The Tale of Tricky Fox
Retold by Jim Aylesworth
Illustrated by Barbara McClintock
This is a folk story told to a group of students by a teacher about a very sly fox who makes a bet with his brother that says he can find a pig and bring it back. The brother says if he does that he will "eat his hat", so the fox goes and knocks on farm houses and at each house he spends the night and entrusts the old ladies with his bag but tells them not to look in it. Each night however the lady does before the fox wakes up. When the lady is asleep the fox gets out of bed and takes what was in his bag out. So the next day he tricks the old lady into giving him what he wants, by asking where his ______ is. This story ends with him trying to trick a school teacher. "And Tricky Fox didn't know that teachers are not as easy to fool as regular humans are." The school teacher figures out he is tricky, and instead of putting a pig in his bag, she puts in a dog. So when he goes back [without looking in the bag] his brother eats his hat, and then they open the bag to find a bull dog that chases them.
Sorry, that was a hard story to explain concisely. I think that this is a very good story, I love the illustrations. They really add something to the text. I think that this story would be really great for the younger grades to teach them that tricking people might work at the time, but it will come back to bite you.
You could even use this to talk about folk tales and stories that you might have heard from your families that teach lessons, and what they are.
It would be cool to have each child tell one story that (s)he has heard that taught them a lesson, and make a binded book for the classroom.
I'm so clever- tee-hee-hee!
Trick, trick, tricky! Yes, siree!
Snap your fingers. Slap your knee.
Human folks ain't smart like me!
http://www.longlongtimeago.com/llta_folktales.html: A website I found that has a bunch of folktales that might be useful when teaching.
I loved this book! I think that this a fun read for younger kids and teaches them a very valuable lesson at the same time. It is a great way to teach them that tricking people is wrong and we are responsible for our own actions. I think the kids will love it as well!
ReplyDeleteThat quote is so cute haha. This book seems great! I think it is awesome and along the same line as the boy who cried wolf. Only way different. But i think children need to hear these lessons because we all know kids will try over and over again to trick everybody. But you can't food teachers!!!! haha
ReplyDeleteThat was a great story, excuse me, folk tale. i like the way it made the teacher look the smartest. The website you linked was so great!! I love the fact that we get to explore older and more modern books in this class. I have always believed that there is still much to be learned from older folk tales.
ReplyDeleteI loved your book talk on this book because our group got a close look at the amazing illustrations in this book. I think that they really added to the story. I like your ideas of how to incorporate this into the classroom, and folk tales would be great in a classroom instead of just all the modern stuff.
ReplyDelete