Trade Books

The Lion & The Mouse

Pinkney, J. (2009). The Lion & The Mouse. New York, New York: Little, Brown and Books for Young Readers.


Winner of the 2010 Caldecott Metal, The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney is a retelling of Aesop’s classic fable. Heavily illustrated with little to no text on each page, the book allows readers to take an alternative look at the seemingly ferocious lion and his prey, a timid mouse. Students of all reading abilities will be able to access the story because of the book’s low Lexile level and visually rich presentation. After reading the book with the class, students will work in small groups to take notes about what they think the story means and what stylistic and moral traits from the book are transferable to the characters and stories they are learning about in class’s unit novel, Holes.


Paul Bunyan's Sweetheart

Lorbiecki, M., & Graef, R. (2007). Paul Bunyan's Sweetheart. Chelsea, MI: Sleeping Bear Press.

Written by award-winning author Marybeth Lorbieck and part of Bank Street College of Education’s Best Book of the Year list, Paul Bunyan’s Sweetheart tells the story of the legendary lumberjack’s first love, Lucette. In typical folktale fashion, the two larger-than-life characters solve some big problems out in the woods, teaching children the history of Paul Bunyan with a modern twist. Students will access prior knowledge about folktales, using their unit novel and other in-class texts, to discuss the characteristics of these stories before reading this book. The book will be read together in class and then discussed in pairs, focusing on the elements of the story, characters, and lessons learned. The book will serve as a model, both visually and textually, for the student’s to create their own folktale by the end of the unit.