Author : Alma Flor Ada,
Illustrator : Leslie Tryon
Preschool - 2nd Grade
Dear Peter Rabbit
Dear Peter Rabbit,
Softcover, English,
Book, Alma Flor Ada,
Leslie Tryon, Preschool - 2nd Grade, 9781416912330,
$7.99 Watch
Dear Peter Rabbit,
Softcover, English, Small
Book, Alma Flor Ada,
Leslie Tryon, Preschool - 2nd Grade, 9781416912330,
$4.95 Watch
Dear Peter Rabbit,
Hardcover, English, Book, Alma Flor Ada,
Leslie Tryon, Preschool - 2nd Grade, 9780689318504, $17.95
Watch
$266.33 for the Story Collection Green Books and CDs Spanish Set, Including 20%-Off, Free Shipping, and No Sales Tax : 15 Softcover Spanish Books, 2 Softcover Spanish Oversized Books, 1 Spanish Big Book, 2 Spanish Storytelling CDs, 1 Spanish CD, and 1 Bilingual Storytelling CD
American Booksellers
Association, Pick of the List
Parents’
Choice Honor Award
This lively collection of letters written by famous storybook characters takes us behind the scenes in the land of make-believe. One of the Three Little Pigs is hosting a housewarming, and Peter Rabbit would love to go. But he's in bed with a cold after a narrow escape from Mr. McGregor's garden. Meanwhile, Goldilocks is planning her birthday party and hoping her new friend Baby Bear can come (he's forgiven her for breaking his favorite chair). But with the Big Bad Wolf on the prowl and Little Red Riding Hood heading off to grandmother's house, there's no telling how things may end!
Author’s Note: Little could I have
imagined that a playful act to keep me
Listen to Vienna Rose read Dear Peter Rabbit to you. A marvelous example of the magical encounter between a child and books that we wish for all children. And here's an earlier reading and an earlier reading by Vienna Rose, and an even earlier reading, and the earliest reading.
Written Windows :I love a good fairy tale and the old ones by Beatrice Potter are definitely a favorite. Alma Flor Ada has taken some of these beloved stories and added a neat twist - interlocking all the stories and written as letters between friends. Pig One and Peter Rabbit, Goldilocks and Baby Bear all writing letters to one another about how Pig One and Pig Two's house was destroyed and how Peter got a cold when escaping from Mr. McGregor's garden. Later you find out that Goldilock's last name is McGregor and she helps poor Peter by putting his coat on the fence for him. There is so much story line in the book it makes for a wonderful read - well, I enjoyed it more than my almost 3 year old, but she doesn't know the old stories in detail like I do since I have several more years of knowing them under my belt. :) To sum it up, this is a great book and I hope you'll try it and take a fun twist on some old characters
Publishers Weekly :
Reminiscent of Janet and Allan Ahlberg's hugely successful The Jolly Postman ,
this clever picture book creates a fictitious flurry of correspondence between
such familiar characters as Goldilocks (here given the surname McGregor, with a
wink and a nod to Beatrix Potter), the Three Pigs, Baby Bear, Red Riding Hood
and Peter Rabbit. As the plot thickens (will Goldilocks make a return visit to
the Bears' house? Will Peter Rabbit be well enough to attend the Three Pigs'
housewarming party?), Ada inventively weaves together the criss-crossing
letters, neatly tying up the loose ends with a finale wherein the entire
assembly (except for the now-tailless wolf) shows up for Goldilocks's birthday
party. Ada clearly had fun extrapolating the characters' private lives, and her
sunny treatment finds ready companionship in Tryon's delicately colored,
lovingly detailed pen-and-ink and watercolor art. A Spanish edition, Querido
Pedrin , is being issued simultaneously. Ages 5-8.
School
Library Journal : PreSchool-Grade 3-A series of lively letters penned by beloved
storybook characters tells an entertaining and imaginative tale. As the Big Bad
Wolf lurks just out of sight, Pig One writes to Peter Rabbit, inviting him to a
housewarming party at his newly built straw house. Meanwhile, Baby Bear sends
Goldilocks a note asking her to visit, admonishing her to "knock on the
door first before you come in." In reply, Goldilocks McGregor writes about
vegetables missing from the garden and the "tiny jacket" and
"tiniest pair of shoes" found by her father. Peter sends his regrets
to Pig One; he caught cold while hiding from Mr. McGregor in a
"half-full" watering can. Not to worry, due to uncontrollable
circumstances the party will take place at Stick House at a later date. The
chatty correspondence continues, culminating in a birthday party that brings the
characters face to face. Carefully weaving together the lives of these literary
favorites into a seamless plot, Ada uses familiar elements to create a
convincing and intriguing make-believe world. In addition to being fun to read,
the letters move events along quickly and create a unique voice for each author.
Tyron's inviting illustrations, rendered in pen and ink with watercolors, add
both detail and dimension. Whether author or recipient is depicted, the pictures
include and expand on the contents of each letter. Drawings of Peter Rabbit and
Mr. McGregor are appropriately reminiscent of Beatrix Potter's originals.
Children will be enchanted by this opportunity to meet familiar faces in new
settings.
Booklist : Ages 3-6. Ada uses an amusing conceit to add to children's knowledge
of the fairy-tale world. The text is a series of letters between such favorites
as Peter Rabbit, Goldilocks, and one of the three little pigs, and there's even
a hasty note from one big bad wolf to another. The letters loosely constitute a
story, but it is the cozy feeling of seeing inside these characters' lives that
is the book's real selling point. Tryon's ink-and-watercolor illustrations are a
delightful complement to the letters, fresh and filled with the detail that
brings a reader back for a second and third look. Especially amusing is the
two-page spread featuring the letter from the three little pigs' wolf to Red
Riding Hood's wolf, which reads in part: "Perhaps we would do well to
change our diet. It is not a pleasant prospect, but it may be in our interests
to avoid both young girls and pigs from now on." The picture shows a glum
wolf having a replacement tail sewn on after the pigs have chopped off the
original and used it for soup.
Kirkus Reviews : The events in four familiar tales are cleverly intertwined and
reported in a dozen letters. ``Pig One'' invites Peter Rabbit to a housewarming,
but he can't go because he's in bed sipping camomile; Baby Bear wants his new
friend Goldilocks McGregor to visit; Pigs One and Two report that they're now
safely with Pig Three; Peter gets an unexpected invitation from Goldilocks and
compliments the three pigs on the wolf's-tail soup served at the housewarming
they finally managed to celebrate; the wolf orders a new tail and swears off
pigs and little girls. Red Riding Hood wraps up events in a letter to her
grandmother, while Tryon (Albert's Alphabet, 1991, ALA Notable) visualizes them
in an inviting fairy-tale world, gently recalling both Gustave Dor‚ and
Beatrix Potter with entrancing, delicately colored crosshatched detail. In
addition to more obvious uses, try a dramatic reading of these pleasingly
childlike letters.
School Library Journal : “Make up entirely of letters, this delightful book brings Peter Rabbit, the Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Bears together in one volume. In the opening letter, a little pig invites Peter rabbit to a party at the new house made of straw. Peter declines as he is in bed with a cold caught while hiding in Mr. McGregor’s water pail. Gentle watercolor illustrations complement the text nicely. Children could listen to a few of the letters and then be asked to compose one themselves.”
Epinions : Do you or your child ever want to know more about your favorite storybook characters? If your answer is yes, then perhaps Dear Peter Rabbit by Alma Flor Ada (illustrations by Leslie Tryon) is the book for you. I initially read (and reviewed) the sequel to this book (Yours Truly, Goldilocks) and so I was very pleased when I found the first book in the series which explains how some (but not all). Dear Peter Rabbit is an interesting book because it is not told in story form- the entire book is made up of a series of letters that the characters have written to each other. The book opens with a letter from Pig One (straw house pig) to Peter Rabbit. Pig One is very excited about his new home and he wants to invite Peter to a housewarming party. Unfortunately, the reader can see a wolf head with lolling tongue creeping up at the bottom of the accompanying illustration… The next letter is from Baby Bear to Goldilocks. Despite the purloined porridge and broken chair, the two have become fast friends and Baby Bear is inviting Goldilocks over. However, he reminds her to knock on the door before entering the house. The third letter is Goldilocks' reply- apparently, Goldilocks is Mr. McGregor's (from Peter Rabbit) daughter and she tells Baby Bear about how her father chased a rabbit out of the vegetable patch. As the book progresses, the housewarming party keeps getting postponed because of the wolf. Also, Goldilocks meets Red Riding Hood in the forest and she sees her new friend talking to a wolf. Goldilocks invites Baby Bear and Red Riding Hood to her birthday- she also leaves an invitation for the mysterious rabbit at the edge of the garden. Peter receives the invitation and invites his friends the three pigs. Peter also thanks them for the wolf-tail soup that they served when he came over. The final letter is from Red Riding Hood to her grandmother telling her all about the strange party she attended that included a bear and pigs and a rabbit. The book is set up with an illustration on one side of the page and a letter on the other. Each character uses a different type of stationery and writes in a different font. The illustrations are delightful. The reader gets to see the story characters in their natural habitat- as I mentioned before, we actually see the wolf approaching Pig One's house as he finishes his letter to Peter. We also see Papa Bear fixing Baby Bear's chair, Peter sick in bed, Goldilocks watching Red Riding Hood talking to the wolf. Even though many of the characters featured in this book come from stories that were written a long time ago and adapted many times, so the artist can take liberties with those characters. However, Peter Rabbit is a creation of Beatrix Potter and I really liked how the artist tried to keep the illustrations of Peter as Potter-like as possible, but she also included a little of her own thoughts about Peter. The artist also infuses subtle humor into her illustrations- the three pigs can be seen munching on truffles in one scene. Finally, my one complaint is that the sequel featured a map that showed where each of the characters lived. I suppose that I cannot complain that the first book does not have something that the sequel does, but I did enjoy looking at the map. I really recommend that your child be familiar with the following stories before reading this book: The Three Pigs, Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, Little Red Riding Hood and Peter Rabbit. I think that children who are familiar with these stories will especially enjoy this book because it takes place during the main stories that the characters are famous for. So, when Goldilocks says that she saw a girl with a red hooded cape talking to a wolf, it is more exciting if the reader knows what is going to happen. Even though this book is the first in a series, you do not have to read this book before you read the sequel. This book differs from the sequel because some of the events take place during and before the main stories in which the characters appear. The sequel takes place after all the stories have ended. I must admit that I preferred the entirely new material presented, but I did find it interesting to get to see what the characters were like when they were not on the record, so to speak. Dear Peter Rabbit does explain how almost all of the characters meet except for Pig One and Peter. I really would have been interested to find out how these two happened to cross paths- I am sure that it is an interesting story but unfortunately, their meeting has been omitted. Quite clearly, their friendship is long-standing because Pig One begins his first letter to Peter with "You know hoe much I've always wanted to have my own house…" This omission did not take away from my enjoyment of the story, but it would have been a nice detail. I highly recommend Dear Peter Rabbit and its sequel Yours Truly Goldilocks. These books are ideal for children 4-8 but I think that parents and caretakers can enjoy this book just as much as children. This book is available in hardcover, paperback and in Spanish as Querido Pedrin.
Google : When Peter Rabbit is invited to a housewarming party by one of the Three Little Pigs, a behind-the-scenes adventure begins to unfold. This collection of previously unseen letters from the land of make-believe offers us a rare and fresh glimpse into the lives of well-loved characters. Along the way, Goldilocks makes a much happier return visit to the Bears' house, finds Peter Rabbit's lost jacket, and befriends Little Red Riding Hood. This delightful tale of interconnecting friendships, written by Alma Flor Ada and enhanced by Leslie Tryon's detailed and engaging pictures, is sure to warm the hearts of young and old alike.
Dear Peter Rabbit Lesson Plan for Grade 4 Information Skills and English Language Arts
by Caroline Annas, Elizabeth Gibson, and Stephanie Johnson
Students will identify formal language and sentence structures in friendly letters. They will use similar formal language and style to create friendly letters to other story book characters.
Students will:
respond to listening through multimedia sources.
compose a fictional friendly letter.
listen to a partial reading of a fictional picture book written entirely in a friendly letter format using a formal style.
create a similar letter using formal word choice and sentence structures.
Time required for lesson, 3 Days
Materials/resources
Copy of Dear Peter Rabbit by Alma Flor Ada
Notebook paper and pencils
Work area (table and chairs) for each student with visibility to overhead projector.
Computer lab or reasonable access to computers with word processing
Notebook paper, pencils and dictionaries should be readily available
Technology resources
Computer lab with
word processing program and printers
Overhead projector and screen
Pre-activities
Students should have
been introduced to the conventional form of a friendly letter (return address,
date, address of recipient, salutation, body, closing and signature).
Students should have a basic undersatnding of word processing. Students should
be familiar with the fairy tale and story book characters in the picture book
Dear Peter Rabbit by Alma Flor Ada.
The teacher should have knowledge of an acceptable form for friendly letters (from their text book, resource book or internet source for educators. A good source can be found in Relevant Websites.
Activities
Students will come into the library and sit in the instructional area (with tables and chairs). The students will be introduced to the picture book Dear Peter Rabbit and the author, Alma Flor Ada. Review and elicit from students the name of some familiar books characters from storybooks and fairy tales. Using the title, prompt children to predict what writing form might be used in the book. Confirm that the book is written in a letter format. Ask students to listen as the teacher reads several of the letters.
After reading the seventh letter (or at a point when the students show they know exactly what should happen next) ask students to predict which character might write the next letter and what it might say. Allow one or two students to respond. Rather than hearing all the responses, explain that the students will now have the opportunity to compose the next letter.
On an overhead projector, display one of the letters from the book. Point out the formal words and phrases and sentence structures used in the letter. Make a list of the different words used for formal Salutations and Closings in formal letters: Dear, Sincerely, Affectionately, Your dear friend, Gratefully yours, etc. Other formal language: "the forthcoming event," "distasteful", "abode", "rather offensive". Also identify formal phrases, such as "We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience."
Give small groups of students copies of other letters from this book and the companion book, Yours Truly, Goldilocks (also by Alma Flor Ada). Have them highlight examples of formal words, phrases, and sentences and share their discoveries with the rest of the class.
On an overhead projector display a conventional friendly letter form. (see English Plus link below for more information on writing friendly letters) Students should understand that their letter will include each part of the letter form. Go over each part and ask for examples for that part. (salutation - Dear Peter Rabbit).
Explain that they will write a rough draft during the first lesson. Have students choose a storybook character to write the letter and another character to be the recipient. The classroom teacher will explain the rubric and how it will be used to grade their letters. Have students read their rough drafts to their partner using a formal voice. Identify any words, phrases, and sentences in the draft that are formal. Revise any words, phrases and sentences that are too informal.
After the revisions are made, the students will take their final copy to the computer lab and print it using a word processing program. They may also add illustrations from clip art if desired.
Ask a student to pass out materials. Monitor students and answer questions as they compose a rough draft.
Assessment
Use the attached writing assessment, focusing on the Style questions.
Comments
Originally this lesson was created for a library activity only. A fourth grade teacher indicated interest and the result was this collaboration. The teacher introduces the friendly format form in the classroom. In the library, the students hear the story, review the letter form and begin their rough draft. The letters are completed in the classroom and corrected. The students may go as a class to the computer lab with their teacher, or with the technology instructor or in small groups, whatever works best at the school site.
The related book titles provide other letter starting ideas and offer longer fiction choices for students interested in reading other books in letter form.
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