Author: - [Retold by] Arlene MoselTitle: - The Funny Little Woman
Illustrator: - Blair Lent
Publisher: - Puffin books
Year: - 1972
Format: - Hardcover
Genre: - Multicultural picture book
Reading Level: - Assisted
Interest Level: - Elementary
Topics: - Caldecott medal, Japanese culture, multicultural tales
Summary: - A little woman who loves to laugh and cook rice dumplings chases a lost dumpling into an underground world where the wicked oni creatures live. The little woman is captured by the oni and forced to cook dumplings for them with a magic paddle that multiplies grains of rice exponentially. After several months of cooking dumplings for the oni, the little woman realizes that she misses her home, so she took the magic paddle and escaped back home. Once home, the little woman used the magic paddle to make lots and lots of rice dumplings, and she became the richest woman in Japan.
The contrast between the water color paintings and the black-and-white illustrations helps show the difference between the "real world" above ground and the mystical world with the oni underground.
Illustrator: - Blair Lent
Publisher: - Puffin books
Year: - 1972
Format: - Hardcover
Genre: - Multicultural picture book
Reading Level: - Assisted
Interest Level: - Elementary
Topics: - Caldecott medal, Japanese culture, multicultural tales
Summary: - A little woman who loves to laugh and cook rice dumplings chases a lost dumpling into an underground world where the wicked oni creatures live. The little woman is captured by the oni and forced to cook dumplings for them with a magic paddle that multiplies grains of rice exponentially. After several months of cooking dumplings for the oni, the little woman realizes that she misses her home, so she took the magic paddle and escaped back home. Once home, the little woman used the magic paddle to make lots and lots of rice dumplings, and she became the richest woman in Japan.
The contrast between the water color paintings and the black-and-white illustrations helps show the difference between the "real world" above ground and the mystical world with the oni underground.
Extension Activities: -
--Students can make rice dumplings as a cooking project. If allergies prevent making real dumplings, students can instead use craft supplies to make dumpling representations.
--Students can make puppets to depict the story, but they would be required to rewrite one scene of the book--either the beginning, the middle, the climatic moment, or the conclusion.
--Students can make rice dumplings as a cooking project. If allergies prevent making real dumplings, students can instead use craft supplies to make dumpling representations.
--Students can make puppets to depict the story, but they would be required to rewrite one scene of the book--either the beginning, the middle, the climatic moment, or the conclusion.
