Book Title: King & King
Illustrator/Photographer/Artist: Betsy Stromberg
Publisher: Tricycle Press
Copyright Date: 2000
Genre: Folktale
Brief Annotation: Tired of ruling for a long time, the Queen decides it is time for her son, the Prince, to marry. After flying in many princesses and not finding any of them suitable, the Prince finally feels a stir in his heart. It is for one of the princess' brothers! Relieved that her son has found happiness, the Queen blesses the marriage and the two princes rule the kingdom together as King and King.
Your Rating (1-5) and why: 4--This book is short, simple, and to the point. The illustrations are a little unorganized and hodge-podge (collage and watercolor) for my taste, but the short tale of forced-courtship turned-happy ending is good in my opinion. The Queen doesn't even blink twice when Prince selects a Prince instead of a Princess.
Readers who will like this book: Children who have read one fairy tale after another will probably enjoy this book. It has many of the classic elements with a fun twist!
Teaching Strategy: Story Retelling (Tompkins, p. 119): I picked story retelling because it allows for 1:1 time between the student and the teacher. While the main concepts are assessed (characters, setting, events), additional comprehension is formally omitted from the evaluation. I would be interested to hear if the child had more to say about the story or other things they noticed. There's also a nice avenue to discuss how it is the same or different from other fairy tales. I wonder if the student would comment on that on their own....
Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: What do we know about princes and princesses? Have you ever thought about what would happen if a prince didn't want to marry a princess, but someone else instead?
Thanks for sharing thsi book with us as a whole class. I think it's an important book to know about in terms of the fractured fairy tale genre AND its focus on sexual preference. I'm sure you thought about how you would prep students (and their parents) for reading this story, but I'm glad you admired it enough to include it as a recommended addition to a library. I've add the title to my Amazon cart!
ReplyDeleteThe strategy you suggested is terrific for the reasons you've stated. While the book would make a good read aloud, organizing a discussion about it in a one-on-one format would allow kids to safely dig into the content. Reading conferences (which is the context in which you're suggesting a teacher does the story re-telling) is an important component of any literacy program.