The
Monarch
Award:
Illinois'
K-3
Children's Choice Award
2009
Master List
Sponsored by
the
Illinois
School Library Media Association
2009 Nominee: Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle DudeA school girl cooperatively writing a fairy tale imagines a beautiful princess whose beloved ponies are being stolen by a giant while her partner, a boy, conjures up a muscular biker who will guard the last pony in exchange for gold.
Author: Kevin O'Malley
Illustrators: Kevin O'Malley, Carol Heyer, & Scott Goto
Book
Activities
- Discussion questions: What is a fairy tale? a fractured fairy
tale? What is a stereotype?
- Language arts: Tell a "yarn". One child starts a story then tosses
the ball of yarn to another to continue the story an so on. Limit
each student to one ir two sentences,
- Writing: Take a familiar fairy tale and write a fractured version.
Pair a boy and a girl
- Math: Discuss horsepower. Find the horsepower for popular vehicles today. Relate that to energy/gas consumption.
- Science: Discuss motorcycle safety. Research motorcycles and horses/ponies. Make a Venn diagram. Talk about horsepower.
- Social Studies: Research famous motorcycle riders (Evel Knievel) and motorcycle feats. Invite a motorcycle policeman to visit school.
- Drama: Make a reader's theater of the book.
- Cooking/Food: What foods would the princess eat? The motorcycle
dude?
- Art: Three different people illustrated the book. Which
illustrations do you like best? Find other books by the
illustrators. Do the illustrations go with the story?
- Music: Find music to play for the "princess" and for the "dude".
- Movement: Pretend to ride motorcycles or horses.
Related Books
- Mount Olympus Basketball by Kevin O'Malley
- Falling for Rapunzel by Leah Wilson
- Shrek by William Steig
- Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
- The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
An Undone Fairy Tale by Ian Lendler- Princess and the Pea by Lauren Child
The
2009 Nominee Resources