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Del Sol Books provides the best Spanish/English/Bilingual Children's Books/CDs/DVDs, featuring Alma Flor Ada, F. Isabel Campoy, and Suni Paz

Alma Flor AdaAuthor : Alma Flor Ada, Illustrator : Leslie Tryon
Preschool - 2nd Grade

Dear Peter Rabbit

Del Sol Books, Get The Complete SetDear 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

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Dear Peter RabbitAmerican 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 awake one evening while driving home would result in the creation of a whole new world, the world of “Hidden Forest”. Of course, it took the genius of Leslie Tryon to make it true. I’m frequently asked how did I come up with the idea for Peter Rabbit. It happened without planning. Driving home, afraid to fall sleep while driving after a long day of classes, I would dictate into my tape recorder, notes to myself and to my students. Once, just for fun I started talking with the voices of pigs and wolves. Many months later, when I accidentally discovered the recording, I realized there was a book to be written.

Vienna RoseListen 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 : “A series of letters penned by beloved storybook characters tell 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 when you come up.” In reply, Goldilocks McGregor writes about vegetables missing from the garden and the “tiny jacket” and the “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 the 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 along events quickly and  create a unique voice for each author.  Tryon’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 content of each letter. Drawings of Peter Rabbit and McGregor are appropriately reminiscent of Beatrix Potter’s originals. Children will be enchanted by this opportunity to meet familiar faces in new settings.”

San Francisco Chronicle : “Alma Flor Ada, a prolific author of bilingually published children’s books, makes a whimsical and original contribution with Dear Peter Rabbit, simultaneously released in a carefully translated Spanish edition as Querido Pedrín, both illustrated by Leslie Tryon. Written as a series of letters between storybook characters Peter rabbit, the Three Pigs and Goldilocks and her new friend Baby Bear it weaves these and other characters together in serendipitous ways until they all converge at a birthday party for Goldilocks.”  

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:

Time required for lesson, 3 Days

Materials/resources

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

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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."

  4. 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.

  5. 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).

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.


Story Collection Green Books and CDs :
Abecedario de los animales, Del Sol BooksAbeceloco, Del Sol BooksAntes y ahora, Del Sol BooksAtentamente ricitos de oro, Yours Truly Goldilocks, Del Sol BooksCristina y la rana, Del Sol BooksCuentos que contaban nuestras abuelas, Tales Our Abuelitas Told, Del Sol BooksDear Peter Rabbit, Del Sol BooksEl gallo que fue a la boda de su tio, The Rooster Who Went to His Uncles Wedding, Del Sol BooksEl reino de la geometria, Del Sol BooksEl Unicornio del Oeste, The Unicorn of the West, Del Sol BooksEncaje de piedra, Del Sol BooksExtra Extra, Del Sol BooksGet Up Rick, Del Sol BooksHabia una vez en Dragolandia, Del Sol BooksLa moneda de oro, The Gold Coin, Del Sol BooksMe encantan los Saturdays y domingos, I Love Saturdays and Sundays, Del Sol BooksMe llamo Maria Isabel, My Name is Maria Isabel, Del Sol BooksMi dia de la A a la Z, My Day from A to Z, Del Sol BooksRosa Raposa, Del Sol BooksSalta Saltarin, Del Sol BooksThe Malachite Palace, Del Sol BooksThe Three Golden Oranges, Del Sol BooksWith Love Little Red Hen, Del Sol BooksUna semilla de luz, Del Sol Books

Bilingual Collection Green Books and CDs :
Canciones para el recreo, Alerta Sings Songs for the Playground, Del Sol Books
Daniel y su mascota - Daniels Pet, Del Sol BooksEl misterioso huevo de Daniel, Daniels Mystery Egg, Del Sol BooksGathering the Sun, Del Sol BooksLa lagartija y el sol - The Lizard and the Sun, Del Sol BooksMama Goose, Del Sol BooksMerry Navidad, Del Sol BooksMuu Moo, Del Sol BooksPio Peep, Del Sol BooksQuiero ayudar - Let Me Help, Del Sol Books


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