My Lucky Day
by
Keiko Kasza
If you loved The Wolf’s Chicken Stew and The Pigs’ Picnic, you’re going to love the latest Keiko Kasza book, My Lucky Day, too. The story and the illustrations work together to create a wonderful "trickster" story.
As the book opens, a hungry fox is preparing to hunt for his dinner, only to be interrupted by a knock on the door. A voice calls out, "Hey, Rabbit!"
The look on the fox’s face is priceless and perfectly matches his thoughts. "Rabbit?...If there were any rabbits in here, I’d have eaten them for breakfast."
Fox opens his door and discovers . . . dinner on the doorstep! Now it’s the pig’s face which is totally expressive of his instant realization of the danger he is courting. Immediately, fox grabs pig and brings him in for dinner. "This must be my lucky day!" the fox shouts.
As the story moves on, pig offers continual suggestions for how fox can make him, pig, into a more delectable dinner. Fox follows each suggestion, growing more and more exhausted, until he passes out, exhausted. At this point, of course, the pig moves on, safely evading the dinner pot.
I won’t spoil the surprise ending, but you and your students can’t help but enjoy the tricks pig has played on fox.
Comprehension Strategy Links
Prediction
Writing
Note: I would read several stories and an opposing version as examples of this kind of writing, before suggesting it to the students. Example: The Three Pigs/The True Story of the Three Pigs