Monday, January 16, 2006

Once Upon . . . 1001 Stories

Once Upon ... 1001 Stories by Lila Prap

The Plot: How much time do you have? The story starts with the little girl on her way to her grandmother's house. Do you want to find out what happens to the girl? Or do you want to find out what happens to a rude little boy? That's the first in umpteen decisions to make, before reaching the end. "Have you had enough? Then close the book and turn to the back cover," or decide to go further with the story.

The Good: In my house, this has been dubbed "the book that never ends." Because of the amount of words per page, and the choices to be made, I think this would be difficult to use with any type of large group. With one or two kids, tho, it was a lot of fun. And given the chances to loop back into the story, not a pick for when there are time constraints. Part of the fun was getting to the end, and laughing as we plunged back into the story.

The book references traditional stories such as Little Red Riding Hood or the Frog Prince without ever using those titles. The stories are more fun when you get the connection; so this works better with kids who already know the traditional fairy tales.

While this is "1001 stories", that's mainly because the same sections can be used again and again, becoming an end, a middle, or a beginning. It's a big loop of story.

Finally, the back endpages have a map, with the little girl's house, the castle, etc. I love maps, whether its a picture book or a novel.

No comments: