Frederick by Leo Lionni: Edicion en español

 

Title: Frederick

Author: Leo Lionni

Illustrator: Leo Lionni

Genre: Fiction, Children's Literature

Major Awards: Caldecott Medal

Ages: 4-8 Years old

Summary:

This books is about a mice named Frederick, who lived with his family in a stone wall near a farm. It has been a while, since the farmers had abandoned the barn. Therefore, the family of mices had to pick up corns, nuts, and wheat for themselves as winter approached, in order to provide food for the rest of the family. Every mice worked very hard, all day and all night, except Frederick. The hard working mices then asked Frederick why he was not working, and he responded that he was working. He was only working differently. He was enjoying the sun shine, instead. Frederick's family got really mad at him for not helping. Frederick, said that it would take a long time for winter to come again, therefore he would have no stories to tell. Then, it snowed, and they quickly sought for refugee inside their home. At first, they had stored enough food to eat as they told stories about foxes and cats. Once, the mices had ran out of food and stories to tell, then, the mices claimed to Frederick where his words were. Frederick then got very poetic. Frederick ends by answering his questions. He concludes by saying that just like the four mousses waits for the seasons to change, then one mice should be enough to pick up all the food for one season. In other words, five mousses is too much of a work, when they can all be enjoying life by resting, while one works, instead. In the end, Frederick's family agreed with him.

Book Evaluation:

1) This one was a hard one to choose as whether I would use this book in my classroom. First, of all I loved that the book is in Spanish because I do want to become more familiar with Spanish books and Bilingual books too, since I will be teaching to Bilingual students. However, I did not like the idea of having an open ending book. I think the students would be confuse by its conclusion. Also, I think the idea of Frederick being applauded for not collaborating can bring a negative connotation to the students. On the positive side, I do like the message of resting. I think rest is just as important as working. One can enjoy life more and get more things done by resting. Therefore, I would end by saying that I would recommend this book in my classroom because it does have positive messages to it. 

2) I would recommend this book for the grade level Pre-Kinder to Third grade level.

3) I would use this book in the unit of Reading Language Arts. I would have them create a KWL chart in which points out the negative and positive connotations based on this story.