What is your favorite version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears?

My brother called me today and asked for a recommendation on the best version of The Three Bears for my niece (who is 3 1/2 going on 7). The first version that came to mind was by Jan Brett but I know that there are so many others!

What are your favortie versions of this story? Comment on the blog or tweet me at @LiteracyCounts.

BOOK OF THE DAY: The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

The Lion & the Mouse

In award-winning artist Jerry Pinkney's wordless adaptation of one of Aesop's most beloved fables, an unlikely pair learn that no act of kindness is ever wasted. After a ferocious lion spares a cowering mouse that he'd planned to eat, the mouse later comes to his rescue, freeing him from a poacher's trap. With vivid depictions of the landscape of the African Serengeti and expressively-drawn characters, Pinkney makes this a truly special retelling, and his stunning pictures speak volumes. ~ Product Review from Amazon

One of the reasons I love this version of the story is the illustrations! They are amazingly engaging! It's no surprise that this book is the winner of a 2010 Caldecott Medal. The book has minimal text (mostly onomatopoeia), but the illustrations tell the story in an obvious way.

Related Activities:

• I know I say this often when I present my Book of the Day, but I'll say it again. Learn about the author, Jerry Pickney. Show children his photograph, learn about his life. Helping children learn about authors and illustrators adds a level of reality to the books you read. Children are able to see authors and illustrators as "real people" and may be more likely to see themselves as authors and illustrators too! View this interview with Jerry Pickney from Reading Rockets.
• Learn about onomatopoeia! Young children LOVE to learn big words. Make a list of onomatopoeic words. Tip: You may want to make the list on chart paper and leave it hanging in the room - children will think of many words over the next few days to add to the list! Examples: animal sounds (like oink, meow, moo), honk-honk (Wheels on the Bus song is full of them!), zip, crash, hiccup, zoom, slurp, bang, etc...
• Learn about the Serengeti (the setting for this book).
• Make a flannel board version of the story for the children to re-tell in their own words.
• Explain what a "fable" is and read other fables.
• Visit First School and DLTK for more :Lion and the Mouse patterns and activities. 
• Make lion masks and mouse puppets (from Enchanted Learning).
• Read other versions of The Lion and the Mouse and compare the stories.

The Mitten by Jan Brett

In honor of Fairy Tale Month at the Pratt Library, the Book of the Day is

• Visit the Teaching Heart Site for a list of activities, lessons, and patterns related to this story.
• Enchanted Learning has additional patterns and activities.
• Visit Jan Brett's site for online activities and printables.
• Find Ukraine on a map. Visit your local library and see if they have CDs of traditional Ukrainian music. Put blue and yellow paint at the easel and encourage children to paint the Ukrainian flag.

Related Post: Multicultural Tales

Eric Carle's Treasury of Classic Stories for Children

In honor of Fairy Tale Month at the Pratt Library, the Book of the day is

Eric Carle's Treasury of Classic Stories for Children is a collection of over 20 stories from Aesop, Hans Christian Anderson, and the Brother's Grimm.

Other fairy tale compilations:

The Princess and the Pea by Rachel Isadora

In honor of Fairy Tale Month, the BOOK OF THE DAY is:

• Visit the Classic Fairy Tale page to find many fairy tale ideas, activities, and lesson plans.
• Add doll beds to block area (or housekeeping) and several "mattresses" (you can make them from felt or pieces of foam).
• Visit Scholastic's Teacher Guide on Discovering Fairy Tales.
• Have the children write or illustrate their own version of the story.
• Plant pea sprouts!
• Allow the children to to see peas still in their pods! They can shell the peas and eat them or use them in a recipe (like vegetable soup!)
• Read other books by Rachel Isadora such as The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Hansel and Gretel, or The Fisherman and His Wife.

The Little Red Hen by Jerry Pinkney

In honor of Fairy Tale Month, the BOOK OF THE DAY is:

• During Choice Time or Center Time, allow students to listen to the story on Starfall.com.
• Make a Rebus Story on chart paper.
• Tie this story in with a unit on cooperation.
• First School and Hubbards Cupboard have an abundance of ideas, patterns, and lesson plans.
• Sing the Little Red Hen song.
• Learn about chickens! Check your local farms to see if they offer chick-hatching projects. We've used Quiver Farms and the experience has been great. First, check with your local licensing agency or health department before doing any animal project.
• Have a bread taste test, then ask the children their favorite and graph the results.
• Allow children to experiment with yeast and water to watch it rise; then bake some bread!
• Read Bread Bread Bread (Mulberry Big Book) by Ann Morris and Everybody Bakes Bread (Carolrhoda Picture Books) by Norah Dooley and discuss the role that bread plays in cultures all over the world.
• Read Teamwork also by Ann Morris and discuss the role that teamwork (or lack of) played in the story of the Little Red Hen.
• Read other versions of The Little Red Hen and compare/contrast the stories and characters.

Stone Soup by Jon Muth

In honor of Fairy Tale Month, the BOOK OF THE DAY is:

• Visit DLTK site for a variety of story-related activities, coloring pages, and recipes.
• Sing the Stone Soup Song (from Songs for Teaching).
• Share Stone Soup (Chinese Edition) with your class. Although you may not be able to "read" it, it is important that children are exposed to other languages.
• Add paper shaped like a pot to your art and writing areas. During Center Time or Choice Time, the children can choose to draw or paint pictures of their own version of stone soup.
• Have each child bring a vegetable to school, and make stone soup. There are many variations of recipes available online.
• Read other versions of this story such as Stone Soup by Ann McGovern.
• Make a flannel board story by cutting out a pot, stone, and vegetables out of felt. Use DLTK's coloring pages to find patterns.
• Make a Stone Soup Alphabet Book. Illustrate parts of the story and focus on the letters (ex: S is for soup, O is for onion, p is for pot, etc). You don't have to include all 26 letters! Just include a few that you might be working on during this unit.

Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermott

In honor of fairly tale month at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, the Book of the Day is:

• Visit DLTK, Little Giraffes, First School for a variety of spider crafts, poems, and other activities.
• Read other spider books such as The Itsy Bitsy Spider byIza Trapani or The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle.
• Some spider facts from Kinder Korner
• Visit National Geographic to learn about spiders.
• Visit Puppets.org for more activities related to this story.
• Read other Anansi stories such as Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock.
• Visit Gerald McDermott's website, learn about the author, and read his other books.

Visit my Multicultural Tales Blog for more ideas!

Do you have other ideas that you would like to share? Comment below.