The monkey and the crocodile

Originally posted on Creative Madness Mama.During the Memoria Press Classical Core Curriculum for Second Grade one of the read aloud book choices is The Monkey and the Crocodile by Paul Galdone. Discussion questions and enrichment materials for this book are included in the Memoria Press Enrichment Guide for Second Grade. I love the Memoria Press Enrichment Guides!! They make a great mini unit study. Week four is on this vintage picture book and other recommended reads include Let's Read and Find Out In the Rainforest, Amazing Animals: Monkeys, The Cat in the Hat Learning Library: Safari, So Good! We also went ahead and watched the Magic School Bus episode on the rainforest, where the kids go on a cocoa pods mystery hunt on disc 6 of the Magic School Bus DVD Collection as well. And, as per currently fascination, my six-year-old daughter AppleBlossom filled me in on all the details about the Magic Tree House book Afternoon on the Amazon and how a mango was the prize object.

Having the topic of monkeys living in a mango tree and truly enjoying the ripe fruit brought back the story she had read before and it was neat to be able to contrast that experience as we read about the monkey and his not so neighborly friend, the crocodile. We have been reading the Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling and thus we are not new to animal morality tales, but it was interesting to talk about the foundation of Jataka Tales from India.

The Monkey and the Crocodile in our copy is an old picture book. Unlike our other Paul Galdone books gracing our shelves, which are all square little hardcover books of folk tales (Three Little Kittens, The Little Red Hen, and so on...) This one is ~ 8x11” and has seen lots of use from little readers over the last 46 years! It is also available as a paperback, also from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Books. I purchased our copy used from a favorite website, ThriftBooks.com (use the link on Creative Madness Mama for 15% off your first order!).

We have gone on to talk about preparation and what we would do if a crocodile was trying to eat us...

What would you do?


This review was originally posted on Creative Madness Mama.