Access Today Grandma And The Great Gourd: A Bengali Folktale Engineered By Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Accessible Through Ebook

her dogs guard her home and garden, Grandma goes to visit her daughter, and along the way she is menaced by some beasts of the jungle.
At each encounter Grandma tell the animals to wait for her return, as she will be much fatter since her daughter is such a good cook, but this is one very clever Grandma Grandma and the Great Gourd retold by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, illustrated by Susy Pilgrim Waters, A Bengali Folktale loved how this story was told, great celebration of dogs, creative thinking and gardening, plus a good dash of trickery too! Title: Grandma and the Great Gourd
Author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Illustrator: Susy Pilgrim Waters
Genre: Bengali Folktale
Themes: Overcoming challenges, trickery, family
Opening Line/Sentence:
Once upon a time, in a little village in India, there lived an old woman whom everyone called Grandma.
She loved gardening and had the best vegetable patch in the village,
Brief Book Summary:
A woman who everyone called Grandma goes through a perilous jungle to visit her daughter, On the way she is encountered by a fox, a bear, and a tiger, to all of which she promises when she returns she will be nice and plump for them.
After the visit, grandma gets inside a large gourd to hide herself as she returns home, The fox sees through it but Grandma calls her dogs to rescue her,
Professional Recommendation/:
Connie Fletcher Booklist, Feb,,Vol., No. 
With its references to Indian design, architecture, and delicious food dishes, this retelling of a Bengali folktale will appeal to families of Indian descent.
More than that, it should appeal to all children enamored of fairy tales and folktales centering on a hero s perilriddled journey through a forest.
Here, it s a jungle that must be navigated and a thin, darkskinned, whitehaired grandmawho sets out on a journey to visit her daughter,  Grandma meets a fox, a bear, and a Bengal tiger on her way, all of whom declare that they want to eat her, She outfoxes them all, telling them she ll be much fatter and tastier after her daughter has fed her, The problem is the return visit: How to trick the animals who are expecting her The solution lies in a huge gourd to hide grandma, not to mention resourcefulness, courage, and friendship.
Muralist Waters vivid paintings have a textured, murallike quality that makes the characters, jungle foliage, and action pop, Colorful in more than one sense of the word,  Grades K 
PUBLISHER: Roaring Brook Press New York:, PUBLISHED:,  
Professional Recommendation/:
Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz Children's Literature 
Once upon a time, an old woman called Grandma lived in an Indian village near a dangerous jungle, protected by her loyal and helpful dogs, Kalu and Bhulu.
One day, missing her daughter who lives on the other side of the jungle, Grandma decides it is time for a little adventure andpacks for a visit.
She leaves the dogs in charge of the garden and sets off, She soon meets a cleverand hungry red fox, but she persuades him to put off eating her until she is plumper from her daughter s good cooking.
She is equally persuasive with a hungry black bear and a sleek tiger, Arriving at her daughter s, Grandma enjoys the food, But she worries about her return home through the jungleuntil she and her daughter, with the help of the dogs, make a happy ending, The tale is told through brief narrative text and visualized in vibrant, multicolored scenes with dolllike characters and fragments of patterns suggesting Indian fabrics, On the jacket/cover, Grandmaall in white confronts the large tiger, black bear, and reddish fox inside, abstract colors and shapes stimulate the emotions,, A Neal Porter Book/Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan,,. Agesto.  
PUBLISHER: Roaring Brook Press New York:, PUBLISHED:,  
Response to Two Professional s:
These two reviews do a great job at summarizing the events that took place in this book.
The illustrations in this book were seen as very textured and colorful, which brings out the writing in the book a lot more, Story is told through brief narrative text,
Evaluation of Literary Elements:
The illustrations are marvelous and the wording used is perfect for the desired school grade, There is a heavy amount of onomatopoeia which attracts the reader in towards the book more, The vocabulary is easy to understand as well,
Consideration of Instructional Application:
This book is ideal for a read aloud and to have in my classroom library, It shows a lot about how to use trickery to deal with threats, Perhaps we can act out the story using different animals or I can have the students draw their own version of grandma inside a gourd.

"Once upon a time, in a little village in India, there lived an old woman, Everyone in the village called her Grandma, One day, Grandma received a letter from her daughter, who lived on the other side of the jungle, 'Come and visit me,' said the letter, " So Grandma goes on a journey to see her daughter, Trouble is all the jungle animals are after her to eat her, How ever will she outwit them and return safely home in this upside down fairytale

Talk about a trickster tale and a fairytale all wrapped up in one! Filled with onomatopoeia, color, and vibrancy, I knew this story had the IT FACTOR just from looking at the cover.
Truly, Grandma and the Great Gourd, is a cultural treasure waiting to be found, From the colors to the characters, to the way they all speak to each other, reading this story was as if I were able to experience authentic Indian culture without leaving my seat.
Particularly with this book, I loved how the illustrations helped portray the many aspects of life in South Asia the different kinds of animals, the food, the type of housing, living, the dress.
Reading this book will not only open up your heart, but your mind as well,

I read this book for the genre of folklore and would recommend it for ages, Lessons with this book include exploring cultural context of author's purpose, onomatopoeia, or simply using it in a unit on folklore or fracture fairytales, This story could also be used as a shared read aloud for a PBIGlobal project or a Padaeia Seminar, really get students to think about the characters, the culture, and the different elements involved.
Possible compelling questions could be: why do you think Grandma was like "Little Red" in this story Why do you think there were three antagonists instead of one What do Little Red and this story have in common How are they different This would also be a really good book to use annotation with, I would love to see what kinds of reactions students would have.
Teachers could definitely integrate across multiple disciplines with this book,

This story was a WOW from the very beginning, Of all the books I read for this project, this one took first place by a landslide, I honestly wanted to find newer books with fresh ideas I hadn't heard or seen before am I glad I waited, This story is the diamond in the dust I was searching for refreshing, vibrant, cultural this story really did have it all!

Sadly, this was the only children's story Kthat Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni wrote, I would love to see more.
However, she also writes books for young adults and has had two of them made into movies, The Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart.
After reading this story, I

am definitely interesting in reading her other work, A unique tale, the complex illustrations add depth, the preparative nature and solution to the problem have great teaching potential, A very good folktale about and older woman who tricks three animals, This picture book is the illustrator's first foray into picture book illustrating, and it is a wonderful debut, Stylized illustrations burst with energy and colorful patterns, I love folktales. They make some of the best read aloud, A grandmother who lives in a small village in India with her two loyal dogs but one day she ventured off to the other side of the jungle to visit her daughter and grandchildren for dinner.
During her journey across the jungle she met a hungry fox, bear and tiger, Will grandma outwit these hungry animals and make it on time for dinner or will she be dinner to these hungry creatures

This sitelinkGrandma and the Great Gourd: A Bengali Folktale is recommended for elementary school children to introduce folk literature and teach about story structure including beautiful illustrations.
This folktale is the trickster tale that features a character who outsmarts everyone else in the storyYoung, pg,. In this particular story grandma was afraid but she is wise in her years and outwits those hungry animals in an unusual but humorous and clever idea.


My son was excited to read and introduce me to this trickster tale as part of his children's literaturerd grade after he read it for the third time out of enjoyment.
I personally was happy to know that he was being introduced to good folktale stories that were mentioned in my own literature for young readers.
Though I shouldn't be surprised after learning that teaching folktale, tall tale, fable, myths and legends is popular for genre instruction in Texas, After learning the value of fantasy, I would recommend this humorous and clever folktale, Fairy and folktales provide children a message of hope, No matter how bleak the outlook or how dark the path, these stories promise children that it is possible to make it through and come out on top.
In fact, children who recoil from strong images of danger in fairy tales have the most to gain from the exposure smith,, young, pg,. .