinder Edna make hasty retreats as the fairy godmother’s magic evaporates and public transportation stops running. The only clues left for the confused princes are a delicate glass slipper and a penny loafer. Continuing in a practical vain, Rupert locates his love by knowing her name and using the phone book while his dashing brother takes the arduous, not to mention illogical, path of trying the slipper on every maiden in the land. The couples marry in a double ceremony and live “happily ever after,” but the reader is left in no doubt about which two have found true happiness.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
While many fairy tales take a somewhat more serious tone, Cinder Edna takes a tongue-in-cheek farcical stab at folklore. This feminist take on the traditional Cinderella story hilariously points out many illogical and impractical aspects of the popular tale, for example: Cinderella wearing fragile glass slippers to a dance, her total helplessness without her fairy godmother, her choosing to sit among the cinders to keep warm and what about the prince forgetting to even ask her name? Cinderella and Prince Randolph define one-dimensional characters while Edna and Rupert are quirky and multi-faceted, though all characters sail through the story unchanged. Ellen Jackson writes a fast-paced story nicely keeping the parallel plots coordinated and in sync. The “happily ever afters” are relative to each couple and children will have no problem seeing the fun and getting the author’s point. Kevin O’Malley’s lively illustrations work well with the text and do an interesting job of blending the long ago, far away elements of Cinderella’s world with the contemporary life of Edna (The palace scene with the bus parked behind the pumpkin coach is especially clever). Laughs every minute and animated illustrations on double page spreads make this picture book a favorite, laugh-out-loud, read aloud.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

HORN BOOK GUIDE –“A delight for go-getters everywhere.”

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY – “O’Malley’s nicely executed, cleverly detailed spreads contrast Cinderella’s fantasy glow with Edna’s clear-eyed, can-do attitude. This Cinderella send-up is full of kid-pleasing jokes and, besides, it’s never too early to discover the hazards of codependence.”

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL – “O’Malley’s full-page illustrations are exuberant and funny. Ella is suitably bubble-headed and self-absorbed while Edna is plain, practical, and bound to enjoy life. Kids will love this version of the familiar story for its humor and vibrant artwork.”

5. CONNECTIONS
Read aloud two significantly different Cinderella stories. On a chalkboard or overhead make a list as the kids decide aloud how the stories are similar and different. Discuss how these similarities and differences affected the plot. Which did they like better? Why? Depending on their ages, have the children try their hand at making up their own Cinderella story, either written or through pictures.