We also want them to enjoy how Wiesner’s frogs cheerfully wave at disbelieving occupants or cavort using the lily pads as F-16s performing barrel rolls in backyard airspace, while other frogs sit comfortably and devise methods for changing channels in order to watch late night TV. We want students to predict consequences as the lilypads float the enthusiastic frogs literally “cross the threshold” of many of the homes. We want the students to appreciate the “call to adventure” as demonstrated in the lily pads which lift the frogs from their “known” locale, the swamps and ponds outside the town to the “unknown” territories of living rooms. The flying frogs in Tuesday are most certainly a phenomenon.
They will review myths as traditional stories that are accepted as history which serve to explain a phenomenon.
They will look for these patterns in the stories they will read throughout high school. They will develop an appreciation for the wisdom of the hero’s mentor and the importance of the “elixir” that helps the hero succeed. The students will be familiar with the ideas of “redemption” and “atonement” as the hero travels on the journey from the comfort of the known world to the trials of the unknown world. They will recognize the “challenges” for the hero as being a repeated pattern, especially when the hero is confronted with “temptations”. For example, in each story they read, they will be able to identify the “call to action” and the moment the protagonist or hero “crosses the threshold”.
Our 9th grade curriculum centers on the idea that stories make us human, so our freshmen will spend the year studying the elements of stories and archetypes. Wiesner’s picture book is ideal to start the 9th grade mythology unit which leads up to students reading Homer’s Odyssey (Fitzgerald translation). I have a well-worn hardcover of my own that I do not want to lose this paperback will be perfect to share in class. I was so happy when I found a copy for $.25 at the New Milford Public Library book sale this summer. The few words in this picture book are only for context when an invasion of frogs floating on lily pads invade a small town on a Tuesday night.
David Weisner’s Tuesday is one of the funniest picture books ever.
0 kommentar(er)
