Recommendation nº 7: Five Little Fiends

Front cover

Five Little Fiends is a picturebook that comes recommended by Gail Ellis, who works at the British Council in Paris.  It's one of my favourite picturebooks, so it's a great pleasure featuring it here on my blog.   Gail mentioned this title in a talk she gave at a Picturebooks in ELT Symposium in an IATEFL Conference Brighton in April 2011, and I will be sharing some of her ideas at the end of my post. 

Five Little Fiends was written and illustrated by Sarah Dyer.  It was her first picturebook and she was awarded a Nestlé Book Prize for it.  If you follow the links on her web site, you'll see she's created quite a few more picturebooks and there's also a good interview with Sarah on Saffron Tree. 

To the book!  It has a visually striking cover, five red creatures, with long claws reaching into the title.  Despite their red devilishness, they look quite friendly, don't they?  There are no endpapers in my paperback version, but the title page is a goodie.  

Title page

The red background is quite shocking and our red fiend only stands out because he has yellowy highlights.  He's hugging the world.  Once you've read this picturebook you can go back to this page and talk about the significance of this little prologue-like picture with your students. 

Opening 1

Opening 1 shows us a vast plain, (lovely texture there, possibly made with oil pastels), with "five lonely statues", each sitting on a plinth. The trees alongside them are dwarfed, so they must be very large. 

Opening 2

On the next opening, we discover that the Fiends live inside the statues.  The image on the verso there is clever, showing us a Fiend in his statue, and the writing is also inside the plinth.  We also discover that these five Fiends would come out of their statues everyday and "marvel and their surroundings".  In the illustrations we are shown five singular Fiends, looking out upon their surroundings, the land, the sky, the sea, the sun and the moon. The students you are sharing this book with will realise they can see the five elements upon revisiting the picturebook, so do encourage them to look and find the different bits when you read it again. 

Opening 3

Oh my, what a thing to do.  Each little Fiend decides to take their favourite bit.  The sun, then the land (a Fiend is shown rolling it up like it's a thick piece of rope); "one took the sky" (peeling it back, as though it's wall paper). 

Opening 5

Then "one took the sea, one took the moon". The illustrations show us two Fiends, one happily looking at his prize, the sea in a jug, with a lonely star fish. The other Fiend is chasing the moon with a butterfly net.  The two angles, one very close up the other at a distance work really nicely on this spread. 

Opening 6

Each Fiend took his prize possession back to his statue.  They are shown happily encased together with their favourite thing.  Again we see the outlines of the statues and the text divided up between the statue plinths.  As with the surroundings, which has been separated up, the sentence is also divided up into little bits, only when seen together do the bits make sense.  Those Fiends were so happy: one hugged the sun, hot and warm, another breathed in the air.  Our earth-loving Fiend smelled the flowers and our sea-loving Fiend swam with his starfish, appropriately wearing a snorkel! The last Fiend, held the moon and closed his eyes in ecstasy. But we all know what happens when we remove a piece of a puzzle, nothing works quite right anymore.  Of course ...

Opening 8 

"... they soon realised that ... " and once again it is the illustrations that are showing us what they find out, and what is confirmed when we turn the page.  For "the sun could not stay up without the sky" and without the land, "the sky was nowhere to be found", "the land started to die without water from the sea", which "could not flow without the pull of the moon" ...

Opening 11

"... and the moon could not glow without the sun."  Great illustration showing the blackness of no shining moon. Nothing worked.  So these clever Fiends got together and decided they would put everything back. And that's what they did. 

Opening 14

And together they were able to "marvel at their surrounds" in all perfection again.  If you look carefully you will see that this time they are all holding hands, reinforcing the importance of being together, thinking together about one another and the world they live in. 

Fabby book or what? So simple, yet such a powerful message.  One of the reviews, quoted in the back of this picturebook, comes from the Sunday Telegraph, "An unsanctimonious ecological parable about greed and sharing for three-to-five-year-olds". I'd agree whole-heartedly, but claim that we can use this with older students too, for the illustrations speak loudly and clearly, and provide excellent opportunities for discussion, which could fill a number of classes with activities about the environment and how it is interconnected. 

Gail suggested that we use this picturebook, not just to promote sharing and caring  but also that it be used as window into raising awareness of diversity.  Her thesis is "one based on the promotion of community cohesion.  This educates children to live with diversity and shows them how different communities can be united by common experiences and values.  It takes children from the familiar to the unfamiliar so they can see themselves as part of a larger and diverse community" (Bland et al, 2012).  She suggests that upon sharing Five Little Fiends, children could look at statues in their own school, the community within which their school is located, their own country and then other countries.   In so doing moving from the known to the unknown.  

An interesting and doable idea. Whatever you decide to do with it, even if you just read it, and re-read it,  and let your students comment about the illustrations.  It's a great little book,

Bland, J., Mourão, S., Ellis, G. Fleta, T. & Schaefer, A. (2012) Symposium on Picturebooks in ELT . In Pattison, T. (Ed.) Conference Selections Brighton 2011. Canterbury, IATEFL. 

Recommendation nº 6: The three little wolves and the big bad pig

Front cover

I've decided to feature two recommendations this month, to keep with the theme of traditional stories.   This is a wonderful title, and recommended by Helen Davies, an English teacher in a French state school.  A great suggestion Helen, and I've had loads of fun looking at this picturebook, discovering all sorts.  

Eugene Trivizas is a sociologist, with a PhD in criminology and one of Greece's leading children's authors. He's written over 100 children's books and this title was the first to be written in English.  I've already featured a picturebook illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, and her delightfully detailed watercolour illustrations bring another dimension to Trivizas already very funny words.  

The three little wolves and the big bad pig is of course a retelling of the traditional story, The three little pigs and highly suitable for older students.  Helen has used this picturebook with teens. 

The front cover is an illustration of The Three Little Wolves taking a break from building work, perched on scaffolding.  Each is nibbling something meaty, a chicken drum stick or a hamburger.  They look relaxed and happy, fastidious with checkered napkins on their laps and open lunch boxes at their sides.   It's a great cover image setting the scene for the many building projects which we will be shown as the story progresses.   However,  only the three wolves appear on the front cover and they are without doubt the goodies, but try turning over to the back cover...

Back cover

The back cover continues the illustration with scaffolding stretching across the picture, and here we see the Big Bad Pig, climbing up a ladder and leering in the direction of The Little Wolves.  It's a wonderful combination and well worth opening out the book to show the continuous image. 
The title page shows us one of the creatures we will encounter later, a beaver, well-known in the animal world for his strong dams.  He's shown next to a dirty bucket, but it's not clear till later what is actually in the bucket.

Recto 1

The first page is a single recto. A large amount of text explains which of the wolves is the oldest, "The first was black, the second was grey and the third was white."  Mother wolf tells her cubs they have to go out into the big world.  She warns them to take care of ... can you guess... the big bad pig! But look carefully at the illustrations. What is mother wolf doing? Painting her nails black!  The fur on her head is in curlers and the end of her tail, which is sticking out of the bed covers, is also in curlers.  She has a flippant look to her, tired of her cubs and ready for the good life again, the posh red slippers on the floor by the bed giving us an inkling of the way she likes to dress. 
Off go the wolf cubs and they soon meet a kangaroo carrying red and yellow bricks.  

Opening 2

As with the original story, the wolves are given what they ask for and they work hard to build their strong house of bricks.  Their lawn grows quickly too, and one day while they are playing croquet the "big bad pig came prowling down the road".  We are then treated to the well-known question answer routine, accompanied by Helen Oxenbury's delightful tongue-in-cheek paintings, showing a mean old pig and scared wolf cubs.

"Little wolves, little wolves, let me come in!"

"'No, no, no,' said the three little wolves.  "By the hair on our chinny-chin-chins, we will not let you in, not for all the tea leaves in our china teapot!'"  

Then, the pig "puffed and he puffed and he huffed and he huffed, but the house didn't fall down." 

Opening 5

"But the pig wasn't called big and bad for nothing." What did he do? He got his sledgehammer and knocked the house down!  Look carefully at the illustration, can you see the wolf cubs escaping?  The black wolf is carrying a china teapot!  They are very frightened.
We know how the story goes: the wolves need to build  a stronger house, but what is stronger than bricks?  Concrete!  They meet a beaver who is making concrete in a mixer.  He gives them all they need and they work hard on their new concrete home.

Opening 7

They are playing badminton when the big bad pig arrives. Opening 7 is a great double spread, a small black and white sketch of the pig, looking thoroughly mean and the wolves in grey tone against their grey concrete house.  The pig is a bright pink peering over the wall in the background, can you see him? 
We are told of the question answer routine, "Little, frightened wolves, let me in...."  and then when we turn the page... "But the pig wasn't called big and bad for nothing."

Opening 8

He gets "his pneumatic drill and smashes the house down"!   The close up of the pink pig with the wolves escaping in the background is hilarious.  They have tied their sheets to make a rope and the teapot is there, ready to be grasped as they flee, "but their chinny-chin-chins were trembling and trembling and trembling."
An even stronger house is needed. Luckily for the wolves, they meet a rhino driving a lorry full of "barbed wire, iron bars, armour plates and heavy metal padlocks."  "The three little wolves built  themselves an extremely strong house" and felt "very relaxed and absolutely safe"! 
This time the wolves were playing hopscotch when the pig arrives. 

Opening 11

That pig is diffiuclt to stop.  Alert students will notice the red dynamite sticks on the grass under the pig in verso and, during the usual dialogue and huffing and puffing, they already know how the big bad pig is going to destroy the house.  "Frightened little pigs, with the trembling chins, let me in!"

Opening 12

And the little wolves are running off carrying their teapot, their fluffy tails scorched.
What could they do now?  They were certain there was something wrong with their building materials. Luckily for them along came a flamingo pushing a wheelbarrow full of flowers.  

Opening 13

And they decided to build a house of flowers. It had a wall of marigolds, one of daffoldils, one of pink roses and another of cherry blossom.  The roof was made of sun flowers and they had a carpet of daisies.  It was beautiful, but very fragile. And along came the big bad pig. "Little frightened wolves with the trembling chins and the scorched tails, let me in!"
And as the pig inhaled to blow down their house ...

Opening 15

The scent from the blossoms softened his heart and he realized how terrible he had been ... "he became a big good pig". He sang and he danced and made freinds with the wolves.  They played "pig-pong and piggy-in-the-middle", and they invited him in for tea and they all lived happily ever after!

Back verso

Can you see? They are drinking tea from the teapot they salvaged from each house, as they ran for their lives. 


Hilariously funny, and kids just love the absurdity of the pig's badness and the ever stronger houses culminating in a soft swaying flowery one. Brilliant adaptation, with stunning illustrations.  It begs rereading, enabling students to discover threads of visual and verbal narratives: Visually they will pick up on the different playground games, the animals and their goods, the teapot at each escape.  Verbally they will enjoy the cumulative greeting from the pig, who begins by calling the wolves, "Little wolves, let me in!", and finishes with, "Little, frightened wolves with the trembling chins and the scorched tails, let me in!" They'll join in the memorable dialogues, and will love saying, "But the pig wasn't called big and bad for nothing."


Helen describes using the book as a base for re-telling well-known stories, with students creating their own retold stories.  Other writing activities could include:

• Taking the view of the pig and describing being bad and then becoming good, and explaining why;  
• Becoming a reporter and writing up the story for a newspaper. 
• Writing a post card to mother wolf from the cubs, explaining the events, and the happy eneding. 

These are challenging activities, but possible with older students who have a fair bit of language competece.   This link, to a set of Scholastic activities, meant for mainstream learners but useful for ideas, may be of interest.  Enjoy!

Recommendation nº 5: The gigantic turnip

Front cover

The Gigantic Turnip, illustrated by Niamh Sharkey has been recommended by Teresa Fleta, a teacher, teacher educator and great friend, who lives in Madrid, Spain.  I'd only seen this title in Portuguese, so it was good to order it in English and give it a good look over. 

I've already featured a picturebook by Niamh Sharkey, an Irish illustrator who uses oil paints to create her big, bold illustrations.   You can see her brush strokes in some of the backgrounds and they add a lovely textured feel to her work.  

This particular picturebook is published by Barefoot Books, they have a very special publishing moto, here's a part of it: "Interactive, playful and beautiful, our products combine the best of the present with the best of the past to educate our children as the caretakers of tomorrow".  

As you can see from the front cover the book comes with a CD which contains the narrated story - a nice addition, read by clear-voiced Ellen Verenieks.  

We all know the Russian folk tale, made famous by Aleksei Tolstoy, about an old couple who plant some turnip seeds and one grows to such an enormous size that they can't pull it out without help from their animals.  It's a cumulative story, getting longer and longer as more animals are called to help the old couple.  Finally they manage to pull up the turnip with the help of a mouse and everyone eats a very large amount of turnip soup or stew.  It's well known in ELT, and included in course books and reader sets. 

Portuguese turnips

The big orange root vegetable we can see on the front cover is actually quite unlike a turnip.  Turnips are white with a purpley top.  The turnip in the illustration looks more like a swede, of similar shape, but more orangey in colour and completely different in taste. But this is a cultural thing, for in Ireland and Scotland, swedes are called turnips! In the States they're called swedish turnips.  When I show this image to my students they can't quite match their Portuguese turnips with this yellow thing! 

But let's look at the book, the back cover has a nice collection of other vegetables for us to look at, most of which are immediately recognisable. 

Back cover

The half title page contains a small cameo of the elderly couple pulling at the turnip, an illustration which is also shown later in the story, and the copyright and title pages introduce us to some of the characters in the story, again snippets from within. They don't contribute in any way to the narrative, though children will comment on the large cow underneath the title  during repeated reads, confirming it is the cow from the story. 

Copyright and title page

The first spread introduces us to the couple, in their overgrown garden, with the verbal text appearing in the garden path, with the font changing size.  

Opening 1

The following spreads set the scene, introducing the animals in the story, and the act of planting. Here are the animals.  Note they start in the verso with the smallest of animals and finish in recto with the big brown cow. 

Opening 2

We need rain for plants to grow, so along it comes beautifully depicted in this spread showing the dark night and the plants in the garden beginning to grow.  Can you see the turnip leaves already big and strong?

Opening 4

We are told, not shown that the seasons pass, everything is harvested and that at the end of the row there is a gigantic turnip.

Opening 5

Nice use of space here, and children really get a feel for the size of the turnip.   The enlarged font works well too. And so the next day the old man got up ... there's a lovely bit where the verbal text says, "the old man sat up in bed, sniffed the cool, late summer air and said, 'It's time for us to pull up that turnip.'",   And he really did try, and here begins the cumulative, repetitive part of the story : "The old man pulled and heaved and tugged and yanked, but the turnip would not move."   And so he calls his wife, and they "... pulled and heaved and tugged and yanked, but the turnip would not move."  The woman fetched the brown cow. 

Opening 9

Can you see the pigs in the background?  On each occasion we are shown the animals who will be called to help when everyone is unable to budge the turnip.  And of course they get smaller in size and larger in number.  "The old man, the old woman, the big brown cow, two pot-bellied pigs, three black cats, four speckled hens, five white geese, and six yellow canaries, pulled and heaved and tugged and yanked. STILL the turnip would not move." 

Opening 14

They were  all exhausted! "But the woman had an idea." She found a mouse, who she caught using some cheese, and she took him outside to help. 

Opening 17

And so now it was almost night time, they've spent all day trying to pull up this turnip!  "The old man, the old woman, the big brown cow, two pot-bellied pigs, three black cats, four speckled hens, five white geese, and six yellow canaries, and the hungry little mouse pulled and heaved and tugged and yanked."  

Opening 18

"POP!", every thing went backwards ... "The canaries fell on the mouse, the geese fell on the canaries... [and so on].  All of them lay on the ground and laughed." The turnip could almost be a planet in this illustration it is so big!   Every one ate the huge turnip stew, but "the hungry little mouse ate most of all."

The mouse also has a lunar look to him in the illustration, with the night sky as a background.  

Facing the verso illustration, you can see the CD and back flap with information about the illustrator, narrator and Barefoot Books.  All nicely compact. 

It's a nice version of the traditional story, with lovely illustrations.  The verbal text is long, but much of it is repetitive, and the children will enjoy chorusing the different animals, especially "two pot-bellied pigs". Teresa didn't give me any follow up activities, but we can all imagine a fun dramatisation with masks and enough characters for a classroom of 25, if one child is the turnip! Great fun!  But most of all read this several times over a number of lessons.  The exposure to the rich language will help children remember it and they'll soon join in. 

Thanks to Teresa for sharing!

Recommendation 2: The smartest giant in town

Front cover

A research colleague and fellow picturebook lover, Annett Schaefer prompted me to talk about The smartest giant in town, by Julia Donaldson and Axel Shaeffler.  Annett lives and works in Germany and she has used this picturebook with primary students there.  It's opportune that a book by Julia Donaldson be featured this month, as a couple of weeks ago she was nominated as Children's Laureate, and will be very busy promoting all sorts of book related happenings around the UK between now and June 2013. Congratulations to Julia and may she do many wonderful things over the next two years. 

Back to picturebook of this post!  The smartest giant in town... does outward appearance really matter?  George thought so!  He was a scruffy giant, the scruffiest in town, "He always wore the same pair of old brown sandals and the same old patched up gown."  This is the story of George and his smart new clothes.    Julia Donaldson almost always writes in rhyme, though in this picturebook she's mixed prose with rhyme.  I often wonder how writers and illustrators work together and whose ideas belong to who - who decides what will be in the illustrations? I found an article in the Guardian which answered my question: Julia readily admits that  all the illustrative ideas belong to Axel Scheffler, "He adds so many little witty touches to the books."  In this picturebook there are loads of other things to notice,  dozens of references to other stories, often traditional ones, which children will recognize almost immediately. 

Let's start with the covers, the front and back.  A great big spread showing us the characters that appear in the story, dwarfed by a giant pair of legs wearing smart black shoes.   

Title page

The title page gives us a cameo illustration of the giant, he's looking forlorn, in old clothes and sandals.  It's a contrast to the the title sitting above the illustration, announcing that the giant is smart and we've also just been shown smart looking giant legs on the cover, so it gets our curiosity going and already we are wondering whether this is the smart giant we are going to read about. 

Opening 1

The opening spread shows us a busy street scene: it's a land of make believe, filled with normal sized people, giants and creatures wearing clothes, some taken right out of well known traditional stories.   Do you recognize any of the characters in this illustration? Could the two children by the fountain be Hansel and Gretel? There's Puss in Boots and a dwarf from Snow White for sure, and the fountain is reminiscent of The little Mermaid.  Can you see the sign right on the edge of the recto page? "NEW! GIANT SIZES", a clue for what might come next!

Opening 2

And sure enough! This is just what our giant happens upon, a shop selling smart clothes, and they have his giant size!  He buys a whole set of new clothes, and becomes "... the smartest giant in town".  I love his socks, "with diamonds down the sides".  A sign of true smartness!

George the giant leaves his old clothes in the shop and off he goes looking terribly smart.  But of course something has to happen, he meets a sad giraffe, whose long neck is terribly cold. 

Opening 4

And in true kindness, George gives the giraffe his tie, and as he walks away he begins a song, which continues through the book: 

"My tie is a scarf for a cold giraffe, 

But look me up and down - 

I'm the smartest giant in town."

Look at the illustrations on this spread.  A lovely looking giantess quite fancies our George; there's one of the pigs from Three little pigs; another dwarf; a studious rabbit is peering at a "MIssing Giraffe" poster; a man carrying a chicken; there's a rabbit using a mobile phone.  Children will notice and want to comment on these features. There is so much going on. George of course continues oblivious to the activity around him!  

He comes to a river and a goat who was "bleating loudly", on a boat of all things (it rhymes with goat as we will see in a bit!).  The poor goat has lost his sail, and so George donates his very smart shirt. This is the visual sequence we see on the two spreads: 

Opening 5

Opening 6

And it's repeated three more times: Left verso shows George meeting an animal in distress, facing right recto with three cameo illustrations describing the animal's distress, followed by a new page showing George resolving the problem by donating an item of clothing and finally walking away, singing his little ditty, which gets gradually longer as you can see here:

"My tie is a scarf for a cold giraffe, 

My shirt's on a boat as a sail for a goat,

But look me up and down - 

I'm the smartest giant in town."

And so George meets a family of mice, whose house had burned down. He gives them his ... shoe of course!  It's reminiscent of "There was an old lady who lived in a shoe"! He then met a fox, who was crying next to his tent because his sleeping bag was wet. So George gave him his very smart yellow sock with diamonds down the side. Then he met a dog who was stuck in a muddy bog, so George gave him his belt to cross the bog. And of course as you look at  these different spreads look out for more of the three little pigs and a princess and a frog!

And here is George, very pleased with himself, skipping happily along with one shoe and sock,  and a pair of belt-less trousers ...

Opening 12

... and his song has got quite a bit longer! 

"My tie is a scarf for a cold giraffe, 

My shirt's on a boat as a sail for a goat,

My shoe is a house for a little white mouse,

One of my socks is a bed fro a fox,

My belt helped a dog who was crossing a bog ..."

But oh dear, what happens?

Opening 13

With no belt, his trousers fall down!  And now he's cold and "not at all smart".  Poor George! So he decides to go back to the town and find his old clothes.   Lucky for him they were outside the shop in a very large plastic bag.  Once he had his old clothes back on he felt like "the cosiest giant in town!" and was quite content.  But that's not the end!  Waiting for him back at home were the five animals he had helped. 

Opening 14

They had made him a very special crown and written a thank you letter.  And so George became the kindest giant in town!  

The illustrations in The smartest giant in town support the words very closely, but the additional mini-stories that appear via the ad hoc appearance of other story characters leave lots of space for chattering and wondering. Annett describes observing a teacher in Germany who let the children talk about the illustrations in German before she read the words on the page.  She did this with 6-7 year olds and 8-9 year olds, who have 50 minutes of English once a week.  She described the process like this: " The teacher being [very] experienced and knowing the children very well gave them a lot of time to speak about the pictures in the mother tongue just supplying individual words in English here and there such as animal names (frog, squirrel) for example before reading out the text on one page in English." I really like this idea, and it's something I do a lot when sharing picturebooks with children and upon rereading picturebooks children begin to describe and label illustrations in English.  
Annett presented at a conference about this picturebook and a section of her presentation was summarised thus:  "Although the children’s initial responses prompted by the pictures in the book were exclusively in their mother tongue, Annett argued that they are nonetheless facilitating L2 learning. By reading the pictures and talking about them, she stated that children construct a framework of possible meanings that may become more elaborate and more precise as they decode visual images and language structures during repeated storytelling sessions. The pictures act as a form of scaffolding device in the same way as recurrent language structures in the literary text provide an ‘entry point or way into the story’ (Cameron 2001: 163). Annett stated that the children’s first language was an invaluable aid in that process as individual words used by the children in their L1 can be taken up by the teacher to introduce new language items in the L2."  
Rereading a picturebook is essential in enabling the L1 to support the L2, I can't emphasise enough the importance of sharing a picturebook at least three times with a group of children, not only does it help them move from L1 to L2, but it also gives children time to look and listen and understand, each time they'll pick up something new and different. As EFL teachers we focus on children's imitation of the words on a picturebook page, but in fact the illustrations also have significance, and words are needed to describe them. I've been saying this at conferences,  but I'l say it again, picturebooks are pictures and words and both can be used to promote language use. 
Annett described some follow up activities which are nice to feature here too.  She used a handout from the British Council in Hong Kong, which can be down loaded here.  Here's a scan of the mix and match activity the older children did.  As you can see, the song is an excellent way to focus on language, as it's repetitious and cumulative. 

They also looked at thank you cards, which they wrote in German, though a similar activity could be done in English with children who are more confident in their writing skills. 


I'd like to thank Annett for sharing some of her thoughts and ideas around this picturebook, and for allowing me to share some of the children's work.  Here's the reference she used:
Cameron, L. 2001. Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.