Author: - Karen Lewis
Title: - Wolstencroft The Bear
Illustrator: - Michael S. Weber
Publisher: - Carol Moore; Children’s Storybooks Online
Year: - 2003
Format: - ebook
Genre: - Picture Story Book
Reading Level: - Assisted
Interest Level: - Pre-K, Early Elementary
Topics: - Names, teddy bears
Summary: - Wolstencroft the Bear anxiously waits on a store shelf for someone to buy him. As he watches all the other bears—many of them less beautiful than he—be purchased and given permanent homes, Wolstencroft wonders what could be wrong with him. A stuffed rabbit convinces Wolstencroft that the only problem he has is that his name is so long and hard to pronounce. The two animals try their best to come up with a name that fits Wolstencraft, but finally they settle on a simpler nickname: Wolly. However, even the new name doesn’t make someone want to buy Wolstoncroft. Finally, after Wolstencroft has nearly lost all hope at ever finding a home and getting a big hug, a boy and his father enter the store. The boy’s name turns out to be Wolstencroft as well! So the boy and his father purchase Wolstencroft the bear.
Extension Activity: - Students will use the Internet to research what their names mean in different languages. Then, students will decide whether or not they think the definitions describe them. Students will write a short reflection on the meaning and importance of names.
-Students will choose a new (appropriate) name that they wish to be addressed by for the remainder of the day. They will make nametags and name plates with their new names, and as a class students will participate in games that focus on learning (or in this case relearning) each others’ names.
