Grades 2-4, Ages 7-10

Bites

Let It Rip! David and his friend Nick deviously sell Fart in a Jar to other kids. What kinds of tricks would the students like to play on other kids or adults? Make a list of the ideas and vote on the best one. David’s grandmother has a recipe for soup that keeps everyone from passing stinky wind. It’s the secret ingredient that does it! What do you think the secret ingredient could be? Create your own recipe for special soup (or any dish) that has a secret ingredient. What does this secret ingredient do? What other things that can’t be seen could be put in a jar and sold (kiss in a jar, sweat in a jar)? Have kids come up with ideas and make labels to put on jars. Have them bring in an empty jar from home. Display the jars in the classroom.

Luke and Lulu The story ends with “maybe she wasn’t as good as everyone thought she was.” What does this mean? What will Lulu do? What possibilities do the students come up with? Write a sequel in which Lulu has more adventures. Lulu is quite a dog! Create a chart and list the good things about Lulu and the bad things about Lulu. Luke really wants a dog. What kind of dog would your students want? Have them draw their fantasy dog. Play Luke and Lulu. In a gym or outdoors pair students and have one play Luke and one play Lulu. What would the dog and boy do? Where might they run?

General

• In these books, kids often take charge. Let a student take charge of the class as if he/she were one of the characters in the book. Give them something to teach, like the spelling lesson. How would they do it like a character? What would they have the class do?
• Play charades. Have a student choose a character or choose one for them. Have them act like that character and even say some lines from the book. The class has to guess which character they are portraying.
• Trying new things can be hard. Both Merry in The Too Tight Tutu and Rick in Crazy for Cake try new things and find success. What new thing would you like to try? With a partner talk about something you have always wanted to try. See if you can come up with a plan to actually try your new thing.
• Dealing with your family can sometimes be a challenge. Rick in Crazy for Cake has trouble with his mom, Merry in The Too-Tight Tutu has a brother who teases her, and Sandra in Big Bad Bunnies teases her brother and gets teased by her brother. What issues do you have with your family? Does your brother always tease you? Does your sister always want to be near you? Does your mom always need to know what you’re doing? Write a journal entry talking about what bugs you about your family. Then try to come up with a solution or compromise you can try at home (talking about it, getting your sister a new game, etc.).
• Fear is a powerful emotion. Rick in Crazy for Cake is afraid of being average, Sandra in Big Bad Bunnies is afraid of bunnies, and Snag in The Gutless Gladiator is afraid of being killed. What is something you are afraid of? It can be an animal, a brother, something serious, or something silly. Draw a poster of you conquering your fear.
• Some schools in this series have unusual or funny aspects. The Gutless Gladiator has a school for gladiators and the students in Miss Wolf and the Porkers are troublemakers. The boys in Let it Rip! sell farts in a jar at school. Make a list of the things that would make your school perfect. What would it have? What wouldn’t it have? What kind of rules would there be?
• Snag in The Gutless Gladiator hates fighting and prefers to play his fife and dance. He ends up able to change all the gladiators to be less violent. Perhaps it is partly the influence of the music he plays. Can music be that powerful? Make up a song to try and change people’s minds about something, be in war, eating vegetables, or saving electricity or anything else you choose.
• Miss Wolf and the Porkers is a take-off of the fairytale The Three Little Pigs. It is called a "fractured" fairytale. What is your favorite fairytale? Choose one and write your own mixed-up, funny, "fractured" fairytale.