Thursday, February 14, 2008

Henry and Mudge Get the Cold Shivers


Title: Henry and Mudge: Get the Cold Shivers
Author: Cynthia Rylant
Illustrator: Suzie Stevenson
Publisher: Bradbury Press, 1989
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Range: 3-5

Summary: This story starts out with Henry having a sick day, and Mudge loved it! He got to eat all Henry’s crackers when his parent gave him some. The next Henry felt good, but Mudge did not. Mudge had to go to the vet because he didn’t feel good. Mudge didn’t like the vet; he shivers and sheds every time he goes. The vet said he had a cold, so Henry took him home and took extra good care of him. The next day Mudge was feeling better and gave Henry a big kiss.

Response: I love Mudge. Mudge and Henry always seem to have great stories. I like how the book has mini chapters that are easy to read, but in big kid format. I think this format will really make a child want to read because it’s a chapter book. I like the water color pictures. Any child that has any kind of pet will really fall in love with this series.

Teaching Ideas: This would be a good book to talk about illnesses and hand washing. In this book Henry and Mudge both come down with a cold. It would be good to discuss what makes people sick and what we can do to prevent colds. Washing hands, no hand shaking, eating vitamin C…etc. A lesson plan I really liked that I would probably use with this book is a lesson on hand washing. You let each student hold out their hands and you squirt a lotion type liquid in their hands called “Glo-germ.” They then rub it in their hands and then are instructed to go wash their hands. When the students come back to the room they can each take their hands and look at them under a black light. They residue that they did not wash off will remain and be easily seen. This will show were students need to spend extra time on and show them how hard it is to get germs off their hands.

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