Tompert, Ann.
GRANDFATHER TANG'S STORY
New York : Dragonfly, 1997
IL K-3, RL 3.6
ISBN 0517885581

(2 booktalks)

Everyone knows that grandfathers tell the best stories. In this story of Chinese folklore a grandfather shares the story of two magic fox fairies with his granddaughter, little Soo. Throughout the story each fox tries to outdo the other by changing shape.  One becomes a rabbit and the other changes into a dog to chase the rabbit. In the midst of their efforts to outdo each other they are faced with a dangerous situation when they run into a hunter.  Will the foxes be able to pull together and escape?
This splendid story is illustrated with beautiful watercolor paintings.  In addition, each page of the story is told through the use of traditional Chinese tangrams.  As the fox fairies transform themselves into various animals, the nine tangram shapes are manipulated to create each of the animal shapes.  (Katie Morel, teacher, cleankatie@msn.com)

Booktalk #2

This is a cute book about friendship and standing by your friends through tough times. The book uses the art of Chinese tangrams and folklore of the fox fairies. They use their supernatural powers of transformation to change into different animals to get away from each other. But when one of the foxes is hurt, the other fox stays with his friend until they are safe. Great for an integrated math lesson, especially for introducing geometry. The author includes lesson ideas inside the front and back cover. (Kimberly Cash, climbingbeta@yahoo.com, teacher)