Blow Your Nose, Big Bad Wolf

PreS-Gr 1—These two series titles use familiar fairy tales for their basic structures. Blow Your Nose, based on the "Three Little Pigs," reminds children how to avoid spreading germs. The story follows the classic tale, except that all the wolf wants from the pigs is a tissue to blow his nose. Denied entrance when he knocks, he sneezes and accidentally blows down the straw and stick houses. The brick house does not fall down, the pigs put a huge pot of water on the fire, and the wolf comes down the chimney too soon for the water to be boiling. Instead, he enjoys a nice warm bath, after which the protagonists straighten out the misunderstanding, the rejuvenated wolf gets a tissue, and the pigs catch his cold! Goldilocks pushes the theme of healthy eating. The little girl wants cookies and ice cream for breakfast and won't eat her cereal. She runs away and finds the empty bears' home, where she wreaks the usual havoc before napping in Baby Bear's bed. When the Bear family comes home, although Goldilocks thinks they are going to eat her for lunch, they instead make her clean up the mess she's made (including fixing Baby Bear's chair) and then invite her to share a very healthy and delicious lunch and dinner with them before accompanying her safely home. Both books have pleasing formats, large print texts, and colorful illustrations. At the end of each tale, there are simple discussion questions and an activity suggested for "next steps."