Tuesday- Picture Book 3

Tuesday

By: David Wiesner

Genre: Picture Book

Award: Caldecott Medal

Grade Level: I would consider this book to be an appropriate reading level for Kindergarten.  The book does not require building upon prior knowledge, except for the way the natural world operates. Text is not a major element of this picture book, but careful observation and comprehension of the illustrations is necessary.

Summary: Tuesday by David Wiesner starts by introducing the setting: Tuesday evening in a swamp. The story continues to show the adventures of the flying frogs from the swap. Throughout this particular Tuesday night the frogs fly to a town where they interrupt a young man’s dinner, intrude upon an elderly woman watching T.V., and terrorize a dog. When Wednesday morning approaches it seems as if the frogs lose their ability to fly, and must make their way back to the hum-drum life back in the swamp. Authorities of the town are confused by the lily pads strewn across the streets and the eyewitness tales from the affected townspeople. The book ends on a cliff hanger by introducing next Tuesday at a barn, where we can observe the saying “when pigs fly.”

Classroom Strategies:

Split the class into small groups and assign each group a page from the book where they create the text for the story. Allow each group to present their page and accompanying text in sequential order, to assess whether the student understands of the story. This activity also allows students to witness different outlooks their peers may have about the book.

Another activity students at the kindergarten level can complete while discussing this book is visualizing themselves as a character in the book. Have the students write a paragraph in the perspective of if they were a magical flying frog from this Tuesday and what they would do throughout the night. This activity enforces students to recall events that took place in the book and how they would adapt it to themselves.

ESOL: The classroom strategies identified in this book allow ESOL students to participate in cooperative learning, small groups, and group reading. These ESOL strategies are crucial to students because they can witness communication elements portrayed by peers, voice their opinions in a non-pressured environment, and work cooperatively with others.

Read Aloud:

The pages I would ‘read aloud’ are 27 and 28, where town officials become involved in the incident. I would read these pages to the class because many comprehension activities can be done with these two pages. For example, ask the class how they would explain the incident to the police, or if they were a police officer what clues they would use to determine what happened on that Tuesday night.

Personal Opinion: Tuesday by David Wiesner is an excellent picture book, with very detailed illustrations and limited text. I enjoyed the playful nature of the book, and loved the realistic expressions of all the characters. Wiesner’s use of color plays a significant role to the time of the book which any student can recognize.