Barbara KnutsonReseñas

Independent Reading Level: 5-9 years old/ Grade Level: Kindergarten- 3rd
Awards & Honors: Anne Izard Storyteller Choice Award

"A colorfully illustrated introduction to Kwanzaa, an African and African-American holiday celebration, explains its history and meaning and offers recipes for a Kwanzaa Feast, including baked plantains, fried catfish, and Caribbean-flavored soups.:" www.amazon.com

The Guinea Fowl and Cow are best friends. Both of them keep an eye out for Lion. When Lion threatens, each must intervene to save the other. Beautiful watercolors transform this tale into a visual delight.

Retells the African folktale from the Bakongo people of Zaire in which Crab's pride influences his creator, who leaves crab without a head to make him humble

I found this book to be really interesting and funny. The book is about a leopard and hare building the same house at different times and not knowing that the other was helping. In the end, the hare was able to trick the leopard and get the while house to himself. I think this is a good book for kids to read because it is funny and deals with the smaller animal beating the bigger animal.

Sangura and Leopard: A swahili Trickster Tale is about a leopard and a hare name Sangura and how they end up getting along and living together. This story is written using African story telling elements. The illustrations are a mixture of scratchboard and water colors and are absolutely beautiful. There are parts in the story where the illustrations are inside of a box. There are also parts where there are tiny illustrations that go along with a short phrase.

Love and roast chicken is about a guinea pig and a fox. The guinea pig is always trying to outwit the fox and always has sly ways to weasel himself out of his problems. This is a fun story about a gullible fox and a guinea pig who is always into trouble! In the end the fox vows to stay away from the guinea pig so he is never put in harms way again. The guinea pig manages to keep himself out of trouble because he no longer has a scapegoat.

A guinea pig outsmarts a fox who wants to eat him for dinner

Cuy, the guinea pig keeps being interrupted by Tio Antonio the Fox, who wants to eat Cuy. But Cuy is smart and creative, and he keeps fooling the fox, even when it seems like there is no way out.

A charming tale about a guinea pig outsmarting a fox... more than once. It was inspired by a trickster story that the author heard while living in the Andes.

This tale follows Cuy, a guinea pig who must escape a fox to prevent being eaten. The story tells of several different escape plans, the best of all being at the end when Cuy is tied up by the fox. This results in Cuy managing to trick the fox into switching places with him, allowing for his safe escape.

This was a cute book. I did enjoy it. I thought it was an enjoyable tale that could teach a lesson.

I had mixed feelings about this book. There were some parts of the book that I liked and some parts of the book that I didn't like, One thing that I liked was that this book included different recipes and crafts that people do during or on the days of kwanzaa. I really liked the illustrations in the book because most of them were actual photos of foods,recipes and crafts. This book was more of informational/do it yourself book so it lacked a plot, which I didn't really like because at times it got boring to read it. In the beginning of the book there is a short story about kwanzaa and what the holiday is all about. In this passage I really enjoyed the way the author wrote about kwanzaa because there seemed to be a lot of passion for the holiday and this section of the book was very engaging, it made me want to learn more about kwanzaa. The main purpose or big idea of this book would be to learn a little about kwanzaa and really use the recipes and crafts in the book for your holiday to be special.

This is a Swahili story about a rabbit and a leopard who find themselves sharing a living space unexpectedly. It is a story of trickery and deceit but also of fear and wit.

A folktale about a guinea pig who continuously outsmarts a fox. Great for students learning to anticipate future events within a story.

The author, Barbara Knutson, uses this story as an opportunity to introduce spanish terms into this Peruvian story, making it feel more authentic. This trickster tale delights as it is hard to believe the fox can believe the guinea pig every time!

Let me start by saying this was a great book to read to my students. Another in a long line of trickster tales this is the story of Cuy the guinea pig and how he outwits his larger and stronger protagonist Tio Antonio the Fox. Through quick wits, a little luck, and a dimwitted fox, Cuy lives to outwit another day.

A fun trickster folktale of a guinea pig, Cuy, who avoids being eaten time and time again by a fox by tricking him. Though Cuy is not the most honest of protagonists, his actions teach the fox to stop chasing him if he doesn't enjoy being tricked. The artwork reflects the vibrant culture of the book, set within the Andes Mountains of South America, and would be a great addition to a classroom bookshelf to introduce culture and the Spanish language to children.

This was a fun book to read and reminded me of Uncle Remus stories I read as a child. This would be a good addition to sharing the different types of trickster tales.

Summary: This is a cute story about a trickster guinea pig named Cuy who keeps outsmarting Tio Antonio, the fox that wants to eat him. The story ends when Cuy tricks Tio Antonio into taking his place after being captured by a farmer. When the farmer lets Tio Antonio go, the fox decides it would be better to just stay away from Cuy.

Personal Reactions: I liked this story a lot. In many of the stories like this, one of the characters ends up hurt and THEN decides to stay away from the other character, but this one ends peacefully with both characters deciding to go opposite ways.

Classroom Extensions:
1. Draw a scene from the book. Cuy tricks Tio Antonio into holding up a rock to keep the sky from falling, he talks him into hiding because the world is going to end and be engulfed in flames, and he talks him into taking his place when he is captured by the farmer.
2. This is a story from South America, so we could discuss the different cultures from South America.

This story is a cute story of Cuy a Ginnie pig that has a problem with food - He is hungry and figuring a way to eat all the time. Then along comes a coyote that thinks Cuy would be a good meal, but Cuy is clever and out smarts the fox in several funny endeavor until the fox just gives up and leaves Cuy to keep on eating.

I liked this tale I think it would be good to start a lesson on South America.

Summary: Cuy is a little Guinea Pig who just wants to eat. Every time he is searching for food, a coyote finds him and tries to eat him. Cuy then easily tricks the coyote allowing him to escape. By the end, Cuy gets caught eating a farmer's alfalfa and is tied up. Once again, the coyote finds Cuy, and Cuy is able to trick the coyote into letting him go one more time!

A unique title, and proves to be a fun tale of trickery. The twists and turns of the plot help keep the reader engaged, wondering what will happen next! The wit of the guinea pig makes this story funny and the way the fox continues to believe just leaves you shaking your head. The ending made me feel like the story was still unresolved.

#folktale
#animals
#trickery

I think that this tale would be great to read to a younger elementary audience maybe grades 1-3. I think that the animals of this story are really engaging for younger students and help to keep them interested throughout the story. I like the idea of using this for a cultural lesson or even just for story time.½