Marvin, is small, skinny, and in competition for the princess with several rude suitors. With the assistance of an an unusual fairy he succeeds in presenting the princess with the three perfect peaches she needs. Unfortunately, rather than giving him his daughter, the kind presents him with challenges including fattening 100 rabbits without losing any of them. Of course he succeeds, with a little magic. An adaptation of a French fairy tale.
Dan Bar-el, Houghton Mifflin, ©2007, 13:978-0-618-71468-1
Once Upon a Time Magazine
The cover features many of the elements of a magazine at the supermarket, trying to tempt you to read what is inside the magazine. “Local Fairy Tells All”, “Exclusive Story!”, “Shocking Pictures”, “Happy Ending Inside!”, and “Will He Win Princess Vera’s Heart?” are all from the cover of Such a Prince.
Bring some magazines into class such as: US, People, Star, National Enquirer, etc. Discuss how the headlines and catchlines try to sell the magazine to a customer who is waiting at checkout. Which headlines draw them the most? Would that be the same for their parents? For their next piece of writing, ask students to create a simple magazine-style cover featuring those kinds of elements to draw people into their piece.
Listening Skill
As you read, ask students to make a list of what the fairy tells us are her qualities. She mentions that she is a people person, naturally curious, likes to stay active and busy, and isn’t flashy.
For 5 creative writing ideas, click Such a Prince, to download.
In Japan, the oldest and wealthiest man in the village lives on the hill in his rice farm. In the village below, villagers are getting ready for a festival. Suddenly he senses a problem, and when he sees the waters recede realizes a tsunami is coming. He cannot get down to the village to warn them in time so he needs to draw the villagers to him. As a desperate act, he sets his crop on fire. The villagers rush up the hill to help put out the fire, and they are all saved.
Masa and his apprentice Michio make a “perfect sword” and then seek the person worthy of it. Each candidate is rejected as they hear from the warrior, the swordsman, the noble, and so on. They need someone kind, who doesn’t automatically reach for a sword to solve problems, who wants to help others, and who is noble. Like a fairy tale, but this one takes FOUR tries, they eventually find the right candidate. Satisfied, they turn to making the next “perfect sword.”
Cinderella’s Rat is captured in a cage, but is “rescued” by the fairy godmother and becomes the coachman for Cinderella’s trip to the ball. During the ball the coachmen wait, eating in the kitchen. Suddenly, his rat sister appears, looking for him, and to prevent the other coachman from killing him, over hero says she has been enchanted. They take her to a wizard to have her changed back to a girl. The wizard makes several errors and finally creates a girl with the voice of a dog. The happy ending is that the rat’s sister is great at scaring cats away. (More complicated to describe than to read.)
Little Wolf never likes what is made for dinner: Lamburgers, Sloppy Does, Chocolate Moose—nothing pleases him. All he can think about is “boy”—boy chops, baked boy-tatoes and boys -n-berry pie. On the way home to three pig salad, Little Wolf has the idea of pretending to see a boy. After this trick results in him getting junk food for several nights, his father overhears him bragging to a friend. They refuse to listen to him…even though he has seen an entire troop of boy scouts in the woods, and one even enters the cave. Lesson learned, and the boys, at least, live happily ever after.
Stella Louella’s is very concerned because today is the day her book is due at the library, and she cannot find it. She traces the book through the neighbourhood. Each person she meets has enjoyed the book, each for a different reason, and passed it on to the next person in the neighbourhood. By the time Stella arrives at the library she has more than 10 neighbours with her.
Michael hates camp and informs his father in a series of self-designed postcards of the many trials of his life there. His father returns reassuring postcards until Michael finally comes to love camp.
Lipman Pike is credited with being the first professional baseball player (then called “base”). This is the story of his childhood, the development of his skills, the aspirations his father had for him, and how he came to be the first “professional” baseball player.
A great chief of the Pacific Northwest is creating his totem. The animals (beaver, bear, wolf, owl, eagle, frog, killer whale, otter, thunder, and raven) each present a quality that the chief might have that would lend itself to creating his totem. Each tries to persuade him to include them.
A gorgeous moving story of the Christmas truce during World War I, when both sides left the trenches, sang carols together, exchanged gifts, shook hands, and then went back to killing each other.
Diana Cruchley 