The Dog Who Cried Wolf by Keiko Kasza

This book was a great book for kids. I really enjoyed reading it. It was simple and had such a cute moral to the story. It makes it easy for kids to enjoy, but also understand at the same time. It was a story about a little dog who ran away to be free like a wolf and vend for himself, until he realizees what he's missing. He finds out that it isn't easy to be on his own. I think many people of different ages can relate to this, because we always want to grow up. For example, when I came to college I thought it was all fun and games. But it's work, school, bills to pay, and homework to do. It is a cute life lesson.

A Fairy Tale Life by Joann Johansen Burch

A Fairy - Tale Life (a story by Hans Chrisitian Anderson) by Joann Johansen Burch was a cute book. The story took place in the 1800's in Denmark. The story was about a poor young boy. He was tall, skinny, and funny looking. This lead him to get picked on, so his parents would spoil him and baby him. So he was able to get away with not going to school after a couple of incidents. Ever since he was little, he loved to sing and dance. He knew that someday he was to be in the theatre business. His mom didnt believe in him too much and took him to a fortune teller thinking that she would discourage him from trying. However, she had the opposite reaction. The fortune teller told him that everyone in his town would light a candle for his name by their window.

One day, he went out in search of finding a job in the theatre. Everyone said he had amazing talent, but all had an excuse as to why they didn't want him in their shows. He was either too funny looking or he needed an education. He was told these things quiet often and became very sad each time, but he never gave up. He decided he wanted to write, but was told again he needed an education. He then got a scholarship to attend a school for free. After a couple of struggles, he soon became a famous writer. He wrote novels, plays, and poems. He became famous in particular for a Fairy Tale that ws based upon his life but make believe characters. His town lit candles by the windown in honor of his name. He knew that he was now famous and that the fortune teller was right.

This was a cute book.It is a great example of never giving up on your dreams. No matter what background you come from, there are always possiblities. It also is a great example of the importance of an education. In the story, a lot of the people wouldn't hire him beacuse of his lack of education. Once he was able to get the proper education, he then became looked upon and famous. It was a cute story, it is a little different, because it was based on the old days, and it was a narrator telling the story. It may have been more interesting coming from Hans Christian's perspetive. I liked the fact that the pictures were kind of just black outlines for the characters, so I used my imagination as to what they looked like.

Overall, it was a cute book. It is a book I can ask them to read over a couple of weeks and write a report about what they learned from the book using examples from the book.

Goha the Wise Fool

I read Goha the Wise Fool by Denys Johnson - Davies. It was about a gentleman named Goha. At the end of the book it has a paragraph giving the background information about this book. It is unknown where he came from, several Middle Eastern countries claim he originated with them. I'm not sure when the story took place or exactly where. I'm guessing definitely in a mid eastern country, because it takes place in a small town where they ride donkeys. Some claim he is a real man, while others say he is make believe. 

When I first read this book, I didn't like it too much. Every page is a story about Goha, so it was a little confusing and a little random to read. Some stories went together and were interesting, others I felt a little lost on. I knew the moral was going to be about Goha and that he was a wise man that went through trials and outsmarted them. As I reread it, I started seeing that there was more to it.

All the stories had the same concept. It seemed as if everyone around Goha was trying to trick him. His friends went to his house and tried tricking him, but he ended up tricking them before they got to him. At one point in the story his own wife wanted to trick him. my favorite is the way he outsmarted her. He bought 3 pounds of fine meat and asked her to cook the meat. While he was gone some ladies came over and smelt the good meat. They all agreed to get a small taste of the meat, it was so delicious they wanted more. They kept tasting it until they realized it was all gone. When he got home, his wife told him that the neighbors cat ate the meat. Goha go the cat and weighed him in front of the wife. The cat weighed exactly 3 pounds and asked the wife if this cat weighs 3 pounds, then how could the meat possibly be inside.

Another moral of the story was not to care what people around think of you. He took his son on a journey where they did things that was normally unseen and would let the people talk about them. It seemed as if no matter what they did people would still have something to say, so they learned to ignore it.

Goha's character is a great role model for children. He was funny at times, wise at most times, and at the right times he was a great trickster. It was a great book that bullies might even want to read, so they can know that they might be outsmarted themselves and might stop them from trying things. It was also a good lesson in which it doesn't matter what people think of you. People are always going to say something no matter what, so you have to ignore it or you have to be witty and outsmart them. I wouldn't personally read this to my children. The morals of the book were really cute, but I feel like 2nd graders wouldn't really relate to the book as much and might get confused. If I did, I might just read it then explain what happened after each page in my own words along with the pictures.