Title: Tale of Two Sumos “Italian Scallion VS Apollo Gourd”
Author: Karen Poth
Publisher and Copyright Date: Big Idea, Inc. 2004
Age range: 4-8
The Story is about a cucumber that never accomplished anything he stared in life. Every time he stared something new, he gave it up when things started to get difficult. With the help of his trainer Mikey and his friend Hadrian he learned a valuable lesson, he learned to persevere.
1. Children can understand the characters because they may challenge difficult situations in school like learning to read and write. Teaching them to Persevere will help them to succeed.
2. The story if familiar to children because that is a situation that they encounter at home, schools or day care. For example, in soccer there may be kids that are good at the sport, but there may be kids that are new to the sport. Teaching the child to persevere in his training and sticking it out to the end of the season will be better than giving up and stop going to the soccer training.
3. The illustrations are attractive to children. The pictures are Colorful and I will say full of life.
4. The action in this book is understandable for children because it clearly explains feelings of disappointment and embarrassment when the character give up instead of keep trying until the end. It also explains the feeling of happiness when the cucumber goes back to his training and succeeds in it.
5. The Story conveys a message on friendship and perseverance. The cucumber decides that he needs to get back to his toughed training because he didn’t want to keep letting himself down or his friends. Perseverance was the best option.
6. The ending is satisfying for children because it explains the satisfaction of stick with a project or situation
