fairy tales

151

Upload: amayania

Post on 05-Dec-2014

100 views

Category:

Documents


2 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Fairy Tales
Page 2: Fairy Tales

RECENT TI TLES IN TEACHER IDEAS PRESS’READ ERS THEA TRE SE RIES

Mother Goose Readers Theatre for Beginning ReadersAnthony D. Fredericks

MORE Fran tic Frogs and Other Frankly Fractured Folktales for Readers TheatreAnthony D. Fredericks

Songs and Rhymes Readers Theatre for Beginning ReadersAnthony D. Fredericks

Readers Theatre for Mid dle School Boys: In vestigating the Strange and Mys teriousAnn N. Black

African Legends, Myths, and Folk tales for Readers TheatreAnthony D. Fredericks

Against All Odds: Readers Theatre for Grades 3–8Suzanne I. Barchers and Mi chael Ruscoe

Read ers Thea tre for Af ri can Amer i can His toryJeff Sanders and Nancy I. Sanders

Build ing Flu ency with Read ers Thea tre: Mo ti va tional Strat e gies, Suc cess ful Les sons, and Dy namic Scripts to De velop Flu ency, Com pre hen sion, Writ ing, and Vo cab u laryAnthony D. Fredericks

American Folklore, Leg ends, and Tall Tales for Readers Thea treAnthony D. Fredericks

Multi-Grade Readers Theatre: Pic ture Book Au thors and Il lustratorsSuzanne I. Barchers and Charla R. Pfeffinger

More Readers Theatre for Mid dle School Boys: Ad ventures with Mythical CreaturesAnn N. Black

Fun with Finance: Math + Lit eracy = SuccessWritten and Illustrated by Carol Pe terson

Page 3: Fairy Tales

FAIRY TALESREADERS THEATRE

Anthony D. Fredericks

Read ers Thea tre

A Teacher Ideas Press Book

Li brar ies Un lim ited

An Im print of ABC-CLIO, LLC

Page 4: Fairy Tales

Copyright 2009 by An thony D. Fredericks

All rights re served. No part of this book may be re produced in any form or by any electronic or mechanicalmeans, including information stor age and re trieval sys tems, without permission in writing from the pub lisher, ex-cept by a re viewer, who may quote brief pas sages in a re view. An ex ception is made for individual librarians andeducators who may make cop ies of por tions of the scripts for classroom use. Reproducible pages may be cop iedfor classroom and educational programs only. Performances may be vid eotaped for school or library pur poses.

Li brary of Con gress Cat a log ing-in-Pub li ca tion Data

Fredericks, An thony D. Fairy tales readers thea tre / An thony D. Fredericks. p. cm. “A Teacher Ideas Press Book.”

In cludes bib lio graph i cal ref er ences and in dex. ISBN 978-1-59158-849-8 (hard copy : alk. pa per) – ISBN 978-1-59158-851-1 (ebook) 1. Fairy tales—Study and teaching (El ementary) 2. Fairy tales—History and criticism. I. Title. LB1575.F74 2009 372.67’6—dc22 2009017464

13 12 11 10 9 1 2 3 4 5

This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook.Visit www.abc-clio.com for details.

ABC-CLIO, LLC130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911Santa Barbara, Cal i for nia 93116-1911

This book is printed on acid-free paperManufactured in the United States of America

Page 5: Fairy Tales

Con tentsIn tro duc tion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

Part I:Readers Thea tre in the Class room and Li brary

Chapter 1: Get ting Started with Readers Thea tre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Chapter 2: Per forming Readers Theatre for an Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Part II:Fairy Tales

Beauty and the Beast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17The Elves and the Shoemaker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22The Emperor’s New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Hansel and Gretel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Jack and the Beanstalk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36The Princess and the Pea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Rapunzel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Rum pel stilts kin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54The Lit tle Red Hen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59The Gin ger bread Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Goldilocks and the Three Bears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Chicken Lit tle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Little Red Rid ing Hood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77The Three Lit tle Pigs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81The Ugly Duckling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85The Three Billy Goats Gruff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Sleep ing Beauty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Cinderella . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Part III:Fairy Tales (with a Touch of Humor)

Beauty and This In credibly Ugly Guy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Coughy: The Dwarf Snow White Never Told You About . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Don’t Kiss Sleeping Beauty, She’s Got Really Bad Breath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Goldilocks and the Three Hamsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Little Red Riding Hood Punches the Wolf Character Right in the Kisser. . . . . . . . . . . . 123The Gingerbread Boy Gets Baked at 350° for 15–20 Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Ref erences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 More Teacher Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

v

Page 6: Fairy Tales

This page intentionally left blank

Page 7: Fairy Tales

In tro duc tion

Say the words “Once upon a time . . .” to any adult, and you will prob ably see a smile slip acrosshis or her face. Those are magical words—words that conjure up stories of long ago. For most of us,they bring back pleasant memories of someone (our parents or a favorite teacher) reading (aloud) astory or book. Those words may remind us of simpler times—times long be fore we had to worryabout home mortgages, saving for our kid’s college tu ition, retirement plans, or even be havioral ob -jectives. The mem ories were sweet, and the rec ollections were always pleasurable.

Think how those same four words might af fect the students with whom you work. Think of themental journeys or creative ad ventures you can share with young sters as you lead them throughthe magical world of chil dren’s lit erature. Imag inations are stim ulated, and minds are filled with thedelicious sounds of lan guage in ac tion! It is that lan guage—the language of feeling, emotion, and pas -sion— that excites young sters and helps them ap preciate the role literature plays in their ev eryday lives(as it has for gen erations).

And what better way to bring children’s lit erature alive than through the magic of readers thea-tre? Readers theatre offers young sters in teresting and unique in sights into the util ity of language andits value in both its printed and oral forms. It is “language arts” in its pur est form: It boosts listeningand speak ing skills, en hances writ ing abil i ties, pow ers read ing de vel op ment, de vel ops pos i tiveself-concepts, and transforms re luctant readers into en ergized read ers. Quite sim ply, it is lit eraturebrought to life and life brought to literature.

FAIRY TALES AND READERS THEATREFairy tales have been a tra dition of many cultures and coun tries. They are part and par cel of the

human ex perience, because they underscore the val ues and ex periences we cherish as well as thosewe seek to share with each other. No where is this more important than in to day’s classroom or li -brary. Per haps it is a nat ural part of who we are that fairy tales command our at tention and help us ap-preciate the values, ideas, and tra ditions we hold dear. So too, should stu dents have those sameexperiences and those same pleasures.

Fairy tales con jure up all sorts of visions and pos sibilities: faraway lands, magnificent ad ven-tures, en chanted princes, beau tiful princesses, evil wiz ards and wicked witches, a few ogres and de -mons, a cou ple of castles and cottages, perhaps a mys terious for est or two, and certainly tales ofmystery, in trigue, and adventure. These are stories of tradition and timelessness, tales that enchant,mystify, and ex cite through a marvelous weaving of characters, settings, and plots that have stoodthe test of time. Our senses are stim ulated, our men tal im ages are energized, and our ex periences arefortified through the magic of storytelling.

vii

Page 8: Fairy Tales

Fairy tales are also a way of sharing the power and in trigue of lan guage. I sup pose part of mybelief that the shar ing of fairy tales is the quint essential classroom ac tivity lies in the fact that it is anopportunity to bring life, vi tality, and sub stance to the two-dimensional letters and words on aprinted page. So too, is it an interpersonal ac tivity, a “never-fail” way to connect with minds andsouls and hearts.

When chil dren are pro vided with reg u lar op por tu ni ties to be come fairy tale sto ry tell ers, theydevelop a per sonal stake in the lit erature shared. They also begin to cultivate per sonal in terpretationsof that lit er a ture, which leads to higher lev els of ap pre ci a tion and com pre hen sion. Prac tic ing andperforming fairy tales as readers theatre is an involvement en deavor, one that demonstrates andutilizes numerous languaging activities.

Readers theatre is a storytelling de vice that stimulates the imagination and promotes an appre-ciation for fairy tales. Sim ply stated, it is an oral in terpretation of a piece of lit erature read in a dra -matic style. Teachers and li brarians all across the country have long pro moted the powerful ben efitsof drama for their students: pos itive emotional growth, in creased lev els of mo tivation, and ab soluteengagement in the tasks of learning.

Simply put, readers theatre is an act of involvement, an op portunity to share, a time to creativelyinteract with others, and a per sonal in terpretation of what can be or could be. It pro vides nu merousopportunities for young sters to make fairy tales come alive and pul sate with their own unique brandof per ception and vision. In so do ing, fairy tales be come per sonal and reflective; chil dren have abreadth of op portunities to be storytellers, just like the storytellers of long ago who created thesetimeless tales.

WHAT YOUR PRINCIPAL NEEDS TO KNOWIn this era of accountability and standards-based ed ucation, many ed ucators want to know if

classroom practices—whether traditional or in novative—have an im pact on the literacy growth ofstudents. Significant re search on the use of read ers thea tre in el ementary classrooms has dem on-strated its pos i tive ef fects on com pre hen sion de vel op ment, mo ti va tion to read, at ti tudes to wardlearning, and appreciation of reading as a lifelong skill.

What follows is a brief sum mary of some significant re search on the im pact of readers theatre on theliteracy growth of students. Feel free to share this information with in terested ad ministrators, par ents, orcommunity mem bers. Suffice it to say, read ers thea tre is a “re search-based practice” that has been dem -onstrated to have a significant and pow erful impact on stu dents’ reading growth and de velopment.

� “Creative and critical think ing are en hanced through the uti lization of readers theatre. Chil -dren are active participants in the interpretation and delivery of a story; as such, they de -velop thinking skills that are di vergent rather than con vergent, and in terpretive skills that aresupported rather than directed.” (Fredericks 2007)

� “Readers thea tre provides an ac tive, an alytical frame work for reading and helps students tounderstand and in terpret what they read.” (Wolf 1998)

� “Read ers thea tre pro vides trou bled read ers with suc cess ful read ing ex pe ri ences; it can re-shape images of fail ure into those of suc cess and ac complishment. Readers thea tre forms abridge be tween trou bled read ing to sup ported read ing, and ul ti mately, in de pend ent read-ing.” (Dixon et al. 1996)

� “Readers theatre [promotes] oral reading flu ency, as children [explore] and [in terpret] themean ing of lit er a ture.” (Mar ti nez et al. 1999)

� “We are gaining ev idence from class room re search that read ers thea tre yields im provementsin stu dents’ word rec og ni tion, flu ency, and com pre hen sion.” (Rasinski 2003)

viii In tro duc tion

Page 9: Fairy Tales

� “[Readers theatre] is valuable for non-English speaking children or non-fluent readers.Readers theatre provides them with positive models of lan guage usage and in terpretation . . . . It allows them to see ‘language in ac tion’ and the various ways in which language can beused.” (Fredericks 2001)

� “Even re sis tant read ers ea gerly en gage in prac tic ing for read ers thea tre per for mance, read-ing and rereading scripts many times.” (Ty ler and Chard, 2000)

� “Second grad ers who did readers theatre on a reg ular basis made, on av erage, more than ayear’s growth in reading.” (Strecker et al. 1999)

� “As stu dents take on the roles of char acters [in read ers thea tre], they also take on the roles ofcompetent readers.” (Fredericks 2008a, 2008b)

The re search is clear: Class room teach ers and li brarians who make readers thea tre a regular andsys tem atic com po nent of their lit er acy in struc tion and in tro duc tion to lit er a ture will be pro vid ingthose stu dents with positive op portunities to succeed in all as pects of reading growth and de velop-ment. Word rec og ni tion, vo cab u lary, flu ency, and com pre hen sion can all be en hanced con sid er ablywhen readers theatre becomes part of the educational offerings in any classroom or library.

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF READERSTHEATRE?

Above and be yond the substantive research supporting the use of readers theatre as a positiveclassroom and li brary activity, here’s what I like so much about readers theatre: It allows chil dren tobreathe life and sub stance into lit erature, an in terpretation that is nei ther right nor wrong, since it will be colored by kids’ unique perspectives, ex periences, and vi sion. The reader’s in terpretation of apiece of lit erature is in trinsically more valu able than some pre determined “trans lation” that might befound in a teacher’s manual, for example.

Many teachers sub scribe to the no tion that reading in volves an active and en ergetic re lationshipbetween the reader and the text. That is, the reader–text relationship is re ciprocal and in volves thecharacteristics of the reader as well as the na ture of the ma terial (Fredericks 2001). This philosophyof read ing has par tic u lar ap pli ca tions for teach ers and li brar i ans build ing ef fec tive lit er acy pro-grams. As you might expect, it also serves as a foun dation for the implementation and effectivenessof readers theatre.

With that in mind, here are some of the many ed ucational val ues I see in read ers thea tre. Thesehave come from my own work with young sters as a former classroom teacher and reading specialist,a thor ough re view of the literature on readers theatre, as well as my ob servations of, and conversa-tions with, classroom teachers through out the United States and Canada.

1. Readers theatre brings literature to life! For many students, par ticularly those strug gling with read-ing, words on a page of ten appear as “lifeless characters”—devoid of ex pression, emotion, or in-volvement. Readers theatre, how ever, pro vides both accomplished and struggling readers with alively and active interpretation of books. Readers get to see and par ticipate in a personal in terpreta-tion and involvement pro cess that “activates” the words, characters, and plots of stories.

2. Students are con nected to real literature in au thentic situations. They are exposed to qual ity lit-erature from a wide range of authors and a wide range of gen res. Many readers thea tre scriptsare based on real lit erature sources, and stu dents can begin de veloping their own in terpreta-tions of lit erature through the creation of their own scripts based on those books. In fact, one of the best ways to help children enjoy and extend their ap preciation of good books is by encour-aging them to write and per form readers theatre productions after reading an appropriate piece

Introduction ix

Page 10: Fairy Tales

of lit erature. Readers theatre can also be used to in troduce children to good literature. Af terperforming a readers theatre script, children will be stimulated to read the original source, notto compare, but rather to ex tend their learning op portunities. Readers theatre may precede thereading of a related book or be used as an ap propriate fol low-up to the reading (oral or silent)of a good book. Quality literature and readers theatre are complementary elements of theoverall literacy program that underscore children’s active engagement in text.

3. Children can learn about the major features of children’s literature: plot, theme, setting, point ofview, and characterization. This oc curs when they are pro vided with op portunities to de sign andconstruct their own readers theatre scripts (after experiencing pre pared scripts such as those in thisbook or scripts that you create us ing books and lit erature shared in reg ular reading in struction).

4. Readers theatre helps students fo cus on the in tegration of all of the lan guage arts: reading,writ ing, speak ing, and lis ten ing. Chil dren be gin to see that ef fec tive com mu ni ca tion and thecomprehension of text are in exorably in tertwined. Most state standards in the language arts,and all re search re ports about best prac tices in lit eracy, underscore literacy as an integrated se -ries of re lated com ponents. In other words, lit eracy growth is not just growth in reading—it isthe development of reading in con cert with the other lan guage arts. The section be low (“Hey,What about Standards?”) pro vides the specific con nections between each of the English/language arts standards and readers theatre. It’s in teresting to note how readers theatrepromotes, enhances, and so lidifies stu dents’ mastery of 11 of the 12 English/language artsstandards (92% of the standards are en hanced with readers theatre).

5. Teachers and li brarians have also discovered that read ers thea tre is an ex cellent way to en-hance the de vel op ment of im por tant com mu ni ca tion skills. Voice pro jec tion, in to na tion, in-flection, and pro nunciation skills are all pro moted through out any readers theatre production.This places more value on the pro cesses of lit eracy instruction than on the prod ucts (e.g.,standardized test scores).

6. Readers theatre allows chil dren to experience sto ries in a supportive and nonthreatening formatthat un der scores their ac tive in volve ment. This is par tic u larly ben e fi cial for those stu dents whoare strug gling with reading. Struggling readers of ten envision reading as something “done to atext” rather than as something “done with a text.” This shift in per spective is of ten a crit ical fac -tor in the suc cess young sters can eventually enjoy in reading. A change in at titude, a change inviewpoints, and a change in pur pose often lead be low-level readers to some new and in terestingdis cov er ies. Mo ti va tion, con fi dence, and out look are all pos i tively af fected when stu dents be-come the players and the per formers. Equally im portant, the development and en hancement ofself-concept is facilitated through read ers thea tre. Be cause children are working in concert withother children in a sup portive atmosphere, their self-esteem mushrooms ac cordingly.

7. Readers thea tre stim ulates the imag ination and the cre ation of visual im ages. A process of mentalimagery helps readers construct “mind pic tures” that serve as a way to tie together pre dictions,background knowl edge, and textual knowledge in a satisfying ex perience. Once im ages are cre-ated, they become a permanent part of long-term memory. Just as im portant, they assist in the de -velopment of in dependent readers who are “connected” with the sto ries they read. It has beensubstantiated that when young sters are provided with op portunities to create their own mental im-ages, their comprehension and ap preciation of a piece of writing will be enhanced con siderably.

8. The central goal of reading in struction is com prehension. Comprehension is based on one’sability to make sense of printed ma terials. It goes be yond one’s abil ity to remember details orrecall factual information from text. Sev eral re searchers (Wiggens and McTighe 1998; Wiske1998) sug gest that students com prehend when they are able to a) con nect new knowledge totheir prior knowledge, b) in terpret what they learn, c) ap ply their knowl edge to new situations,and d) explain and pre dict events and actions. Readers theatre provides stu dents with rich op -

x Introduction

Page 11: Fairy Tales

por tu ni ties to ac com plish all four el e ments of read ing com pre hen sion in a learn ing en vi ron -ment that is both supportive and en gaged. Giv ing meaning to print is one of the major resultsof readers theatre, just as it is one of the major results of comprehension in struction.

9. Cunningham and Allington (2003) have shown that readers theatre is a perfect mul tilevel ac-tivity that al lows teachers to group students het erogeneously rather than by ability, as is donein traditional reading pro grams. It pro vides teachers with varied op tions to group stu dents byinterest and de sire rather than by reading level. Parts can be as signed that are sufficiently chal-lenging (in structional level) with out forc ing stu dents to deal with ma terial at their frus trationlevel of reading. Because students will have multiple op portunities to practice their “readingmaterials” at an appropriate level, they will be able to achieve lev els of both com petence andfluency not nor mally pro vided in more traditional, “round robin” reading activities.

10. Readers thea tre is a participatory event. The char acters as well as the audience are all in ti-mately in volved in the de sign, structure, and de livery of the story. Children begin to realizethat reading is not a solitary activity, but rather one that can be shared and dis cussed with oth -ers. As a re sult, read ers thea tre en hances the de vel op ment of co op er a tive learn ing strat e gies.Not only does readers theatre require young sters to work to gether to ward a common goal, buteven more important, it sup ports their efforts in do ing so.

11. Because it is the per formance that drives readers theatre, chil dren are given more op portunitiesto in vest themselves and their per sonalities in the production of a readers theatre. The samestory may be subject to several dif ferent presentations depending on the group or the individ-ual young sters in volved.

12. When children are pro vided with op portunities to write or script their own readers theatre,their writing abilities are sup ported and en couraged. As children become fa miliar with the de -sign and format of readers thea tre scripts, they can begin to utilize their own cre ative talents indesigning their own scripts. Readers theatre also exposes stu dents to many ex amples of qual -ity lit erature. That lit erature serves as pos itive mod els for their own writ ing. Just as au thors ofchildren’s books write for au thentic purposes (e.g., to en tertain, to in form, to con vince), so toowill stu dents un derstand the value of purposeful writing as they craft orig inal readers theatrescripts or ad aptations from pop ular books and stories.

13. Readers theatre is fun! Children of all ages have de lighted in us ing readers theatre for manyyears. It is de light ful and stim u lat ing, en cour ag ing and fas ci nat ing, rel e vant and per sonal. It is aclass room or li brary ac tiv ity filled with a cor nu co pia of in struc tional pos si bil i ties and ed u ca-tional ven tures.

“HEY, WHAT ABOUT STANDARDS?”In re sponse to a demand for a cohesive set of standards that address overall curriculum design

and com pre hen sive stu dent per for mance ex pec ta tions in read ing and lan guage arts ed u ca tion, the In-ternational Reading Association, in concert with the National Coun cil of Teachers of Eng lish, de vel-oped and promulgated the IRA/NCTE Stan dards for the Eng lish Language Arts. These stan dardsprovide a fo cused out line of the essential com ponents of a well-structured language arts curriculum.

The 12 standards place an emphasis on lit eracy development as a lifelong pro cess—one thatstarts well before youngsters enter school and con tinues throughout their lives. Thus, these standardsare in tentionally integrative and multidisciplinary. Just as im portant, they support and un derscorethe values of readers theatre (see above) as a mul tipurpose language arts activity—one ap propriatefor both classroom and library.

The chart on p. xii pro vides an abridged version of the Standards for the Eng lish LanguageArts. Along with each standard (as ap propriate) is how readers theatre serves as a valuable and in no-vative teaching tool in support of that standard.

Introduction xi

Page 12: Fairy Tales

Eng lish/Lan guage Arts Stan dards* Read ers Thea tre Sup port

1. Students are en gaged in a wide va riety ofprint and nonprint resources.

Read ers thea tre in tro duces stu dents to awealth of lit erature from a va riety of lit erarysources.

2. Students are ex posed to many genres oflit er a ture.

Readers thea tre offers students a range ofreading materials that span the eight basicgen res of chil dren’s lit er a ture.

3. Students use many reading strategies tocom pre hend text.

Readers thea tre invites students to as sume anac tive role in com pre hen sion de vel op mentthrough their en gage ment and par tic i pa tion.

4. Stu dents com mu ni cate in a va ri ety ofways.

Readers thea tre invites students to practicereading, writing, listening, and speaking in anen joy able and ed u ca tive pro cess.

5. Students learn through writing. Read ers thea tre en cour ages stu dents to de-velop their own scripts and share them with are cep tive au di ence.

6. Students use a va riety of languagecon ven tions to un der stand text.

Read ers thea tre en cour ages stu dents to dis cussand un derstand how language conveys ideas.

7. Students are in volved in personallymean ing ful re search pro jects.

Read ers thea tre in vites young sters to ex am ineand ex plore stories from a wide range of per spec tives.

8. Stu dents are com fort able with tech nol ogy.

9. Stu dents gain an ap pre ci a tion of lan guagein a variety of venues.

Readers theatre encourages stu dents to look atlanguage and lan guage use in a host of educa-tional for mats.

10. Non-Eng lish-speak ing stu dents de velopcompetencies in all the language arts.

Readers theatre offers mod els of Eng lish usein a fun and en gaging for mat.

11. Students are members of a host of literacycom mu ni ties.

Read ers thea tre pro vides cre ative, in ves ti ga -tive, and dy namic op portunities to see lan-guage in ac tion.

12. Students use language for per sonalrea sons.

Read ers thea tre of fers in nu mer a ble op por tu ni -ties for students to en gage in per sonally en-rich ing lan guage ac tiv i ties.

*Modified and abridged from Standards for the Eng lish Lan guage Arts, In ter na tional Read ing As so ci a tion/Na tional Coun cil ofTeachers of Eng lish, 1996.

When reviewing these standards, it should be come ev ident that many can be pro moted throughthe reg u lar and sys tem atic in tro duc tion of read ers thea tre into the el e men tary lan guage arts cur ric u -lum. Equally important, those standards as sist teachers and li brarians in val idating the impact andsignificance of read ers thea tre as a viable and valuable instructional tool—in lan guage arts andthroughout the entire elementary curriculum.

xii Introduction

Page 13: Fairy Tales

PART I

READERS THEATRE

IN THE

CLASSROOM AND

LIBRARY

Page 14: Fairy Tales

This page intentionally left blank

Page 15: Fairy Tales

CHAPTER 1

Getting Started withRead ers Thea tre

INTRODUCING READERS THEATRE TOSTUDENTS

Ever since I wrote my first book of readers theatre scripts—Frantic Frogs and Other FranklyFractured Folk tales for Readers Thea tre (1993)—I have been amazed by and de lighted with the in -credible re sponse read ers thea tre has generated among educators across the country. Teach ers in ur-ban, suburban, and ru ral schools have all told me of the in credible power of readers theatre as aregular feature of their lan guage arts or reading cur ricula. In more than one dozen subsequent bookson readers thea tre (please see “More Teacher Re sources by Anthony D. Fredericks” in the back ofthis book), I have shared (and seen) the passion and ex citement that is so much a part of a cur riculuminfused with readers thea tre.

In the teacher in-service pro grams I conduct and con ference work shops I lead on readers thea-tre, I continue to re ceive rave re views of read ers thea tre as a way of helping stu dents take an ac tiverole in the reading pro cess. Many teachers have commented on the im proved levels of mo tivationand heightened participation in all aspects of the reading cur riculum when readers theatre has beenadded to stu dents’ daily lit er acy ac tiv i ties.

3

Page 16: Fairy Tales

However, readers theatre is not something that you just “drop into” the cur riculum one day andexpect stu dents to en thusiastically embrace it. It must be in troduced to stu dents on a gradual basis—over the course of sev eral days or several weeks—to achieve maximum im pact. Of course, no twoteachers will introduce readers thea tre in ex actly the same way. What follows is an instructional planof action that al lows for a great deal of latitude and vari ation de pending on how your reading or lan-guage arts program is or ganized as well as the spe cific time con straints of your classroom schedule.Feel free to make any nec essary ad justments or modifications in the schedule to suit your personalphilosophy or the specific in structional needs of your students.

My ex perience, as well as that of many teachers, is that students need to tran sition through fourstages in or der for readers theatre to be come a vi able component of your over all literacy program.These four stages fol low:

1. In tro duc tion. This is the stage at which stu dents are first in troduced to readers theatre. Incases where most of the students in your class have been us ing readers theatre in pre viousgrades, this stage can be eliminated.

2. Fa mil iar iza tion. In this stage students be come com fortable with the con cept of readers thea-tre. They begin to un derstand its value as an instructional tool as well as its worth in helpingthem become ac complished and fluent readers.

3. Prac tice. Here stu dents are of fered a variety of ways in which to practice readers thea tre in au -thentic situations. Stu dents be gin to see pos itive growth and de velopment in both reading flu -ency and comprehension.

4. In te gra tion. This stage pro vides stu dents with regular and sys tematic op portunities to usereaders thea tre as a significant el ement in other as pects of the reading program (e.g., guidedreading, lit erature circles) as well as other subject ar eas (e.g., science, social studies).

What follows are some sug gested in structional ac tivities and presentations to share with yourstudents. These sug gestions are general in na ture and can be easily in corporated into one or more les-son plans. Again, de pending on the dy namics of your overall classroom reading pro gram or li braryprogram, the lessons may last for as little as 10 minutes or as much as one hour.

1. In tro duc tion (sug gested du ration: 1–3 days)

A. Select a prepared readers theatre script. Choose one of the scripts from this book orfrom any other readers theatre collection of scripts. Du plicate sufficient cop ies of thescript for every mem ber of the class.

B. Distribute the scripts to stu dents. Tell stu dents that a read ers thea tre script is ex actlylike a script used by ac tors and ac tors in television, the mov ies, or plays. The only dif -ference is that in readers thea tre the lines don’t have to be mem orized. Nev ertheless,they still have to be read with the same level of en thusiasm and emotion that pro fes-sional actors use.

C. Identify and dis cuss the various printed elements of the script. Identify the nar rator, thestaging in structions, how the var ious actor parts are designated, any emotional sug ges-tions noted for spe cific characters, and other features.

D. Invite students to si lently read through the script on their own. You may wish to use the script as part of a guided reading lesson. Afterward, ask stu dents to share what theynoted in the script (e.g., a narrator, a dif ferent style of writing, short parts and longparts). Record students’ ob servations on the chalkboard and plan time to discuss them.

E. Use the script as a read-aloud for your students. Tell stu dents that you are go ing tomodel how a readers theatre script should be read. In form them that you will also be

4 Part I: Read ers Thea tre in the Class room and Li brary

Page 17: Fairy Tales

modeling flu ent and ex pressive reading. You will add emo tion to certain parts and willmaintain a con sistent rate through out the reading, as well. In vite students to listen care-fully to this initial reading.

F. After reading through the script, in vite students to dis cuss what they heard. How didyour reading dif fer from other read-alouds in the classroom? How was it similar? Whatdid they enjoy about your reading? How might they have presented the script? Recordtheir ob servations on the chalkboard.

G. As appropriate, show students an other prepared readers theatre script. In vite them toiden tify se lected el e ments of the script (nar ra tor, spe cific char ac ters, stag ing di rec -tions, etc.). Make sure students un derstand that most readers theatre scripts fol low afairly standard format.

2. Fa mil iar iza tion (sug gested du ration: 1 week)

Before engaging stu dents in this stage, you may wish to select 5 to 10 lines or passagesfrom a forthcoming script. It is suggested that these lines or passages come from the begin-ning of the script and that they be representative of most (if not all) of the characters (in -cluding any narrator(s)). Record these passages on cardboard sentence strips (using blockprinting or a word pro cessing pro gram).

Here are some sam ple sentence strips from be ginning of the readers thea tre script“The Gingerbread Man”) :

NARRATOR 1 Once upon a time there was a Lit tle Old Woman . . . .

LITTLE OLD WOMAN That’s me!

NARRATOR 2 . . . and a Lit tle Old Man.

LITTLE OLD MAN That’s me!

NARRATOR 1 Well, they both lived alone in a lit tle old house in the middle ofthe little old woods. They were very lonely, so one day the Lit tleOld Woman de cided to make a Gingerbread Boy.

After creating the necessary sen tence strips engage students in the following sequenceof ac tiv i ties:

A. Select a prepared readers theatre script (one from this book, for example, or any othercollection of scripts). Record the script on au diotape (you may wish to al ter your voiceslightly for each of the char acters or en list the aid of some other teachers, or par ents, tohelp you record the script). Make sure this re cording of the script is flu ent and smooth(practice sev eral times if necessary).

B. Provide students with copies of the selected script. Point out, once more, how a readersthea tre script is or ga nized (e.g., nar ra tor, in di vid ual char ac ters, etc.). Tell stu dents thatthey will listen to a reading of the script on an audiotape.

Chapter 1: Get ting Started with Readers Theatre 5

Page 18: Fairy Tales

C. Play the recording for students. In vite them to lis ten carefully for the smooth and flu entreading. En courage them, as appropriate, to fol low along by point ing to each word asthey hear it.

D. You may wish to re peat the sequence above, par ticularly if you are us ing this se quencewith a group of struggling readers who may need some additional re inforcement andas sis tance.

E. Provide an op portunity for students to dis cuss what they heard, the in tonation ex hib-ited by the readers, the smoothness of their de livery, or any other aspects of the re cord-ing. You may wish to record these ob servations on the chalkboard or a sheet ofnews print.

F. Invite the class (or group) to read through the en tire script cho rally. You should alsoparticipate in this cho ral reading so that stu dents have a pos itive model and an ap pro-priate sup port system for their oral reading. At this stage, it would be ap propriate toemphasize the emotions that se lected characters may bring to their parts (e.g., anger,dis gust, hap pi ness).

G. After the choral reading, randomly distribute the sen tence strips to se lected students.In form the students that they will now become the characters in the play. In vite the stu-dents to stand in a line. Point to each character (using the sequence in the script) and in -vite each stu dent to read his or her se lected passage.

H. Invite other students to listen and com ment (in a positive way) about the presentation ofthe first part of the script.

I. Distribute the sen tence strips to an other group of stu dents and in vite them to line up andrecite the passages as the previous group did. Again, it would be ap propriate to dis cussthe nature of the presentation in a sup portive atmosphere.

J. (optional) Play the recorded ver sion of the script again for the students. In vite them tomake any ad ditional com ments.

3. Prac tice (sug gested du ration: 1–2 weeks)

A. Select, du plicate, and dis tribute a pre pared script to all the stu dents in your class. Note:At this particular stage I have fre quently given students a selection of possible scriptsfrom which the entire class makes a single choice. This gives students a sense of own -ership over the script, which ul timately results in a heightened level of mo tivation.

B. Divide the class into pairs or triads of stu dents. In vite students to share the script intheir small groups. Stu dents may wish to read the script silently, af ter which they maydiscuss the story line, characters, plot, or other elements. Stu dents may also elect toread certain sections to each other, not only to practice flu ent reading, but also to get a“feel” for the story.

C. Assign roles. I like to assign one stu dent from each of the small groups to a character inthe script. (If there are, for ex ample, six characters, I make sure that stu dents are ini-tially di vided into six small groups.) Each character then practices his or her part withthe other members of his or her group (for example, the character reads only his or herown lines to group members, who assist with any dif ficult words or comment on thefluency of the reading).

D. When students have had suf ficient practice, ar range them ac cording to the staging di -rections for that script.

E. Invite the assigned stu dents to read through the script just as they practiced it. In viteothers stu dents to listen to the presentation. After the script is com pleted, dis cuss how it might be im proved the next time.

6 Part I: Read ers Thea tre in the Class room and Li brary

Page 19: Fairy Tales

F. (optional) Reassign roles to dif ferent students in the class. Divide the class into smallgroups and re peat the sequence as described above.

4. In te gra tion (sug gested du ration: remainder of the school year or remainder of the unit)

A. Se lect a prepared readers theatre script (one from this book or any other col lection ofscripts). As sign roles to se lected students and distribute copies of the scripts to thosestudents. You may wish to use two or three separate scripts—each one distributed to adifferent group of stu dents in the class.

B. Invite students to practice their as signed parts in prep aration for a pro duction later on.Students should be pro vided with practice time in class and should also be en couragedto practice their re spective parts at home.

C. Schedule a day and time when students will present their scripts to oth ers in the class.This initial pre sentation should be kept as an in-class pre sentation to allay any fears stu-dents may have about pre senting to an un familiar group of in dividuals. Ask students ifthey would like to in vite their parents to at tend this presentation.

D. Af ter pre senting the ini tial script, in vite stu dents to se lect other pre pared scripts for amore for mal pre sen ta tion.

E. Invite students to cre ate their own read ers thea tre scripts from self-se lected literature inthe classroom or school li brary. Make this process a normal part of your writing pro -gram or a ba sic el ement of a writer’s workshop. Af ter students have created their ownscripts, pro vide them with op por tu ni ties to pres ent them to ap pro pri ate au di ences, in-cluding classrooms at a grade level above or be low yours.

F. Con sider the im ple men ta tion of read ers thea tre as a fun da men tal el e ment in lit er a turecircles. After students have engaged in a discussion about a self-selected book, invitethem to de velop the book into a readers theatre script that can be come a permanent partof the classroom library.

G. Students may wish to use readers theatre as part of a thematic unit. Ac cording toMeinbach et al., “a thematic ap proach to learn ing com bines struc tured, se quential, andwell-or ga nized strat e gies, ac tiv i ties, chil dren’s lit er a ture, and ma te ri als used to ex panda particular concept” (2000, 10). Readers theatre has the ad vantage of of fering young -sters a creative and dy namic way to uti lize their reading abilities in a pro ductive and en -gaging manner. By in tegrating readers theatre into the matic units, you will helpstudents gain a deeper ap preciation of the role of reading (and reading flu ency) in theirover all lit er acy de vel op ment.

H. Use pre pared scripts or stu dent-created scripts as part of your content area in struction.Readers theatre has been shown to stimulate cu riosity (when used in ad vance of a con-tent area unit) and pro mote en thusiasm (when used as part of an instructional unit), par-ticularly when incorporated into a variety of subject ar eas (Fredericks 2007).

I. Readers thea tre can be ef fectively incorporated into guided reading ac tivities in anyclassroom. The three critical and in terrelated stages of guided reading (be fore reading,during reading, and after reading) of fer you and your stu dents unique op portunities toweave readers thea tre into the overall reading cur riculum. Imagine the thrill and ex cite-ment of stu dents us ing a self-designed script as the reading selection in a guided read-ing group! Readers theatre holds the prom ise of help ing stu dents in a guided readinggroup un derstand and ap preciate the richness of lan guage, the ways in which to in ter-pret that language, and how language can be a pow erful ve hicle for the com prehensionand ap pre ci a tion of var i ous forms of lit er a ture (Fredericks 2001).

Chapter 1: Get ting Started with Readers Theatre 7

Page 20: Fairy Tales

This page intentionally left blank

Page 21: Fairy Tales

CHAPTER 2

Per form ing Read ersTheatre for an Au dience

One of the features of readers theatre I en joy very much is the many ways in which it can be-come part of the classroom curriculum. Along with scores of other teachers, I’ve dis covered thatreaders theatre can be a won derful op portunity for students to be come ac tive participants in the en-tire learning process as well as engaged ex plorers of every curricular area.

Ob vi ously read ers thea tre achieves its great est po tency when stu dents have mul ti ple op por tu ni -ties to share it with others. This chapter focuses on ways you can make that experience in crediblysuc cess ful.

SCRIPT PREPARATIONOne of the advantages of using readers theatre in the classroom or li brary is the lack of ex tra

work or preparation time necessary to get “up and run ning.” If you use the scripts in this book, yourprep a ra tion time will be min i mal.

� After a script has been se lected for presentation make sufficient copies. A copy of the scriptshould be pro vided for each ac tor. In addition, making two or three ex tra copies (one for youand “replacement” copies for scripts that are ac cidentally dam aged or lost) is also a goodidea. Cop ies for the au dience are un necessary and are not suggested.

9

Page 22: Fairy Tales

� Bind each script be tween two sheets of colored construction pa per or poster board. Boundscripts tend to for malize the pre sentation a lit tle and lend an air of pro fessionalism to the ac -tors.

� Highlight each character’s speaking parts with dif ferent color highlighter pens. This helpsyoungsters track their parts without be ing dis tracted by the di alogue of others.

STARTING OUTIntroducing the concept of readers theatre to stu dents for the first time may be as simple as shar-

ing a script with an en tire class and “walking” young sters through the design and de livery of thatscript.

� Emphasize that a read ers thea tre performance does not re quire any mem orization of thescript. The in terpretation and performance are what count.

� Read an en tire script aloud, tak ing on the various roles. Let stu dents know how easy andcom fort able this pro cess is.

� Encourage se lected volunteers to read as signed parts of a sam ple script to the entire class.Readers should stand or sit in a circle so that other class mates can observe them.

� Pro vide op por tu ni ties for ad di tional re-read ings us ing other vol un teers. Plan time to dis cussthe ease of pre sentation and the dif ferent in terpretations offered by various readers.

� Allow readers an op portunity to practice their script be fore presenting it to an au dience.Take some time to dis cuss voice in tonation, facial gestures, body movements, and other fea-tures that could be used to enhance the presentation.

� Give chil dren the op por tu nity to sug gest their own mod i fi ca tions, ad ap ta tions, or in ter pre ta-tions of the script. They will un doubtedly be “in tune” with the interests and perceptions oftheir peers and can of fer some distinctive and per sonal interpretations.

� Encourage students to select nonstereotypical roles in any readers theatre script. For exam-ple, boys can take on female roles and girls can take on male roles, the smallest per son in theclass can take on the role of a gi ant fire-breathing dragon (for ex ample), or a shy stu dent cantake on the role of a boastful, bragging gi ant. Provide sufficient op portunities for students toexpand and extend their ap preciation of readers theatre through a variety of “out ofcharacter” roles.

STAGINGStaging in volves the physical lo cation of the readers as well as any necessary move ments. Un -

like in a more for mal play, the movements are of ten minimal. The emphasis is more on presentation;less on action.

� For most pre sentations, readers will stand or sit on stools or chairs. The physical lo cation ofeach reader has been in dicated for each of the scripts in this book.

� If there are many char acters in the presentation, it may be ad vantageous to have characters inthe rear (up stage) standing while those in the front (downstage) are placed on stools orchairs. This ensures that the audience will both see and hear every actor.

10 Part I: Read ers Thea tre in the Class room and Li brary

Page 23: Fairy Tales

� Usually all of the characters will be on stage throughout the du ration of the pre sentation. Formost presentations it is not necessary to have characters en ter and exit. If you place the char-acters on stools, they may face the au dience when they are in volved in a particular scene andthen turn around whenever they are not involved in a scene.

� Make simple, hand-lettered signs with the name of each character. Loop a piece of string oryarn through each sign and hang it around the neck of each respective character. That way,the audience will know the iden tity of each character throughout the presentation.

� Each reader will have her or his own copy of the script in a pa per cover (see above). If pos si-ble, use a music stand for each reader’s script (this al lows readers to use their hands for dra -matic in ter pre ta tions as nec es sary).

� Several pre sentations have a narrator to set up the story. The narrator serves to establish theplace and time of the story for the au dience so that the char acters can “jump into” their partsfrom the beginning of the story. Typ ically, the nar rator is sep arated from the other “actors”and can be identified by a simple sign.

PROPSTwo positive features of read ers thea tre are its ease of preparation and its ease of presentation.

Informality is a hall mark of any read ers thea tre script.

� Much of the setting for a story should take place in the au dience’s mind. Elaborate scenery isnot necessary; simple props are of ten the best. For example:

– A branch or pot ted plant may serve as a tree.

– A drawing on the chalkboard may il lustrate a building.

– A hand-lettered sign may des ignate one part of the staging area as a par ticular scene (e.g.,swamp, cas tle, field, forest).

– Children’s toys may be used for uncomplicated props (e.g., a telephone, vehicles).

– A sheet of aluminum foil or a remnant of blue cloth may be used to simulate a lake orpond.

� Costumes for the actors are un necessary. A few simple items may be sug gested by students.For ex am ple:

– Hats, scarves, or aprons may be used by ma jor characters.

– A pa per cutout may serve as a tie, but ton, or badge.

– Old clothing (bor rowed from par ents) may be used as warranted.

� Some teach ers and li brar i ans have dis cov ered that the ad di tion of ap pro pri ate back groundmusic or sound ef fects en hances a readers thea tre presentation.

� It’s im portant to re member that the emphasis in readers theatre is on the reading, not on anyac com pa ny ing “fea tures.” The best pre sen ta tions are of ten the simplest.

Chapter 2: Performing Readers Theatre for an Au dience 11

Page 24: Fairy Tales

DELIVERYI’ve often found it useful to let stu dents know that the only dif ference be tween a readers theatre

presentation and a movie role is that they will have a script in their hands. This allows them to fo cusmore on pre senting a script rather than memorizing it.

� When first introduced to readers theatre, stu dents of ten have a tendency to “read into” theirscripts. En courage students to look up from their scripts and in teract with other characters or the audience as appropriate.

� Practicing the script be forehand can eliminate the prob lem of stu dents bury ing their heads in the pages. Chil dren un derstand the need to in volve the au dience as much as pos sible in thede vel op ment of the story.

� Voice pro jec tion and de liv ery are im por tant in al low ing the au di ence to un der stand char ac -ter actions. The proper mood and in tent need to be es tablished, which is possible when chil-dren are fa miliar and com fortable with each character’s “style.”

� Again, the emphasis is on delivery, so be sure to suggest dif ferent types of voice (i.e., angry,irritated, calm, frus trated, ex cited, etc.) that chil dren may wish to use for their par ticularcharacter(s).

SCRIPT SELECTIONOne of the best presentation op tions is when sev eral groups of stu dents in your classroom come

together to present a se lection of readers theatre scripts for an au dience of en thusiastic students (fromthe same or a different grade) and some very appreciative parents. Here are some possibilities foryou to con sider:

� When possible, invite students to select a variety of scripts to be in cluded in the presenta-tion. In form them that a com bination of short scripts and lon ger scripts adds va riety to theprogram. When students are in vited to be part of the se lection pro cess a sense of “owner-ship” de velops which con tributes to the ultimate success of the overall presentation(s).

� Consider the age and grade of the audience. For youn ger students (grades K–2) the to tal pro-gram should be no lon ger than 20 min utes (a mix of two to four scripts). For older students(grades 3–6) the to tal program should be no lon ger than 45 min utes (a mix of five to sevenscripts).

� If feasible, include a section of the pro gram (parts of a script or an en tire pro duction) inwhich the audience takes an active role. This could in clude sing ing, clapping, repeating se-lected lines in a pro duction (pro vide cue cards), or some other phys ical con tribution. Thiswould be par tic u larly ap pro pri ate for youn ger au di ences, whose at ten tion span is typicallyshort and sporadic.

“IT’S SHOW TIME!”After scripts have been prepared or selected by you and your stu dents, it’s time to con sider how,

when, and where you would like to present them. There are many op tions to con sider. The fol lowinglist, which is not all-inclusive, presents a va riety of presentation op tions for readers theatre. How you and your students present readers theatre will ul timately be de termined by the nature of your overall

12 Part I: Read ers Thea tre in the Class room and Li brary

Page 25: Fairy Tales

language arts program, the time and facilities available, the comfort level of students, and the de -mands of your overall curriculum. You will dis cover that there is an al most in exhaustible array ofop tions avail able.

Sug gested Pre sen ta tion Op tions for Read ers Thea tre

� One group of stu dents presents a script to another group.

� One group of stu dents presents to the entire class.

� Several groups of students pres ent to the entire class (an in-class “readers thea trefes ti val”).

� One group of stu dents presents to an other class at the same grade level.

� Several groups of stu dents present to another class at the same grade level.

� One group of stu dents presents to a class at a higher or lower grade level.

� Several groups of stu dents present to a class at a higher or lower grade level.

� One group of stu dents presents to the entire school (at an all-school as sembly).

� Several groups of stu dents present to the en tire school (at an all-school as sembly).

� One group of stu dents in the class presents to an audience of par ents, school per sonnel,the school prin ci pal, and other in ter ested in di vid u als.

� Several groups of stu dents in the class present to an au dience of par ents, school per -son nel, the school prin ci pal, and other in ter ested in di vid u als.

� One group of stu dents pro duces a readers theatre script that is vid eotaped and distrib-uted throughout the school and/or district.

� Several groups of stu dents pro duce a readers theatre script that is vid eotaped and dis-tributed throughout the school and/or district.

� Students join with stu dents from an other class to co-present readers theatre scripts at agrade level or an all-school literacy cel ebration.

Suffice it to say, there is an in finite variety of presentation modes you and your stu dents can se-lect. It is important to share some of these op tions with your students and in vite them to iden tifythose with which they would be most com fortable. My rule of thumb is to “start small” at first—forexample, have one or two groups of stu dents present to the class as part of a reg ularly scheduledreaders theatre presentation time (once a month, for example). As students gain confidence andself-assurance, they should be encouraged to take their pre sentations “on the road,” sharing themwith other classes and other grades.

Chapter 2: Performing Readers Theatre for an Au dience 13

Page 26: Fairy Tales

INVITING AN AUDIENCEAn au dience gives read ers thea tre le gitimacy—it is a sig nal to stu dents that all their hard work

and practice has a pur pose: to share the fruits of their la bors (and their con comitant improvements inread ing flu ency) with an ap pre cia tive group of in di vid u als.

� Con sider send ing an nounce ments or in vi ta tions to par ents and other in ter ested in di vid u als.You may wish to de sign these yourself or, better yet, invite students to de sign, illustrate, andproduce the invitations.

� In ad dition to parents, I have al ways found it appropriate (and exciting) to in vite other adultswith whom the stu dents are fa miliar, in cluding, for example, the school secretary, the custo-dian, a bus driver or two, cafeteria workers, and aides. Af ter the presentation the stu dents aresure to get a raft of pos itive comments and lots of appreciation from these in dividuals as theyencounter them throughout the school.

� As appropriate, in vite community members to be part of the au dience. Residents of a lo calse nior cit i zen cen ter or re tire ment home are a most log i cal (and very en thu si as tic) au di ence.These folks are always appreciative of the work of children and are of ten ea ger to see what ishappening in the local schools.

POST-PRESENTATIONAs a wise au thor once said, “The play’s the thing.” So it is with readers theatre. In other words,

the mere act of pre senting a read ers thea tre script is com plete in and of itself. It is not nec essary, oreven required, to do any type of for malized evaluation after readers theatre. Once again, the empha-sis is on in formality. Readers theatre can and should be a pleasurable and stimulating ex perience forchil dren.

Following are a few ideas you may want to share with students. In do ing so, you will be pro vid-ing young sters with important learning op portunities that extend and pro mote all aspects of yourreading and language arts program.

� After a pre sentation, discuss with students how the script en hanced or al tered the originalstory.

� Invite students to sug gest other characters who could be added to the script.

� In vite stu dents to sug gest al ter nate di a logue for var i ous char ac ters.

� Invite students to sug gest dif ferent setting(s) for the script.

� Invite students to talk about their reactions to var ious characters’ ex pressions, tone of voice,pre sen ta tions, or dialogues.

� After a pre sentation, in vite young sters to suggest any mod ifications they think could bemade to the script.

14 Part I: Read ers Thea tre in the Class room and Li brary

Page 27: Fairy Tales

PART II

FAIRY TALES

Page 28: Fairy Tales

This page intentionally left blank

Page 29: Fairy Tales

Beauty and the Beast

STAGING: The three ma jor char acters should all be placed in the front of the stag ingarea. They may be seated in front of mu sic stands or may each stand be hind a lec tern.The two nar rators should be in the back and to the sides of the stag ing area.

Nar rator 1 Nar rator 2 X X

Fa ther Beauty Beast X X X

NARRATOR 1: One upon a time there was a poor merchant who setoff for market one day. Before leaving he askedeach of his three daugh ters what she would like as apresent upon his return.

NARRATOR 2: The first daughter wanted a beautiful dress. Thesecond daughter desired a pearl necklace. But thethird and youn gest daughter, whose name wasBeauty, said:

BEAUTY: All I would like is a rose that you have pickedes pe cially for me.

17From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 30: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 1: Soon af ter the merchant had completed his busi nessin the marketplace, he set off for home. Along theway a terrible storm blew up, with great thun der,howling winds, and driv ing rain.

NARRATOR 2: The merchant was get ting cold and wet and hopedthat he could find a place to stay for the night.Suddenly he no ticed a bright light in the dis tance,and as he drew nearer he saw a castle beside theriver.

FATHER: I hope that this will be a good place to get out of thestorm and take shel ter for the night.

NARRATOR 1: As he walked in the open door he saw that the castlewas empty. There was no body there to greet him.And on a ta ble in the main hall there was a splen diddinner, steaming hot, waiting for him.

NARRATOR 2: The merchant sat down and had him self a fine meal.Afterward he ventured up stairs and came upon aroom with a roaring fire and a very soft bed allmade up. He was very tired, so he lay down and fellfast asleep.

NARRATOR 1: The next morning when he awoke, he found a finebreakfast all laid out in an ad joining room. Uponfinishing the breakfast he went out into the gar den,where he had left his horse the night be fore.

NARRATOR 2: As he was walking through the gar den, a large rosebush caught his eye. Remembering his prom ise tohis daugh ter Beauty, he bent down to pick one ofthe roses.

NARRATOR 1: In an in stant there sprang up a hor rible beast,wearing very fine clothes. His two eyes werebloodshot, his voice was an gry, and his words wereloud.

BEAST: [angrily] You are an un grateful man. Last night Igave you a meal and a fine bed to sleep in. And,now, all the thanks I get is the theft of my favoriteflowers. I shall put you to death for your actions.

18

Page 31: Fairy Tales

FATHER: Please for give me. Do not kill me. I shall dowhatever you ask. This rose was not for me, but formy daughter, Beauty. I had promised to bring herone at the end of my jour ney.

BEAST: I will spare your life, but only on one con dition.You must bring me your daugh ter.

FATHER: [trembling] It shall be as you wish.

NARRATOR 2: The merchant hur ried home and told his threedaughters of his ter rible and dreadfulad ven ture—es pe cially his prom ise to the beast.

BEAUTY: Dear father, do not worry. I will do anything foryou. You will be able to keep your prom ise andkeep your life. Take me to the cas tle. I will staythere, as you did prom ise.

FATHER: Thank you, my pretty daugh ter. Thank you forsaving my life.

NARRATOR 1: And, so, the father took Beauty to the castle.

NARRATOR 2: However, instead of a very menacing crea ture, theBeast presented Beauty with a calm and politedisposition. He was very pleasant and very polite.

NARRATOR 1: In the beginning, Beauty was quite frightened of theBeast. How ever, in spite of the Beast’s ugliness, herinitial hor ror of him gradually faded away.

NARRATOR 2: She was given one of the fin est rooms in the castleand would sit for hour upon hour embroidering infront of a roaring fire. Nearby sat the Beast, whosilently watched her. They had many gentleconversations and soon be came close friends. Thenone day, the Beast asked her:

BEAST: I would like you to be my wife.

NARRATOR 1: Beauty was taken by sur prise and did not know howto an swer. He was, after all, quite ugly, but she didnot want to hurt the feelings of this creature whohad been so kind to her. Besides, it was this Beastwho had spared her father’s life.

19

Page 32: Fairy Tales

BEAUTY: [nervously] I re ally don’t know what to say. I somuch would like to, but . . . .

BEAST: I quite un derstand. I am not of fended by yourre fusal.

NARRATOR 2: Their re lationship went on as before, and noth ingfurther was said about the pro posal. One day theBeast presented Beauty with a glorious magicmirror.

NARRATOR 1: When Beauty looked into the magic mir ror, shecould see her family, far away. She would stare forhours into the mir ror, worrying about her family.

NARRATOR 2: One day the Beast came upon her and she wascry ing.

BEAST: What’s wrong, fair Beauty?

BEAUTY: My father is very ill and very close to dy ing. I wishthat I could see him again before he passes away.

BEAST: You are so sad, my Beauty. Go, go and see yourfather. But you must swear that you will re turn herein seven days. If you don’t, then I will come andvisit your father.

BEAUTY: You are so kind. You have made me very happy.

NARRATOR 1: Beauty rushed home—into the waiting arms of herfather. She stayed with him, cared for him, andnursed him back to health.

NARRATOR 2: She would of ten talk about how kind the Beast was,the gentle conversations they would have by theroaring fire, and the many quiet times they hadto gether.

NARRATOR 1: The days went by, and Beauty’s fa ther was fi nallynursed back to full health. Beauty was happy at last.But un fortunately she had failed to no tice that theseven days had gone by.

20

Page 33: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 2: One night she awoke from a strange dream—actually a ter rible nightmare. She had dreamt thatthe Beast was dying and was calling for her. He wasin great ag ony and wanted her by his side.

NARRATOR 1: She knew she must leave at once. Grabbing herfavorite horse, she rode as fast as she could back tothe castle. When she ar rived, she rushed up thestairs, calling his name.

NARRATOR 2: She looked in ev ery room, but he was no where to befound. She rushed out into the garden and there,lying in the gar den as though dead, was the Beast.She threw herself on him and hugged him tightly.

BEAUTY: [pleading] Don’t die! Please don’t die! I will marryyou! Yes, I will marry you!

NARRATOR 1: At those words a miracle took place. The Beast’sugliness turned into the features of a very handsomeprince.

BEAST: How I have waited for this mo ment! Many yearsago an evil witch cast a spell on me and turned meinto a monster. I was told that only the love of abeautiful maiden could break the spell. And at last,you have done it. My fair Beauty, I would be sohappy if you’ll now marry me.

NARRATOR 2: And so it was that their wedding took place in thegarden of the castle. And every day af ter that theyoung prince would give his Beauty a fresh newrose. And even unto this day, the castle is known asthe Castle of the Roses.

21

Page 34: Fairy Tales

The Elves and theShoe maker

STAGING: There are no char acters in this script, just four nar rators. Each of the nar ra-tors should be seated on a tall stool or chair. Each nar rator’s script should be placed onan in di vid ual mu sic stand.

Nar ra tor 1 Nar ra tor 2 Nar ra tor 3 Nar ra tor 4 X X X X

NARRATOR 1: In a time long ago there lived a shoe maker. Ev eryday he worked very hard. And he was al ways hon estwith all his cus tomers.

NARRATOR 2: Making a living as a shoe maker was very dif ficult,and even though the shoe maker worked and worked,he al ways had less and less.

NARRATOR 3: Finally, one day he found that ev erything he hadwas gone—save for just enough leather to make asingle pair of shoes.

22 From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 35: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 4: And so he cut the leather out—making it ready forwork the next day. It was his intention to rise earlythe next morn ing and craft the fin est pair of shoes he could. And so that evening he went to bed and fellfast asleep.

NARRATOR 1: The next morning the shoemaker awoke with thesun in his eyes. He washed his face and preparedhimself a fine, though meager, breakfast. Then,when he went to his bench to be gin work on theleather, he discovered a great surprise.

NARRATOR 2: There stood the shoes, all ready made, on the table.The old shoe maker did not know what to say orwhat to think. This was truly an odd happening.

NARRATOR 3: The shoe maker looked carefully at the pair of shoeson the table. They were of fine work manship—therewas not a bad stitch any where to be found. This wasa pair of shoes all neat and trim.

NARRATOR 4: That they were of ex cellent workmanship there wasno ques tion. They were, in all re spects, a fine, finemas ter piece.

NARRATOR 1: Later that morn ing a customer came into the shop.He im mediately saw the fine pair of shoes andoffered the shoemaker a fine price for them—a pricethat was much higher than he would have nor mallycharged.

NARRATOR 2: The poor shoe maker was overjoyed. He promptlypurchased enough leather to make two pairs ofshoes.

NARRATOR 3: That evening he cut out all his work and laid theleather pieces on the workbench so that he couldbegin sewing the two pairs of shoes in the morning.

NARRATOR 4: It was with a happy heart that he went to bed early.When he awoke the next morning, he rushed into his workroom and there, on the ta ble, were two pairs ofthe fin est shoes all sewn and expertly pieced. Theshoemaker was overcome with joy.

23

Page 36: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 1: Soon buy ers came into the store—each of whompaid the shoe maker handsomely for the fine shoes.Again, much more than he would have pre viouslycharged.

NARRATOR 2: And so, once again flush with coins, the oldshoemaker pur chased enough leather for four pairsof shoes.

NARRATOR 3: As before, he cut out the strips, laid them carefullyon the workbench, and went gladly off to bed. Thefollowing morn ing, as be fore, there were fine shoesall neatly stitched wait ing on the ta ble. And, asbefore, they all commanded a fine price.

NARRATOR 4: Again and again the cycle re peated. More shoes,more leather, and more money came to the oldshoemaker. He was making a fine liv ing for him selfand his wife.

NARRATOR 1: One late win ter’s day, around Christmastime, theold shoe maker and his wife were sitting by thefireplace chatting about the weather and otherthings.

NARRATOR 2: The old shoe maker turned to his wife and said that hewould like to sit up that night just to see who it wasthat came and crafted such fines shoes ev ery eve ning.

NARRATOR 3: The shoe maker’s wife thought that was a fine ideaand readily agreed to it.

NARRATOR 4: The old shoe maker and his wife left a small lightburning and then hid themselves in a closet besidethe workroom. They waited and they watched.

NARRATOR 1: In the distance they heard the tolling of the churchbell—midnight had come. And, just like that—asquick as a wink—in danced two tiny dwarfs.Neither of them had a stitch of cloth ing on.

NARRATOR 2: The two naked dwarfs sat themselves down at theworkbench. They gath ered up the tools and thestrips of leather and began to craft their shoes.

24

Page 37: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 3: The old shoe maker and his wife could not believetheir eyes. The two dwarfs stitched and tapped andrapped with great care. They crafted fine, fine shoes—indeed, the finest the shoemaker had ever seen.

NARRATOR 4: The two dwarfs worked all through the night. Justbefore daybreak they laid out all their prod ucts onthe table and, with a twinkle in their eyes, hur riedaway as quick as light ning.

NARRATOR 1: The next day the wife told the shoemaker that the twolittle dwarfs were re sponsible for their newfoundriches. They were, she said, the reason for their goodfortune. How ever, she felt sorry for the fact that theyhad no clothes on their backs and sug gested that theyboth work at making tiny shirts and coats andwaistcoats and pants. And, of course, tiny shoes.

NARRATOR 2: The thought pleased the old shoemaker very much,so he and his wife worked all day to craft the tinyclothes for their two mid night vis itors.

NARRATOR 3: That evening the old shoe maker and his wife,finished and sat isfied with their task, laid the tinyclothes on the table.

NARRATOR 4: As before, the shoemaker and his wife hid in anearby closet and waited pa tiently for their twomid night friends.

NARRATOR 1: About midnight, the two little dwarfs danced andskipped and hopped into the room.

NARRATOR 2: As they jumped up on the table, they saw the twotiny sets of clothes be fore them. Filled with mirthand laughter, they dressed themselves in thetwinkling of an eye.

NARRATOR 3: Once again, they danced and capered about the room. They were as merry as could be. Fi nally they dancedtheir way out the door and over the village green.

NARRATOR 4: The shoe maker and his wife never saw their two tinyfriends again. But their lives and their for tunes weregood, and they lived in pros perity for a very long time.

25

Page 38: Fairy Tales

The Em peror’s NewClothes

STAGING: The char acters should all be seated on tall stools or chairs. Place a mu sicstand in front of each char acter. You may wish to use a towel as a robe or re gal cape forthe em peror.

Nar rator XTailor 1 Tai lor 2 X X Em peror X Prime Min ister X Person 1 Person 2 X X Child X

NARRATOR: Once upon a time there lived a very selfish and vainruler—an emperor whose only thought in life was to be dressed in the fin est clothes in the king dom. Hehad room upon room full of clothes, and he likednothing better than to change his clothes constantlyevery day and show them off to ev eryone he could.

26 From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 39: Fairy Tales

Well, as is often the case in these old tales, therewere two dis honest men who had heard of theruler’s desire to have only the finest clothes and beseen in those clothes as of ten as pos sible. So, beingthe scoundrels they were, they de cided to hatch aplan to fool the king once and for all. Theyjourneyed to the gates of the palace and in troducedthemselves to the guards.

TAILOR 1: We are two fine tailors—indeed, we are the finest inall the land.

TAILOR 2: Yes. And after many years of hard work andresearch, we have in vented an extraordinary methodof weaving a cloth that is so fine and light that itlooks in vis i ble.

TAILOR 1: Yes, indeed. As a matter of fact, this fine cloth isinvisible to anyone who is too stu pid andin com pe tent to ap pre ci ate its quality.

NARRATOR: The guards immediately sum moned the primeminister. The prime min ister ran to the chambers ofthe emperor, who was changing his clothes, to tellhim the news.

PRIME MINISTER: Your Highness! Word has reached me that there aretwo tailors who wish to meet with you. They saythat they have a mag ical cloth—a fine cloth—that isso light and so fine that it is in visible.

EMPEROR: Then send them to me. I wish to see this fine andin vis i ble cloth.

NARRATOR: The two scoundrels were sum moned and appearedbefore the em peror.

TAILOR 1: Your High ness, be sides be ing in vis i ble, this finecloth can be wo ven in colors and patterns createdespecially for only you.

TAILOR 2: Yes, Your Ex cellency. You shall be the only one inthe king dom to have such cloth as this. We shouldlike to be gin work ing on this immediately.

27

Page 40: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR: The emperor gave the two men a large bag of goldcoins in exchange for their prom ise to beginworking on the fine fabric immediately. The twoscoundrels gathered to gether an old loom, somescraps of fab ric, pieces of silk, and some goldthread. They pre tended to work on the magic fabric.

The emperor thought that he had got ten a fine dealin the bargain. Not only would he be get ting anextraordinary suit, he would be able to de terminewhich of the people in his king dom was ig norant orincompetent. So, af ter a few days the em peror calledhis prime minister.

EMPEROR: Go and see how the work on the magical fab ric isproceeding. I wish to know right away.

NARRATOR: The prime min ister went to the room where the twotailors were work ing . . . or pre tending to work.

PRIME MINISTER: How is your work pro ceeding, my friends?

TAILOR 1: We are very close to be ing fin ished. We need somemore gold thread, but we shall soon be finished.

TAILOR 2: Yes, come and feel the softness of this fabric. Comeand see its bright colors. As a wise and in telligentman, you will surely ap preciate this fine, fine fabric.

NARRATOR: The prime min ister moved close to the loom andtried to see the fabric that was not there. He wasvery nervous. He thought to himself that if hecouldn’t see any thing, that would mean that he wasstupid or even in competent. He could never admit it,because that would mean an in stant dismissal fromhis of fice. So he thought quickly.

PRIME MINISTER: This is, in deed, a marvelous fab ric. It is the fin est Ihave ever seen! I must tell the em peror. He, too, willbe most im pressed.

28

Page 41: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR: The two scoundrels were pleased. Their plan wasworking and would be ready to spring in a veryshort time.

Two days later the two tai lors sent word that theywould like to see the emperor so that they could takethe necessary mea surements for the new suit. Thetwo tailors en tered the royal chamber, pre tending tobe hold ing a large roll of the magic fabric.

TAILOR 1: Here is the mag ical fabric, Your Highness. We haveworked long and hard and are hon ored to presentthis in credible fab ric to you at this time.

TAILOR 2: Look at the colors and feel how fine this is. This istruly the fin est fabric in all the land. Come, look!

NARRATOR: Of course the emperor could not feel the fabric, norcould he see any colors. He was in a state of panic.What should he do? What should he say? But thenhe realized that no body would know that he couldnot see the fab ric. Sud denly he felt a lit tle better,knowing that no body could dis cover that he wasincompetent or stupid. And of course the emperordidn’t know that ev eryone else in the room wasthinking the same thing.

This was just what the two tailors wanted to happen.After taking the emperor’s mea surements, the twoof them be gan to cut the air with scissors and beganto sew with in visible thread. Fi nally they announcedthat they had completed the emperor’s new suit.

TAILOR 1: Your Highness, you will have to take off yourclothes in or der to try on this new suit.

TAILOR 2: Yes, Your Ex cellency, we must see how this newsuit looks on you.

29

Page 42: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR: The emperor removed all of his clothes. The twotailors pre tended to drape him with the new suit.After a few min utes they held up a mir ror so that the emperor could ad mire him self. No body saidanything for fear of being thought stu pid orincompetent.

EMPEROR: Yes, yes. This is a very fine suit. It looks ex cellent.You have done a very fine job with this suit.

PRIME MINISTER: Your Highness, there is a request for you. Thepeople of your kingdom have learned about this fine new suit of yours. They are eager to see you in yournew suit.

NARRATOR: The emperor was worried about ap pearing in frontof all those people naked. But then he thought tohimself that he really was n’t na ked—he waswearing a fine and excellent new suit. A suit thatcould ob viously be seen my all, ex cept those whowere stu pid or incompetent.

EMPEROR: Very well. I will grant the peo ple the priv ilege ofseeing me in my new suit.

NARRATOR: And so a grand parade was formed. The emperor,very naked, but think ing that he was clothed in afine, new suit, led the pa rade down the mid dle of theroad. Peo ple from near and far crowded the pa raderoute to see the emperor’s new clothes. Ev eryonepushed closer to get a good look.

Grand ap plause welcomed the pro cession. Ofcourse, everyone wanted to know how stu pid orincompetent his or her neighbor was. But as theemperor passed by, there was a strange murmurgoing through the crowd.

PERSON 1: What a fine set of clothes!

PERSON 2: What a grand new suit!

PERSON 1: Look at the emperor’s new clothes. They arebeau ti ful!

30

Page 43: Fairy Tales

PERSON 2: They are the fin est in all the land!

NARRATOR: All the peo ple pretended that they did, in deed, see abeautiful new set of clothes on the emperor. Ofcourse, to do oth erwise would be to ad mit that onewas stu pid or in competent. And no body was willingto ad mit to his or her stupidity.

As the pro cession moved down the road, it movedpast a young child who had not been told about theemperor’s new clothes.

CHILD: The emperor is naked! Look, the emperor is naked!

PERSON 1: You don’t know what you’re talking about!

CHILD: Look for your self. The emperor doesn’t have astitch of cloth ing on.

PERSON 2: He’s right. Look, the emperor is naked. It’s true—heis not wearing a thing!

NARRATOR: Finally, the em peror re alized that he was n’t wearinga fine new set of clothes, but that he was, in deed,naked. He also realized that the only stu pid andincompetent person in the kingdom was him self. Hehad been fooled . . . and fooled quite well!

31

Page 44: Fairy Tales

Hansel and Gretel

STAGING: One nar rator may stand at a lectern or po dium on each side of the stagingarea. The fa ther, Han sel, and Gretel may walk across the stag ing area dur ing var iousparts of the per formance. Place a card board box in front of the witch to serve as a make -shift oven.

Step mother Fa ther X X Han sel Gretel X X Witch XNarrator I Nar rator II X X

NARRATOR I: Once upon a time there lived a poor wood cutter, histwo children—Hansel and Gretel—and his secondwife, a very mean stepmother.

NARRATOR II: The step mother was al ways nag ging the woodcutter.

STEPMOTHER: There is never enough food in this house for all ofus. There are too many mouths to feed. You mustget rid of the two brats so that we may sur vive. Takethem away. Take them far, far away so that they willnever find their way back. You must get rid of them.

32 From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 45: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR I: The wood cutter did n’t know what to do. But hedidn’t want to up set his new wife.

NARRATOR II: Han sel had over heard the con ver sa tion. Think ingquickly he went into the kitchen and took a smallloaf of bread and put it un der his coat.

STEPMOTHER: Get rid of them, I say. You must take them away,old man. We can not feed them, we can not feedthem. They are far too much bother.

WOODCUTTER: All right, wife. I will take them away. I will takethem far into the forest and leave them there tosurvive on their own.

NARRATOR I: At dawn the next day, the wood cutter led Hanseland Gretel into the forest. Clever Han sel, however,walked behind his father. Ev ery so of ten he woulddrop a small morsel of bread on the trail be hindthem.

HANSEL: Do not be afraid, my sis ter. We shall find our wayback to the cottage. All we have to do is fol low thetrail of breadcrumbs I’ve left along the trail.

GRETEL: Are you sure this will work, dear brother?

HANSEL: Trust me, it will work. We shall find our way home.

NARRATOR II: The wood cutter led his children deeper and deeperinto the woods. Finally, when the woods were verydark with large trees, he turned and spoke to hischil dren.

WOODCUTTER: I am sorry, my chil dren, but I must leave you here.There is not enough food at home to feed all of us.Be good and take care of each other.

GRETEL: Father, we are scared.

WOODCUTTER: I know, my child. But you have your brother to carefor you.

NARRATOR I: And with that the woodcutter turned around andwent back home.

33

Page 46: Fairy Tales

HANSEL: Do not be afraid, dear sister. Re member, I have lefta trail of bread crumbs along the way. All we needdo is fol low the crumbs, and we shall be home in no time.

NARRATOR II: But the lit tle boy had for gotten about the hun grybirds that lived in the forest. When they saw himdropping the crumbs, they flew along be hind, and in no time at all had eaten all the crumbs. When thechildren tried to find their way back along the trail,they saw to their hor ror that all the crumbs hadgone.

GRETEL: I’m scared, dear brother. I’m cold and I’m hun gry,and I want to go back home.

HANSEL: Don’t be afraid. I’ll look af ter you.

NARRATOR I: The two children, scared and hun gry, hud dledtogether under a large tree. They soon fell asleep,and when dawn broke the next morn ing, they startedto wander through the for est. They knew they werelost, but still they walked on. Sud denly they cameupon a small cottage in the middle of a smallmeadow.

GRETEL: Look, Hansel, this cottage is made of candy.

HANSEL: Yes, the walls are made of chocolate. The roof isicing. The fence posts are candy canes. The path ismade of lemon drops.

NARRATOR II: The chil dren, who were very hun gry, began to eatpieces of the house. They had never tasted anythingso de licious. Ev erything was good—good andsweet.

NARRATOR I: Suddenly, they heard a voice.

WITCH: [sounding evil] Well, well, what do we have here? Isee two lit tle chil dren who have fallen into my trap.They shall make a delicious din ner.

NARRATOR II: The witch took the two children into her cot tage and locked them both in a cage.

34

Page 47: Fairy Tales

WITCH: You two are noth ing but skin and bones. I should liketo have you for din ner, but I must fatten you up a bit.

NARRATOR I: For days she fed the two children loaves of breadand fat chickens. Fi nally she could wait no longer.

WITCH: I think you both are ready for din ner—my din ner. Ishall light the stove and pre pare my meal—my mealof two very plump children. Now, I’ll take you outof your cages while I test the oven.

NARRATOR II: Hansel and Gretel stood be side the witch as shestuck her head in side the oven to see if it was hotenough. Gretel gave her a tremendous shove, andHansel slammed the oven door shut.

WITCH: Help, help! Let me out! Let me out!

NARRATOR I: But the two children put a pad lock on the oven door.In very short order the witch was burnt to a crisp.

GRETEL: We must find our way home, dear brother.

HANSEL: Yes, let’s take this bas ket and fill it with food andfind a trail that will lead us home.

NARRATOR II: But when the chil dren took the bas ket down from theshelf, they saw that it was filled with gold coins. They were overcome with joy and glad ness. They quicklyset off through the woods in search of their home.

NARRATOR I: Luck was with them, for on the second day they sawtheir father coming to ward them.

WOODCUTTER: Children, chil dren. Your stepmother is dead. Comehome with me now. I have found you, and we shallbe to gether again.

GRETEL: Promise that you will never leave us alone again.

WOODCUTTER: I prom ise.

HANSEL: Look, father. We are rich! We have a basket full ofgold coins. We shall never be hun gry again.

NARRATOR II: And it came to pass that they all lived hap pilytogether ever after.

35

Page 48: Fairy Tales

Jack and the Beanstalk

STAGING: The nar rator should be po sitioned be hind a lec tern or at a mu sic stand. Theother char acters may have their scripts in their hands and walk around the stag ing area as they say their lines.

Nar rator X Man Mother Jack X X X Gi ant Wife X X

NARRATOR: Once, in a long ago time, there lived a widow andher son, Jack. They were very poor—so poor thatthey of ten did not have enough to eat. Now Jackwas a lazy boy, who never liked to work—whichmade matters even worse. Finally there came a daywhen they had to sell their cow to get money forfood. With tears in her eyes the poor woman toldJack to take the cow to the market and get the bestprice he could for it. Jack tied a rope around thecow’s neck and set off down the road. In short or derhe met a man on the road.

36 From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 49: Fairy Tales

MAN: That is a fine cow. Are you taking it to market?

JACK: Yes, I am.

MAN: That is a fine cow. I would like to buy the cow fromyou. I have some very magic beans here, and I willexchange these magic beans for your fine cow.

NARRATOR: Jack could not resist the of fer from the man.However, when he got home and told his motherwhat he had done, she burst into tears.

MOTHER: Jack, Jack, you silly, silly boy. What have youdone? You’ve traded our cow for a bunch of beans.

NARRATOR: And with that, she threw the beans out the win dowand sent Jack off to bed without his sup per.However, the next morning, when Jack looked outhis win dow, he saw a most won derful sight. Thebeans had taken root in the garden and the greatstalks had grown up, higher than the clouds,forming an enormous ladder into the sky.

Filled with cu riosity, Jack climbed the beanstalk,higher and higher, un til he found him self in a verystrange coun try. Looking around, he saw a castle inthe dis tance and be gan to walk to ward it. He walkedup to the very large door and pounded his fist on it.A very tall woman opened the door.

WIFE: What do you want?

JACK: I am hun gry and tired. Can you give me some breadand a place to lay my head for the night?

WIFE: Don’t you know that my hus band is a gi ant ogrewho would rather eat lit tle boys like your self thando any thing else? Your life will be in great dan ger if you stay here. You must go away.

37

Page 50: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR: Jack per sisted. Fi nally the gi ant’s wife, who had akind heart, decided to let him in. She led him to thekitchen and gave him some hot soup and a crust ofbread. Jack had barely be gun to eat when there came a frightful noise.

WIFE: Quick, it is my hus band, and he is not in a goodmood. Here, hide in the oven.

NARRATOR: Jack quickly scrambled in side the oven just as thegiant entered the kitchen.

GIANT: Fee Fi Fo Fum!I smell the blood of an Englishman!Be he alive or be he dead,I’ll grind his bones to make my bread!

WIFE: Do not be con cerned, my hus band. What you smellis just the roast left over from last night.

NARRATOR: The gi ant grumbled, but he sat down beside the fireand began to eat his supper. Jack watched himcarefully from inside the oven. Fi nally, the gi antfinished his meal.

GIANT: Wife, fetch me my bags of gold. I want to count mycoins.

NARRATOR: With that, the wife went to a large cup board and gotdown three very heavy bags of gold coins. Shedumped the shiny coins onto the ta ble, whereuponthe gi ant scooped them into large piles and began tocount them. Before long he fell fast asleep. In notime, Jack crept out of the oven, snatched one of thebags, and ran out of the house and down the road tothe top of the beanstalk. He quickly climbed downthe beanstalk and ran to his mother in the house.

JACK: Look, mother, we have all the money we need. Weshall never be hun gry again.

MOTHER: Jack, you are wonderful!

38

Page 51: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR: His mother was overcome with hap piness. Shecalled Jack the best son in the world. They bothlived very well for quite some time with all thethings they could buy with the money.

But there came a day when there were only a fewcoins left. Jack decided to climb back up thebeanstalk once again and visit the gi ant’s castle. Hewalked down the road and up to the castle door.Someone had left the castle door ajar, so Jackslipped inside the castle and en tered the kitchen.

Soon he heard the gi ant come home for sup per. Assoon as the gi ant entered the house, he be gan to roar.

GIANT: Fee Fi Fo Fum!I smell the blood of an Englishman!Be he alive or be he dead,I’ll grind his bones to make my bread!

WIFE: You do not smell anything, my hus band. That is just a squir rel who has fallen down the chimney.

NARRATOR: The gi ant grumbled, but in time he sat down toconsume a whole roast pig and an enor mous gob letof wine. Wip ing his mouth on his sleeve, he calledto his wife.

GIANT: Wife, get me my golden hen. I want my golden hen.

WIFE: As you wish, my hus band.

NARRATOR: The wife went and fetched the golden hen and set itdown on the ta ble. From the oven, Jack watched asthe golden hen laid an egg of solid gold. He couldnot be lieve his eyes—a hen that laid golden eggs!

Jack waited. Soon, just as be fore, the gi ant began tonod, and be fore long he fell fast asleep. Jack slowlysnuck out of the oven, seized the golden hen, andran to the door. Just before he got out the door thegolden hen cackled. The noise woke up the gi ant,and he be gan to roar.

39

Page 52: Fairy Tales

GIANT: [loudly] Who is stealing my golden hen? WHO ISSTEALING MY GOLDEN HEN? I shall grab himand eat him in one bite.

NARRATOR: Jack was so fright ened that he ran with all his speed.However, the gi ant, with his large steps, be gan tocatch up to Jack. Jack could feel the gi ant’s breathlike a hot wind on his back.

Jack reached the top of the beanstalk and clambereddown as fast as he could. The gi ant was closebehind. Faster and faster Jack climbed down—stillclutching the golden hen in his arms. But as fast ashe went, the gi ant seemed to go even faster.

Quickly Jack reached the ground and shouted to hismother.

JACK: [urgently] A hatchet. Get me a hatchet. Quickly.Quickly.

NARRATOR: His mother grabbed a hatchet and gave it to Jack. As fast as he could, Jack chopped at the beanstalk.Hacking and hacking—it finally fell with a mightycrash, kill ing the gi ant in stantly.

MOTHER: Jack, you are safe!

JACK: Yes, mother. And I have brought you a fine gift—ahen that lays golden eggs.

NARRATOR: And so it was that Jack and his mother lived veryhappily and very well for the re mainder of theirlives.

40

Page 53: Fairy Tales

The Princess and the Pea

STAGING: The nar rator should be standing be hind a lec tern or a music stand to the side of the stag ing area. The other char acters may be loosely as sembled in the mid dle of thestaging area. You may wish to place an old mat tress or sleep ing bag in the middle of thestaging area.

Nar rator X Prince King Queen Prin cess X X X X

NARRATOR: Once upon a far away time in a far away king domthere lived a prince. The prince was very lonely, andhe wanted to marry a prin cess. But she had to be areal princess. Yes, she had to be a REAL princess.

PRINCE: Yes, I must have a real princess. Only a realprincess will do.

41From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 54: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR: The prince looked and looked all over the king dom.He met many beautiful maidens, but none of themwas a real princess. So he sent all of them away.

One night there was a ter rible storm. Rain wasfalling hard, light ning was slash ing through thedark, and thun der was echoing across the hills. Itwas a most terrible storm. Sud denly, a knock washeard at the castle door.

QUEEN: Come in.

KING: Yes, come in.

NARRATOR: There before them stood a very wet girl. Her clotheswere soaked and her hair was ragged.

PRINCESS: I would like to get out of this storm. May I spendthe night here? I am a real princess, on my wayhome, when this storm came upon me. Would youhave room for a real prin cess to stay the night?

QUEEN: A real prin cess, you say. I say that there is only oneway to know if she is a real prin cess.

NARRATOR: The queen went off to make up a bed for the young lady.

PRINCE: I can only hope that she is a real prin cess. She is allwet and bedraggled now, but perhaps she is a realprincess un derneath all of that.

KING: I hope so, too, my son. I also hope that she is a realprincess. You have been look ing long and hard for a real prin cess. Who knows, maybe she is the princessyou are seeking. If so, then your mother, the queen,will find out soon enough.

NARRATOR: The queen went into the guest room.

QUEEN: I shall place a tiny pea under the mattress. Then Ishall have 20 more mattresses placed on top of thefirst mat tress. There will be 21 mattresses on top ofthe tiny pea. If she is, in deed, a prin cess, then shewill be able to feel the tiny pea un der all 21mattresses. Only a real princess will be able to feel a tiny pea un der so many mattresses.

42

Page 55: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR: And so the queen put 20 more mattresses on top ofthe first mat tress: 1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . 4 . . . 5 . . . 6 . . . 7 . . .8 . . . 9 . . . 10. More and more mat tresses were piledon the bed. The bed grew higher and higher: 11 . . .12 . . . 13 . . . 14 . . . 15 . . . 16 . . . 17 . . . 18 . . . 19 . . . 20. The bed was now 21 mattresses high.

QUEEN: Oh, princess, your bed is now ready. Come andsleep. You must be very tired.

PRINCESS: Thank you. Yes, I am very tired and look ing for wardto a long and rest ful sleep. Thank you very much.

NARRATOR: And so the prin cess crawled on top of all themattresses and promptly fell asleep.

The next morning, everyone was sitting at the tableeating their breakfast when the princess came in.

PRINCE: How did you sleep?

KING: Yes, how did you sleep last night?

QUEEN: How did you sleep? Yes, how did you sleep?

PRINCESS: I did not sleep very well. I felt a big lump in my bed all night long. It was be cause of that lump in my bed that I did not sleep very well.

NARRATOR: With that, both the king and the queen smiled. Theprince was smil ing, too.

KING: You must be a real prin cess!

PRINCE: Yes, you must be a real prin cess!

QUEEN: Yes, I know you are a real prin cess. That is because only a real princess could feel a pea under 21 mat tresses!

NARRATOR: And so it came to pass that the prince married thereal prin cess. And they lived for ever in greathappiness. And they kept the pea in a glass case inthe castle museum.

43

Page 56: Fairy Tales

Rapunzel

STAGING: The three nar rators may each be seated on a high stool or chair at a mu sicstand. The witch may walk around the staging area with a script in her hands.

Nar rator 1 Nar rator 2 Nar rator 3 X X X

Witch X

NARRATOR 1: In a small village a long, long time ago, there lived awoodcarver and his wife. For many years they hadlonged for a child and al ways hoped that some daytheir wish would come true.

NARRATOR 2: The young wife liked to sit in her win dow and lookat the gar den next door—a gar den that justhappened to be long to a witch. The gar den wasfilled with wonderful flow ers and beautifulvegetables. The young wife longed to have some ofthose plants—especially the rapunzel, or saladgreens, that grew through out the garden.

44 From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 57: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 3: She begged her hus band to get her some rapunzel,fearing that she would die if she did n’t have some.Eventually she grew weak and sickly, and herhusband feared for her life.

NARRATOR 1: So one evening he climbed over the gar den wall andinto the witch’s gar den to get some rapunzel for hiswife.

NARRATOR 2: No sooner had he be gan to collect the rapunzel thanthe witch ap peared before him.

WITCH: What are you do ing here in my garden, you thief?

NARRATOR 3: The young man begged for for giveness from thewitch. He told her how much his wife wanted therapunzel and that she would die if she did n’t get any.

WITCH: In that case, please help your self. But for this fa vor I must demand a promise in return. You must give meyour child when she is born. She will not be harmed,but have her I must.

NARRATOR 1: The young man was fright ened, but he made thepromise nonetheless. He gath ered up the rapunzeland took it to his wife. As soon as she ate some ofthe delicious plant, she re gained her health as wellas her spir its.

NARRATOR 2: A year later a lit tle girl was born to the cou ple.Within the hour the witch appeared and gath ered thechild in her arms and went away. She named the childRapunzel, for the plant that had grown in her gar den.

NARRATOR 3: Rapunzel grew up to be a very beautiful woman.Her hair, long and golden, grew so that it hung in abraid down to the floor.

NARRATOR 1: When Rapunzel turned 12, the witch took her to ahigh tower in the middle of the for est. There wasneither a door nor a staircase in the tower. Therewas only a single window up un der the roof.Whenever the witch wanted to visit Rapunzel, shewould stand be neath the window and call:

45

Page 58: Fairy Tales

WITCH: Rapunzel, Rapunzel,Let down your golden hair.

NARRATOR 2: Rapunzel would tie her hair to a hook beside thewindow and throw her long braid down. The witchwould then climb up the braid and into the window.

NARRATOR 3: Rapunzel spent three very lonely years in the tower.Only the an imals of the for est were her friends.

NARRATOR 1: One bright sum mer day a prince came rid ingthrough the forest. While his horse was taking adrink, he heard a soft and beautiful sound comingthrough the trees. It was Rapunzel sing ing. Theprince rode his horse over to the sound—the talltower in the middle of the woods. He looked allaround, but he could not find an en trance. So hedecided to wait and see what would happen.

NARRATOR 2: In very short order he saw the witch coming through the woods. The witch went up to the tower andcalled out:

WITCH: Rapunzel, Rapunzel,Let down your golden hair.

NARRATOR 3: Rapunzel did let down her golden hair as she wastold. The witch quickly climbed up the hair.Hmmm, thought the prince, that is how I will get tothe beau ti ful maiden.

NARRATOR 1: So the prince waited once more. Fi nally the witchclimbed down Rapunzel’s hair and went back to hercot tage.

NARRATOR 2: The prince called out to Rapunzel to let down hergolden hair, and in a short mo ment the golden haircame tum bling out of the tower. The prince climbedup the golden hair and stepped into the tower.

NARRATOR 3: Rapunzel was most sur prised to see the princestanding there. The prince told her of the sweetsongs he had heard in the woods and how he haddiscovered the source of that sweet music. He toldher how much he loved the music and how much heloved her. He begged her to be his wife.

46

Page 59: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 1: Rapunzel was over come with joy. She was alsoovercome with fear. She told the prince that the only way she could leave the tower would be if hebrought a skein of silk each time he vis ited. ThenRapunzel could weave the silk into a lad der, withwhich they could both es cape the tower.

NARRATOR 2: Rapunzel told the prince to come only in theevening, because the witch al ways vis ited dur ing the day. The prince prom ised and soon rode off into thenight.

NARRATOR 3: Each day the witch came, and each evening theprince came, bring ing a skein of fine silk. When thewitch was not there, Rapunzel wove the silk into along and beautiful lad der.

NARRATOR 1: One day while the witch was vis iting Rapunzel, shediscovered the silk lad der in a cor ner of the tower.

WITCH: You wicked child! You wicked, wicked child! Youhave tried to de ceive me. For that you will bepun ished.

NARRATOR 2: With that the witch took a pair of scissors and cutoff Rapunzel’s long hair. Then she ban ishedRapunzel to a wilderness far, far away.

NARRATOR 3: That evening the witch tied Rapunzel’s golden locksto a hook beside the win dow and let them down theside of the tower. Soon the prince came by andcalled for Rapunzel.

NARRATOR 1: The wicked witch dropped the long braids out thewindow. When the prince climbed up them, hefound himself face to face with the witch.

WITCH: So, you have come to see the beautiful prin cess. I’mafraid she is gone for ever. She has flown away, andyou will never see her again. Ha, ha, ha!

NARRATOR 2: The prince was so up set that he leaped out of thehigh tower. He fell into a thorn bush, scratching hiseyes so much that he was blinded.

47

Page 60: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 3: The prince wandered over the coun tryside for twoyears, until one special day he came to the placewhere Rapunzel was resting. Rapunzel quicklyrecognized the prince, even though he was in ragsand blind. She cried tears of joy for him. When hertears fell on his blinded eyes, his sight was re stored.They then jour neyed to the prince’s castle, wherethey were married and where they both livedhappily ever after.

48

Page 61: Fairy Tales

Rum pel stilts kin

STAGING: The char acters may all be placed be hind mu sic stands. The daughter maybe seated in a chair, holding her script in her hands. If pos sible, place a wheel of somekind (an old bicycle wheel, for ex ample) in front of the daugh ter to serve as a makeshiftspin ning wheel.

Nar rator X Miller King Daugh ter/Queen X X X Dwarf X

NARRATOR: Once upon a time, in a far off land, there lived amiller and his daughter. The daugh ter was verybeautiful, and the miller would always boast abouther great beauty. One day while the miller wasdoing some busi ness at the castle, he happened tospeak with the young king.

MILLER: I have a very beautiful daugh ter, who would makesomeone a fine wife. Not only is she very beautiful,but she is equally clever as well.

KING: Please tell me more.

49From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 62: Fairy Tales

MILLER: My beautiful daugh ter is so clever that she can spinstraw into gold.

KING: That is very hard to believe, but if it is true, then Ishall be more than happy to make her my bride.

MILLER: Then I will make it so.

KING: Very well. Send your daugh ter to the castletomorrow morning, and we shall see just how clevershe is.

NARRATOR: And so the next morning the beautiful daugh terarrived at the castle. She was led to a room full ofstraw.

KING: There is your work be fore you. In one day’s timeyou must spin all this straw into gold. If you do not,then you shall die.

NARRATOR: The miller’s daugh ter sat down at her spinningwheel and be gan to cry.

DAUGHTER: [crying] What shall I do? I am an ex cellent spinner,but not even I can spin straw into gold.

NARRATOR: Suddenly the door sprang open, and an old dwarfstepped into the room.

DWARF: Hello, young maiden. Why are you crying so?

DAUGHTER: I have been told that I must spin this straw into gold.If not, then I shall die. I don’t know how to do it!

DWARF: What would it be worth to you if I should do it?

DAUGHTER: I will give you my pearl necklace.

DWARF: Very well.

NARRATOR: The dwarf put the necklace in his pocket. He thensat down at the spin ning wheel and be gan to spin thestraw into gold. The next morn ing when the kingcame to check on the daugh ter, he found the roomfilled with gold. Being somewhat greedy, hedecided to give her a larger task. He led the miller’s

50

Page 63: Fairy Tales

daughter to another room—this one filled evenhigher and even deeper with straw. He or dered herto spin it all into gold or she would die when themorning came. Af ter he left she fell to her knees,weeping.

DAUGHTER: [crying] Oh, what will I do? What will I do?

NARRATOR: Just as before, the dwarf appeared in the roomoffering to help the young girl. And just as before,the dwarf wanted something in return.

DAUGHTER: I will give you my sil ver ring.

DWARF: Very well. That will do.

NARRATOR: Once again, the dwarf sat down at the spinningwheel and spun all the straw into gold. At dawn,when the king returned, he was even more amazedat what he saw. But he wanted even more. So for athird time he placed the miller’s daugh ter in a verylarge room, overflowing with straw.

KING: This time, if you should spin all this straw into goldbefore the morn ing, I shall make you my queen.However, if you fail, you will die.

NARRATOR: Once again the miller’s daugh ter broke down intears. And once again, the dwarf ap peared in thedoor way.

DAUGHTER: I have noth ing more to give you.

DWARF: Then prom ise me your first-born child when yoube come queen.

NARRATOR: Not knowing what to do, she re luctantly prom isedthe dwarf her first-born child. In the morning whenthe king returned, he saw a room filled to the raf terswith gold. He was so over come with hap piness thathe pro posed to the miller’s daugh ter, and they weremarried at once.

51

Page 64: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR: A year went by, and a young boy was born to thequeen. By then she had for gotten about her promiseto the dwarf. And then one day the door swungopen, and the dwarf ap peared before her.

DWARF: Remember the promise you gave me? I have comefor your child.

NARRATOR: The queen begged and begged him not to take herchild. She of fered him riches. He said, “No.” Sheoffered him land. He said, “No.” She of fered himeverything she could think of—each time he said,“No.”

DWARF: All that means noth ing to me. You promised meyour child, and I have come to take him.

QUEEN: There must be something else. Please, please, theremust be an other way!

DWARF: Very well. I will give you three days. Within thosethree days you must dis cover my name. If you do,you may keep your child. If you do not, then thechild shall be mine.

NARRATOR: The queen sent messengers all across the kingdomto try to dis cover the name of the dwarf. The nextday the dwarf ap peared in her door way.

QUEEN: Is your name Michael? Is it Obed? Is itHumpty-back?

DWARF: No, no, no.

NARRATOR: The queen sent more messengers and more ser vantsacross the land to dis cover the name of the dwarf.They traveled far and they traveled wide andbrought back all manner of names. On the eveningof the second day the dwarf ap peared once again.

QUEEN: Is your name Spiderlegs? Is your name Gilbert? Isyour name Ronald?

DWARF: No, no, no. My name is none of those.

52

Page 65: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR: Now, the queen was in a ter rible state. The third day everyone in the king dom was searching for thename of the dwarf. Just as evening fell, one of herservants ran up to her and told her about a small huthe had found deep in the woods. He had seen abright fire in front of the hut, and around the firewas a little man dancing with a black cat. As the twoof them danced, the little man sang a song.

DWARF: I can dance and I can sing.Tomorrow brings my lit tle king!The ser vants look both high and low.They’ll never find my name, I know.For I con trol this lit tle game,And Rumpelstiltskin is my name.

NARRATOR: Later that night the door burst open and the dwarfentered the queen’s cham ber.

DWARF: Well, my queen, what is my name?

QUEEN: Is your name John?

DWARF: NO!

QUEEN: Is your name Rupert?

DWARF: NO! NO!

QUEEN: Hmmm, is there a chance that your name is . . . is . . .Rum pel stilts kin?

NARRATOR: The dwarf was furious. He was mad. He was an gry.He stamped his foot so hard that he went rightthrough the floor—splitting him self in half. And in atwinkle he was never seen again. And of course thequeen and her son were to live lives of great joy and hap pi ness.

53

Page 66: Fairy Tales

Snow White and theSeven Dwarfs

STAGING: The three nar rators should be placed in the rear of the stag ing area. Theyshould each be stand ing be hind a mu sic stand or lec tern. The other char acters may walkaround the staging area with scripts in their hands.

Narrator 1 Nar rator 2 Nar rator 3 X X X

Step mother Snow White Chief Dwarf X X X

NARRATOR 1: Once upon a time there lived in a great castle abeautiful maiden. She was quite pretty, with blueeyes and long, flow ing hair. Her skin was del icateand pale, so she was called Snow White.

NARRATOR 2: However, she also had a very evil stepmother—astepmother who was very jealous of Snow White’sbeauty.

NARRATOR 3: Every day the evil stepmother would stand in frontof her mirror and ask the mirror a sin gle question.

54 From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 67: Fairy Tales

STEPMOTHER: Mirror, mir ror, on the wall,Who is the fair est one of all?

NARRATOR 1: The mir ror al ways an swered that the stepmotherwas, in deed, the most beautiful one in the wholeking dom.

NARRATOR 2: But, alas, one day the mir ror told the evilstepmother that Snow White was now the mostbeautiful creature in the whole king dom.

NARRATOR 3: As you might imagine, this made the evilstepmother very, very angry.

STEPMOTHER: [very angrily] Who does she think she is? She cannotbe the most beautiful creature in the king dom. I amthe most beautiful. Snow White must die.

NARRATOR 1: And so the evil stepmother called one of herservants and told him to take Snow White deep intothe for est and slay her.

NARRATOR 2: The ser vant put Snow White on a horse and led herinto the deepest and dark est part of the for est.

NARRATOR 3: But he was over come with guilt and could not killthis in nocent maiden. So he left her in the for est,beside a tall tree, and hastened away. Snow Whitewas all alone.

SNOW WHITE: [crying] It is so dark here. It is so lonely here. Thereare many strange sounds. I am very afraid.

NARRATOR 1: Finally Snow White fell asleep. At dawn the soundsof birds woke her. She looked around and saw manyan i mals scur ry ing about.

NARRATOR 2: She soon found a path in the woods and began towalk along it. Be fore long she came to a meadowwherein stood a small cottage with a tiny door, tinywindows, and a tiny chimney.

NARRATOR 3: Snow White walked up to the very small cottageand knocked on the door. No body an swered, so shepushed the door open and walked in.

55

Page 68: Fairy Tales

SNOW WHITE: What a tiny, tiny place. And, look, there’s a tinytable with seven tiny plates on it. In deed, this tableis set for seven peo ple.

NARRATOR 1: Snow White went up stairs, where she found seventiny beds. When she came back down stairs she hadan idea.

SNOW WHITE: I know, I’ll fix them all a fine din ner to eat. Whenthey all come home, they’ll have a fine meal be forethem.

NARRATOR 2: Soon there was a sound coming from the for est. Itwas the sound of people sing ing. Sud denly sevenlittle men burst through the door of the cottage.

NARRATOR 3: To their sur prise they found hot, steaming owls ofsoup on the table. And the whole house had beencleaned from top to bottom.

CHIEF DWARF: [to Snow White] Who are you, and what are youdo ing here?

SNOW WHITE: My name is Snow White. I live in a farawaykingdom, and my evil stepmother wanted me killedbecause she is jealous of my beauty. I was takeninto the for est by one of her servants, but he couldnot kill me. So he left me there and I eventuallyfound my way here.

CHIEF DWARF: Very well. You may stay here with us. You can tend to the house while we work in the mines. You donot have to worry about your evil step mother. Wewill take care of you and watch over you. You willbe safe here.

NARRATOR 1: All the dwarfs jumped up and down and cheered forjoy. They were all very happy to have Snow Whitestay with them.

NARRATOR 2: The next morning the seven dwarfs set off to workin the mines. Before they left they told Snow Whiteto never open the door to any strangers.

56

Page 69: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 3: Meanwhile, the ser vant had re turned to the castle.He told the evil stepmother that he had killed SnowWhite just as he had been commanded.

NARRATOR 1: Being very pleased, the evil stepmother turned toher magic mir ror and asked it a ques tion.

STEPMOTHER: Mirror, mir ror, on the wall,Who is the fair est one of all?

NARRATOR 2: Thinking that the mirror would answer that she, theevil stepmother, was the most beautiful one in thekingdom, she was quite sur prised when the mir rortold her that Snow White was still the prettiest.

STEPMOTHER: [very angrily] Oh, darn! Oh, drat! I must now goand teach that lit tle girl a les son she will neverforget. She must die! SHE MUST DIE!!

NARRATOR 3: The step mother dis guised herself as an old peasantwoman and filled a bas ket with ap ples, in cludingone that had been poi soned.

NARRATOR 1: She climbed on her horse and rode off into thewoods. Crossing a stream, she came upon the tinycottage and knocked on the door.

SNOW WHITE: Who’s there?

STEPMOTHER: It is just me. I’m an old peas ant woman sell ingapples to make a liv ing. Would you like an ap ple?

SNOW WHITE: I do not need any apples, thank you.

STEPMOTHER: But these are very fine apples. And they are quitede li cious!

SNOW WHITE: I must not open the door to anyone. So thank youvery much.

STEPMOTHER: Very well, I un derstand. But in case you changeyour mind, I shall leave one of my fin est apples hereby the door.

NARRATOR 2: With that the evil stepmother hur ried back to thecastle. Filled with curiosity, Snow White opened the door a crack and saw the ap ple on the porch.

57

Page 70: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 3: She grabbed the ap ple, slammed the door closed,and, be ing quite hun gry, took a large bite from theap ple.

NARRATOR 1: Instantly Snow White fell into a deep, deep sleep.The effects of the poison apple made her a lifelessform.

NARRATOR 2: That af ternoon the dwarfs returned home from a dayof work ing in the mines. There they found SnowWhite, ly ing life less and still on the floor of the tinycot tage.

NARRATOR 3: The dwarfs cried and cried. They carried her into theforest and gently placed her on a bed of rose petals.

NARRATOR 1: Each day they brought a rose and gently placed itbeside the sleeping body of Snow White.

NARRATOR 2: Then one day, when they came to place their rose,they saw a young prince stand ing over Snow White.

CHIEF DWARF: That is Snow White. She has bit ten into a poi sonedapple and now is fast asleep. She sleeps herefor ever.

NARRATOR 3: The young prince took great pity on the beautifulmaiden. He bent down and placed a gentle kiss onher lips.

NARRATOR 1: With that, the spell from the poi soned apple wasbroken. Snow White awoke from her sleep todiscover the handsome prince stand ing be fore her.

NARRATOR 2: The young prince im mediately asked Snow White to marry him and to live with him in a great castle.

NARRATOR 3: Snow White agreed. She said good-bye to the sevendwarfs and went to live with the hand someprince—happily ever af ter!

58

Page 71: Fairy Tales

The Little Red Hen

STAGING: The char acters should all be placed be hind mu sic stands or lec terns. Thenarrator may be placed off to the side and away from the other char acters.

Dog Goose Cat X X X Lit tle Red Hen X Nar rator X

NARRATOR: Once upon a time there was a little red hen. Shelived on a farm with a dog, a goose, and a cat.

One day the lit tle red hen found some grains ofwheat on the ground.

LITTLE RED HEN: Who will help me plant this wheat?

DOG: Not I!

GOOSE: Not I!

CAT: Not I!

LITTLE RED HEN: OK, then I will plant it my self.

59From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 72: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR: And she did!

The Little Red Hen wa tered and weeded andwatched. She watched as the wheat began to grow.The wheat grew and grew un til it was very tall.Finally the wheat was ready to be cut.

LITTLE RED HEN: Who will help me cut the wheat?

DOG: Not I!

GOOSE: Not I!

CAT: Not I!

LITTLE RED HEN: OK, then I will cut it my self.

NARRATOR: And she did!

The Little Red Hen cut and cut and cut the wheat.She cut down all the wheat and gath ered it into alarge pile. There was a lot of wheat in the pile. Thewheat was ready to be beat.

LITTLE RED HEN: Who will help me beat the wheat?

DOG: Not I!

GOOSE: Not I!

CAT: Not I!

LITTLE RED HEN: OK, then I will beat it my self.

NARRATOR: And she did!

The Little Red Hen beat and beat and beat. She beatall the wheat un til all the ker nels had fallen out ofthe wheat. There was a large pile of kernels. Thewheat was ready to be shipped to the mill.

LITTLE RED HEN: Who will help me take the wheat to the mill?

DOG: Not I!

GOOSE: Not I!

CAT: Not I!

60

Page 73: Fairy Tales

LITTLE RED HEN: OK, then I will take it my self.

NARRATOR: And she did!

The Lit tle Red Hen took the wheat to the mill. Thereit was ground into flour. All the flour was put in alarge sack. The Lit tle Red Hen brought the largesack of flour back home.

LITTLE RED HEN: Who will help me bake the bread?

DOG: Not I!

GOOSE: Not I!

CAT: Not I!

LITTLE RED HEN: OK, then I will bake it my self.

NARRATOR: And she did!

The Lit tle Red Hen baked the bread in the oven un tilit was a toasty brown. The good smell filled thehouse. When the bread came out of the oven itsmelled very good . . . very, very good!

The dog, the goose, and the cat smelled the bread.They ran to the house to get some. The Lit tle RedHen put the bread on the ta ble.

LITTLE RED HEN: Who will help me eat this good bread?

DOG: I will!

GOOSE: I will!

CAT: I will!

LITTLE RED HEN: Oh, no, you won’t!

NARRATOR: And she ate up all the bread herself.

61

Page 74: Fairy Tales

The Gin ger bread Man

STAGING: The two nar rators may stand at lecterns or po diums on both sides of thestaging area. The other char acters may stand in a ran dom pat tern across the stag ing area.The Gin gerbread Man may wish to move back and forth across the stag ing area eachtime he says, “Run, run, as fast as you can . . . .”

Cow Horse Thresher Mower X X X X

Lit tle Old Woman Lit tle Old Man X X Gin gerbread Man X Fox XNarrator 1 Nar rator 2 X X

NARRATOR 1: Once upon a time there was a Lit tle Old Woman . . . .

LITTLE OLD WOMAN: That’s me!

NARRATOR 2: . . . and a Lit tle Old Man.

LITTLE OLD MAN: That’s me!

62 From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 75: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 1: Well, they both lived in a lit tle old house in themiddle of the lit tle old woods. They were verylonely, so one day the Little Old Woman de cided tomake a Gingerbread Boy.

NARRATOR 2: So she rolled out some gin gerbread, sprin kled itwith cinnamon, used some raisins for his eyes, andmade his mouth out of rose-colored sugar. She puthim on a pan and put him in the oven.

NARRATOR 1: After a time she opened the oven door and took outthe pan.

LITTLE OLD WOMAN: That’s what I did—I took out the pan!

LITTLE OLD MAN: Yes, she took out the pan.

NARRATOR 2: Just as she took out the pan, the lit tle GingerbreadBoy jumped onto the floor and ran out the door.

NARRATOR 1: The Lit tle Old Woman and the Lit tle Old Man ranafter the Gin gerbread Boy. But the Gin gerbread Boy was much too fast, and he ran down the road,laughing and shout ing.

GINGERBREAD BOY: Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me, I’m the Gin ger bread Man!

NARRATOR 2: And they could n’t catch him.

NARRATOR 1: The Gin gerbread Boy ran down the road. Fi nally hecame to a large field with a cow in it.

COW: Stop, little Gingerbread Boy. I want to eat you!

GINGERBREAD BOY: I have run away from a Little Old Man and a Lit tleOld Woman, and I can run away from you, I can!

NARRATOR 2: The cow chased him down the road. But theGingerbread Boy just looked over his shoul der andcried,

GINGERBREAD BOY: Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me, I’m the Gin ger bread Man!

NARRATOR 1: And the cow could n’t catch him.

63

Page 76: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 2: The lit tle Gingerbread Boy ran on and on, un til hecame to a horse in a pasture.

HORSE: Please stop, Lit tle Gingerbread Boy. You look goodenough to eat.

GINGERBREAD BOY: Oh, no. I have run away from a Little Old Man anda Little Old Woman and a cow, and I can run awayfrom you, I can!

NARRATOR 1: The horse chased him down the road. But theGingerbread Boy just looked over his shoul der andcried,

GINGERBREAD BOY: Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me, I’m the Gin ger bread Man!

NARRATOR 2: And the horse couldn’t catch him.

NARRATOR 1: By and by the little Gingerbread Boy came to a barn where a thresher was work ing.

THRESHER: Please stop, lit tle Gingerbread Boy. You look goodenough to eat.

GINGERBREAD BOY: Oh, no. I have run away from a Little Old Man anda Little Old Woman and a cow and a horse, and Ican run away from you, I can!

NARRATOR 2: The thresher chased him down the road. But theGingerbread Boy just looked over his shoul der andcried,

GINGERBREAD BOY: Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me, I’m the Gin ger bread Man!

NARRATOR 1: And the thresher could n’t catch him.

NARRATOR 2: By and by the little Gingerbread Boy came to a field where a mower was work ing.

MOWER: Please stop, lit tle Gingerbread Boy. You look goodenough to eat.

64

Page 77: Fairy Tales

GINGERBREAD BOY: Oh, no. I have run away from a Little Old Man anda Little Old Woman and a cow and a horse and athresher, and I can run away from you, I can!

NARRATOR 1: The mower chased him down the road. But theGingerbread Boy just looked over his shoul der andcried,

GINGERBREAD BOY: Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me, I’m the Gin ger bread Man!

NARRATOR 2: And the mower could n’t catch him.

NARRATOR 1: By and by the little Gingerbread Boy came to a foxwho was walking down the road.

GINGERBREAD BOY: I have run away from a Little Old Man and a Lit tleOld Woman and a cow and a horse and a thresherand a mower, and I can run away from you, I can!Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me, I’m the Gin ger bread Man!

FOX: Why, I am not in terested in catching you. I wouldnot think of such a thing!

NARRATOR 2: Just then the little Gingerbread Boy came to a river.He could not swim across.

NARRATOR 1: But he wanted to keep run ning away from all theanimals and all the peo ple who were chasing him.

FOX: Hey, lit tle Gingerbread Boy, why don’t you jump on my tail, and I will take you across the river?

NARRATOR 2: So the little Gingerbread Boy jumped on the fox’stail, and the fox swam into the river. When he was ashort dis tance from shore, he turned his head andsaid,

FOX: You are too heavy on my tail, lit tle GingerbreadBoy. I’m afraid you will get wet. Why don’t youjump on my back?

NARRATOR 1: So the little Gingerbread Boy jumped on the fox’sback.

65

Page 78: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 2: The fox swam a lit tle further out into the river andsaid to the lit tle Gin gerbread Boy,

FOX: I’m afraid the water will cover you there. Why don’t you jump on my shoul der?

NARRATOR 1: So the little Gingerbread Boy jumped on the fox’sshoul der.

NARRATOR 2: In the mid dle of the river, the fox said to the lit tleGin ger bread Boy,

FOX: Oh, no, my shoul der is sinking. Why don’t youjump on my nose?

NARRATOR 1: So the little Gingerbread Boy jumped on the fox’s . . .

NARRATOR 2: SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!

NARRATOR 1: And just like that, the lit tle Gin gerbread Boy wasgone!

NARRATOR 2: And he never ever said anything again.

FOX: Run, run, lit tle Gingerbread Man. I’m a hun gry fox,and I can eat you, I can!

66

Page 79: Fairy Tales

Goldilocks and theThree Bears

STAGING: The nar rators and the three bears may all be seated on tall stools or chairs.Each should be be hind a mu sic stand or lec tern. Goldilocks should hold a script in herhands and walk around the stag ing area.

Papa Bear Mama Bear Baby Bear X X X Goldilocks X

Narrator 1 Nar rator 2 X X

NARRATOR 1: Once upon a time, in a faraway place, there lived afamily of bears. There was Papa Bear . . .

PAPA BEAR: That’s me!

NARRATOR: . . . Momma Bear . . .

MAMA BEAR: That’s me!

NARRATOR: . . . and Baby Bear.

BABY BEAR: That’s me!

67From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 80: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 2: The three bears lived in a very large cot tage in themiddle of the woods. They were a happy bearfamily—they played to gether, they laughedtogether, and they went for lots of walks in thewoods to gether. They did n’t bother any one, andno body both ered them.

NARRATOR 1: Well, one day a lit tle girl named Goldilocks . . .

GOLDILOCKS: That’s me!

NARRATOR 1: . . . de cided to go for a walk in the woods. She hadnever walked in the woods be fore, and she wascurious about what she might find there.

NARRATOR 2: At the same time, Mama Bear was working in herkitchen.

MAMA BEAR: I’m making a fine por ridge for us to eat. But, intaking it out of the oven I no tice that it is very hot. It is far too hot to eat.

PAPA BEAR: Well then, we should go for a walk in the woodswhile the por ridge is cool ing.

BABY BEAR: That sounds like fun. Let’s go!

NARRATOR 2: And so the three bears left the por ridge on the ta bleto cool and went for a walk in the woods.

NARRATOR 1: Meanwhile, Goldilocks was coming down the path.As she turned the corner she saw the three bears’cottage. She walked up to the cottage and peered inthe windows. As she looked in side she saw the threebowls of por ridge on the ta ble. She was very hun gryand decided that she wanted some porridge.

GOLDILOCKS: Yes, I am very hun gry and should like to have someporridge to eat.

NARRATOR 2: So Goldilocks opened the door of the cottage andwalked in side. She dipped her fin gers into PapaBear’s bowl of por ridge.

68

Page 81: Fairy Tales

GOLDILOCKS: Ohhhh, this is way too hot! It is much too hot for meto eat.

NARRATOR 1: Then she dipped her fin gers into Mama Bear’spor ridge.

GOLDILOCKS: Ohhh, this is way too cool! It is much too cool forme to eat.

NARRATOR 2: Then she dipped her fin gers into Baby Bear’spor ridge.

GOLDILOCKS: Ahhhh, this is just right!

NARRATOR 1: And with that, she ate up all the por ridge in BabyBear’s bowl.

NARRATOR 2: Walking around in side the cot tage, Goldilocks cameupon the three chairs belonging to the three bears.

NARRATOR 1: First she sat down in Papa Bear’s chair.

GOLDILOCKS: Ohhhh, this is much too big!

NARRATOR 2: Then she sat down in Mama Bear’s chair.

GOLDILOCKS: Ohhhh, this is much too nar row!

NARRATOR 1: Then she sat down in Baby Bear’s chair.

GOLDILOCKS: Ahhhh, this is just right!

NARRATOR 2: After a while, Goldilocks decided to go up stairs andsee what she could find. There she found the threebears’ beds.

NARRATOR 1: First she lay down in Papa Bear’s bed.

GOLDILOCKS: Ohhhh, this is much too soft!

NARRATOR 2: Then she lay down in Mama Bear’s bed!

GOLDILOCKS: Ohhhh, this is much too hard.

NARRATOR 1: Then she lay down in Baby Bear’s bed.

GOLDILOCKS: Ahhhh, this is just right!

NARRATOR 2: And she fell fast asleep.

69

Page 82: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 1: Before long, the three bears came back from theirwalk in the woods. As soon as they walked in thedoor, they could see that something was wrong.

PAPA BEAR: Who’s been eating my por ridge?

MAMA BEAR: Who’s been eating my por ridge?

BABY BEAR: Who’s been eating my por ridge? And it’s all gone!

NARRATOR 2: The three bears went into the liv ing room. As soonas they walked in, they could see that somethingwas wrong.

PAPA BEAR: Who’s been sit ting in my chair?

MAMA BEAR: Who’s been sit ting in my chair?

BABY BEAR: Who’s been sit ting in my chair? And it’s all bro ken!

NARRATOR 1: Then the three bears went up stairs. As soon as theywalked into the bedroom, they could see thatsomething was wrong.

PAPA BEAR: Who’s been sleeping in my bed?

MAMA BEAR: Who’s been sleeping in my bed?

BABY BEAR: Who’s been sleeping in my bed? And she’s rightthere!

NARRATOR 2: With that, Goldilocks woke up. When she saw thethree bears stand ing over her, she was so fright enedthat she ran as fast as she could away from thehouse.

PAPA BEAR: Who’s run ning away from our house?

MAMA BEAR: Who’s run ning away from our house?

BABY BEAR: Who’s run ning away from our house? And there shegoes!

70

Page 83: Fairy Tales

Chicken Lit tle

STAGING: The char acters should all be hold ing their scripts in their hands. En couragethem to move around the staging area (everyone gets be hind Chicken Lit tle and followshim or her through out the pro duction). Be cause there are sev eral characters in this ren di-tion, you may wish to do one or two prac tice sessions be fore a more formal presentation.

Nar ra tor X Chicken Little Foxy-Loxy X X Cocky-Locky X Ducky-Lucky X Goosey-Loosey XTur key-Lurkey X

NARRATOR: One fine day, Chicken Lit tle decided to go for awalk. As she was walking through the woods, anacorn fell right on top of her head. She was soscared that she shook and shook and shook. In fact,she shook so much that half of her feathers fell out.

71From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 84: Fairy Tales

CHICKEN LITTLE: [loudly and excitedly] The sky is falling! The sky isfalling! I have to go tell the king that the sky isfalling. The sky is fall ing! THE SKY IS FALLING!

NARRATOR: And so she ran as fast as she could to go tell theking that the sky was falling. Along the way she metCocky-Locky.

COCKY-LOCKY: Where are you go ing, Chicken Lit tle?

CHICKEN LITTLE: [excitedly] I’m go ing to tell the king that the sky isfalling, the sky is fall ing!

COCKY-LOCKY: How do you know the sky is fall ing, Chicken Lit tle?

CHICKEN LITTLE: I felt it on my head! I felt it on my head! I felt thesky falling on my head!

COCKY-LOCKY: This is ter rible! This is just ter rible! We have to gotell the king that the sky is fall ing, the sky is fall ing!

NARRATOR: And so Chicken Lit tle and Cocky-Locky ran as fastas they could through the woods. Pretty soon theymet Ducky-Lucky.

DUCKY-LUCKY: Where are you go ing, Chicken Lit tle? Where areyou go ing, Cocky-Locky?

CHICKEN LITTLE: [excitedly] The sky is falling! THE SKY ISFALLING! We’re go ing to tell the king that the skyis fall ing!

COCKY-LOCKY: [excitedly] The sky is falling! THE SKY ISFALLING! We’re go ing to tell the king that the skyis fall ing!

DUCKY-LUCKY: How do you know the sky is fall ing, Chicken Lit tle?How do you know the sky is fall ing, Cocky-Locky?

CHICKEN LITTLE: I felt it on my head! I felt it on my head! I felt thesky falling on my head!

COCKY-LOCKY: Chicken Little felt it on her head! She felt it on herhead! She felt the sky falling on her head!

72

Page 85: Fairy Tales

DUCKY-LUCKY: This is ter rible! This is just ter rible! We have to gotell the king that the sky is fall ing, the sky is fall ing!

NARRATOR: And so Chicken Lit tle and Cocky-Locky andDucky-Lucky ran as fast as they could through thewoods. Pretty soon they met Goosey-Loosey.

GOOSEY-LOOSEY: Where are you go ing, Chicken Lit tle? Where areyou go ing, Cocky-Locky? Where are you go ing,Ducky-Lucky?

CHICKEN LITTLE: [excitedly] The sky is falling! THE SKY ISFALLING! We’re go ing to tell the king that the skyis fall ing!

COCKY-LOCKY: [excitedly] The sky is falling! THE SKY ISFALLING! We’re go ing to tell the king that the skyis fall ing!

DUCKY-LUCKY: [excitedly] The sky is falling! THE SKY ISFALLING! We’re go ing to tell the king that the skyis fall ing!

GOOSEY-LOOSEY: How do you know the sky is fall ing, Chicken Lit tle?How do you know the sky is fall ing, Cocky-Locky?How do you know the sky is fall ing, Ducky-Lucky?

CHICKEN LITTLE: I felt it on my head! I felt it on my head! I felt thesky falling on my head!

COCKY-LOCKY: Chicken Little felt it on her head! She felt it on herhead! She felt the sky falling on her head!

DUCKY-LUCKY: Chicken Little felt it on her head! She felt it on herhead! She felt the sky falling on her head!

GOOSEY-LOOSEY: This is ter rible! This is just ter rible! We have to gotell the king that the sky is fall ing, the sky is fall ing!

NARRATOR: And so Chicken Lit tle and Cocky-Locky andDucky-Lucky and Goosey-Loosey ran as fast asthey could through the woods. Pretty soon they metTur key-Lurkey.

73

Page 86: Fairy Tales

TURKEY-LURKEY: Where are you go ing, Chicken Lit tle? Where areyou go ing, Cocky-Locky? Where are you go ing,Ducky-Lucky? Where are you go ing,Goosey-Loosey?

CHICKEN LITTLE: [excitedly] The sky is falling! THE SKY ISFALLING! We’re go ing to tell the king that the skyis fall ing!

COCKY-LOCKY: [excitedly] The sky is falling! THE SKY ISFALLING! We’re go ing to tell the king that the skyis fall ing!

DUCKY-LUCKY: [excitedly] The sky is falling! THE SKY ISFALLING! We’re go ing to tell the king that the skyis fall ing!

GOOSEY-LOOSEY: [excitedly] The sky is falling! THE SKY ISFALLING! We’re go ing to tell the king that the skyis fall ing!

TURKEY-LURKEY: How do you know the sky is fall ing, Chicken Lit tle?How do you know the sky is fall ing, Cocky-Locky?How do you know the sky is fall ing, Ducky-Lucky?How do you know the sky is fall ing,Goosey-Loosey?

CHICKEN LITTLE: I felt it on my head! I felt it on my head! I felt thesky falling on my head!

COCKY-LOCKY: Chicken Little felt it on her head! She felt it on herhead! She felt the sky falling on her head!

DUCKY-LUCKY: Chicken Little felt it on her head! She felt it on herhead! She felt the sky falling on her head!

GOOSEY-LOOSEY: Chicken Little felt it on her head! She felt it on herhead! She felt the sky falling on her head!

TURKEY-LURKEY: This is ter rible! This is just ter rible! We have to gotell the king that the sky is fall ing, the sky is fall ing!

74

Page 87: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR: And so Chicken Lit tle and Cocky-Locky andDucky-Lucky and Goosey-Loosey andTurkey-Lurkey ran as fast as they could through thewoods. Pretty soon they met Foxy-Loxy.

FOXY-LOXY: Where are you go ing, Chicken Lit tle? Where areyou go ing, Cocky-Locky? Where are you go ing,Ducky-Lucky? Where are you go ing,Goosey-Loosey? Where are you go ing,Tur key-Lurkey?

CHICKEN LITTLE: [excitedly] The sky is falling! THE SKY ISFALLING! We’re go ing to tell the king that the skyis fall ing!

COCKY-LOCKY: [excitedly] The sky is falling! THE SKY ISFALLING! We’re go ing to tell the king that the skyis fall ing!

DUCKY-LUCKY: [excitedly] The sky is falling! THE SKY ISFALLING! We’re go ing to tell the king that the skyis fall ing!

GOOSEY-LOOSEY: [excitedly] The sky is falling! THE SKY ISFALLING! We’re go ing to tell the king that the skyis fall ing!

TURKEY-LURKEY: [excitedly] The sky is falling! THE SKY ISFALLING! We’re go ing to tell the king that the skyis fall ing!

FOXY-LOXY: How do you know the sky is fall ing, Chicken Lit tle?How do you know the sky is fall ing, Cocky-Locky?How do you know the sky is fall ing, Ducky-Lucky?How do you know the sky is fall ing,Goosey-Loosey? How do you know the sky isfall ing, Tur key-Lurkey?

CHICKEN LITTLE: I felt it on my head! I felt it on my head! I felt thesky falling on my head!

COCKY-LOCKY: Chicken Little felt it on her head! She felt it on herhead! She felt the sky falling on her head!

75

Page 88: Fairy Tales

DUCKY-LUCKY: Chicken Little felt it on her head! She felt it on herhead! She felt the sky falling on her head!

GOOSEY-LOOSEY: Chicken Little felt it on her head! She felt it on herhead! She felt the sky falling on her head!

TURKEY-LURKEY: Chicken Little felt it on her head! She felt it on herhead! She felt the sky falling on her head!

FOXY-LOXY: Well, this is just ter rible. But you are go ing thewrong way to see the king. Fol low me, and I willshow you the right way to get to the king so you cantell him that the sky is fall ing.

CHICKEN LITTLE: Very well!

COCKY-LOCKY: Very well!

DUCKY-LUCKY: Very well!

GOOSEY-LOOSEY: Very well!

TURKEY-LURKEY: Very well!

NARRATOR: So Foxy Loxy led Chicken Little, Cocky-Locky,Ducky-Lucky, Goosey-Loosey, and Tur key-Lurkeyacross a wide field and through the deep, darkwoods. He led them all straight into his den, wherehe had a very fine dinner . . . a very fine dinner,indeed! And they never got to tell the king that thesky was falling, the sky was falling!

76

Page 89: Fairy Tales

Little Red Riding Hood

STAGING: The char acters may stand at po diums or mu sic stands. The wolf and RedRiding Hood may wish to “walk” over to Granny and the hunter for the later parts of theproduction. The nar rator should be standing off to the side for the en tire production.

Red Riding Hood Wolf X XNar ra tor X Granny Hunter X X

NARRATOR: Once upon a time there lived a lit tle girl bythe name of Lit tle Red Riding Hood. Oneday she de cided that she wanted to visit herdear grand mother, who lived on the otherside of the woods.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD: I haven’t seen my grandmother for quite sometime. I think I shall take her a basket of treats.

NARRATOR: The woods were very dan gerous, and therewere lots of creatures that lived in thewoods—like wolves. But Red Riding Hooddecided it was a good idea to see her

77From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 90: Fairy Tales

grandmother. She just hoped that shewouldn’t see any wolves in the woods.

So she set out with her basket. She walkedthrough the woods, and be fore long a verylarge wolf jumped out from be hind a tree.

WOLF: Good day, Little Red Riding Hood. Whereare you off to?

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD: I am off to see my grandmother, who liveson the other side of the woods. I am bring ingher some treats, and we shall have a picnic.

WOLF: That is very well. I hope you are safe andthat you take your time as you walk in thewoods.

NARRATOR: Little Red Riding Hood continued down thetrail. Meanwhile the wolf de cided that hecould have some fun and, perhaps, a meal for himself as well. He ran through the woodsand arrived at Granny’s house long beforeLittle Red Riding Hood. He knocked on thedoor.

GRANNY: Who’s there?

WOLF: It’s just me. I am lost and hope that youmight be able to help me with somedi rec tions.

GRANNY: Very well. I shall be glad to as sist you withsome di rec tions.

NARRATOR: With that, Granny opened the door. Beforeshe knew it, the wolf had gob bled her up and had himself a very good meal. Then hequickly slipped into Granny’s pa jamas andjumped into her bed. Before long Little RedRiding Hood arrived at the house andknocked on the door.

WOLF: Who’s there?

78

Page 91: Fairy Tales

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD: It’s me, Granny. I have a basket filled withall kinds of good ies. I thought you might liketo have a picnic.

WOLF: Well, why did n’t you say so? Come right in.

NARRATOR: And so Little Red Riding Hood entered thehouse. And there in the bed was the wolf,dressed up in Granny’s pa jamas.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD: My, Granny, what big ears you have.

WOLF: The better to lis ten to you, my dear.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD: My, Granny, what big eyes you have.

WOLF: The better to see you, my dear.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD: My, Granny, what big teeth you have.

GRANNY: The better to eat you, my dear.

NARRATOR: With that, the wolf jumped out of the bedand gob bled up Little Red Riding Hood justlike he had her grand mother. But be fore hefinished, Lit tle Red Riding Hood let out aloud scream. A nearby hunter heard thescream and ran to the house.

HUNTER: Hey, what was that scream?

NARRATOR: Just as the hunter en tered the house, he sawthe wolf all dressed up in Granny’s pa jamas.Right away he knew what had happened, andhe took his gun and killed the wolf. With avery sharp knife he cut open the wolf’s belly,and out stepped Little red Rid ing Hood andGranny.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD: You saved us. YOU SAVED US!

79

Page 92: Fairy Tales

GRANNY: Yes, you saved us. Thank you very much.

HUNTER: I’m glad I could save you from the wolf.

NARRATOR: From that day on Little Red Riding Hoodalways re membered that she should nevertalk to strang ers—par tic u larly large, furrystrangers who lived in the woods.

80

Page 93: Fairy Tales

The Three Lit tle Pigs

STAGING: All the char acters should be placed be hind mu sic stands or lec terns. Thewolf may wish to move around the stage—from char acter to char acter—as the playevolves.

Nar rator X Pig 1 Pig 2 Pig 3 X X X Wolf X

NARRATOR: Once upon a time there were three little pigs. Theyliked to play in the mud and dance in the street andlaugh all day long. There came a day when the threepigs de cided that they wanted to see the world. Sothey left their mother and father and set off downthe road. They had traveled some dis tance whenthey decided that they each needed to build a hometo live in.

PIG 1: I shall build my house of straw. It will be a veryeasy house to build. It will not take much time, and I should be able to complete it in less than a day.

81From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 94: Fairy Tales

PIG 2: That will never do. Your house will be much tooflimsy and frag ile. It will never last for very long.

NARRATOR: But the first pig would not lis ten. So he gatheredtogether all the straw he could find and be gan tobuild his house. Before too much time had passed, it was completed. He soon moved in.

PIG 2: That’s not for me. I shall build my house of wood. Itwill be a very easy house to build. It will not takemuch time, and I should be able to complete it injust a few days.

PIG 3: That will never do. It takes time and hard work tobuild a house that can withstand the rain and wind.Not only must a house with stand the weather, itshould also be able to pro tect us from the wolf.

NARRATOR: But the second pig would not listen. So he gatheredup all the wood planks he could find and be gan tobuild his house. Before too much time had passed, it was completed. He soon moved in.

PIG 3: That’s not for me. I shall build my house of bricks.It will take lots of work and lots of time. But I willhave a sturdy house. I will have a house that willprotect me from the weather. But most important, Iwill have a house that can pro tect me from the wolf.

NARRATOR: So the third pig gath ered all the bricks he could findand began to build his house. The build ing took along time, and the third pig put lots of work into hishouse. While the other two pigs were play ing andsinging and laughing, the third pig worked hard atbuilding his house out of bricks. Fi nally, af ter muchtime, the house was fin ished and the third pigmoved in.

A few days later, while out walking along the road,the third pig saw the tracks of a big wolf. He rushedhome. Before too long, the wolf came up theroad—right up to the first pig’s house.

WOLF: Come out, come out. I want to speak with you.

82

Page 95: Fairy Tales

PIG 1: I would rather stay where I am.

WOLF: OK, then I’ll make you come out.

NARRATOR: With that, the wolf took a very large breath andblew with all his might. All the straw of the firstpig’s house blew away. The first pig, filled withfear, slipped through the straw, out the back, and ran to the second pig’s house.

WOLF: [angrily] Come back, come back!

NARRATOR: The wolf scampered over to the second pig’s house.Both the first pig and the second pig leaned against thedoor so that the wolf would n’t be able to blow it down.

PIG 2: I hope this house won’t fall down. I hope it is strong enough to withstand the wolf’s breath.

WOLF: Open up, open up! I want to speak with you.

NARRATOR: The two pigs held fast to the door. They were veryscared of what might hap pen. The wolf stood justoutside the door and filled his lungs with anenormous breath. Sud denly, with a gi ant blow theentire house collapsed, just like a pack of cards.

Fortunately the third pig was watching what washappening. He opened the door to his house andshouted to his broth ers:

PIG 3: Come here, come here quickly!

NARRATOR: With that, the first and second pigs scrambled overto their brother’s brick house, dashed through thedoor, and quickly bolted it against the wolf. Thewolf was close behind them, but the door slammedin his face. He was very angry, and he gathered allthe air he could into his lungs. With a might huffand a mighty puff he blew against the third pig’sdoor. But the house did not budge an inch. Againand again, the wolf blew against the house. Andagain and again, the house did not move.

83

Page 96: Fairy Tales

Exhausted, the wolf leaned against the house to rest.It was then that he saw a ladder lean ing against theside of the house. He de cided to play a trick on thethree pigs and quickly climbed the ladder to theroof.

PIG 1: Look, brothers. The wolf is climbing onto the roof.

PIG 2: Yes, he thinks he can trick us. But I think we aremuch smarter now.

PIG 3: Yes, my brothers, let’s build a fire in the fire place.

NARRATOR: And so the three pigs built a large fire in thefireplace. The wolf, who was now very hun gry,began to slide down the chimney. In no time, helanded in the fire. The flames licked his hairy coat,and soon his tail was on fire.

WOLF: Ouch, ouch! Help, help! My tail is on fire! My tail is on fire!

PIG 1: You get what you de serve.

PIG 2: We hope you’ve learned your les son.

PIG 3: Be gone, evil wolf, be gone.

NARRATOR: And with that, the wolf ran out the door, his tail stillon fire.

WOLF: Never again. Never again will I go down a chimney.

NARRATOR: The wolf ran as fast as he could down the road andstraight to ward the river. The three pigs danced andsang with joy. And the wolf never both ered themagain.

84

Page 97: Fairy Tales

The Ugly Duck ling

STAGING: Place all the char acters be hind mu sic stands or lec terns. The ugly ducklingmay wish to hold his or her script and walk across the staging area, hav ing con versationswith each of the other char acters.

Narrator 1 Nar rator 2 X X Ugly Duckling X

Mother Duck Bird Old Woman Farmer Young Swan X X X X X

NARRATOR 1: Once upon a time in a far off coun try there lived aduck family on an old farm. The mother duck hadbeen sit ting on a clutch of eggs for a long time. Onefine morning the eggs hatched, and out popped sixvery noisy ducklings.

NARRATOR 2: However, one egg was quite a bit bigger than theother eggs. And it did n’t hatch at the same time asthe other eggs. The mother duck couldn’t re memberlaying a seventh egg.

85From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 98: Fairy Tales

MOTHER DUCK: Hmmm, I wonder where that ex tra egg came from. I was sure that I laid just six eggs. I wonder if Icounted wrong. Hmmm.

NARRATOR 1: The mother duck did n’t have a lot of time to thinkabout that, because at last the seventh egg be gan tohatch. Cra-a-a-a-ck! Finally the egg cracked open.

NARRATOR 2: Out crawled a large and very strange look ingduckling. Gray feathers covered its body. Its headwas much larger than its broth ers and sis ters. Itmade strange noises.

MOTHER DUCK: I don’t un derstand how this duck could be one ofmine. It doesn’t look like all the oth ers, and itdoesn’t sound like all the oth ers. And it’s not verypretty like all the oth ers.

NARRATOR 1: It was certain that the new duck did n’t lookanything like the other duck lings. He grew fasterthan the oth ers. He ate more than the oth ers. And hetook up more room than the oth ers.

NARRATOR 2: As the days went by, the ugly duckling wasbecoming more and more un happy. No body wantedto play with him, and all the other ducks in thebarnyard just laughed at him when he went by. Hefelt very sad and very lonely.

MOTHER DUCK: I don’t un derstand why he is so different.

NARRATOR 1: The ugly duck ling felt worse and worse every day.He cried at night and he cried dur ing the day. He felt as if no body wanted him.

UGLY DUCKLING: [sadly] Nobody loves me! Nobody wants me! Whyam I so dif ferent from all the oth ers?

NARRATOR 2: Then one day the ugly duckling de cided to run awayfrom the barn yard. Along the way he stopped at apond. He wanted to question the other birds.

UGLY DUCKLING: Do you know of any duck lings with gray featherslike mine?

86

Page 99: Fairy Tales

BIRD: No, I don’t. I’ve never seen a duckling like youbefore. You look really strange. You’re just an uglyduck ling!

NARRATOR 1: The ugly duck ling was sad der than be fore. He did n’tunderstand why he was dif ferent from all the otherducklings. He did n’t un derstand why he was such an ugly duckling.

NARRATOR 2: One day as the ugly duckling was walking throughthe fields, he came upon an old cottage by the sideof the road. In side lived an old woman with verybad eyesight. When she saw the ugly duckling, shedecided to catch him.

OLD WOMAN: Now I’ve got you. I hope that you are a fe male sothat you will lay lots of eggs.

NARRATOR 1: But because the ugly duck ling was a male, he laidnot a sin gle egg.

OLD WOMAN: You ugly duckling. You ugly, ugly duckling! If youwon’t lay any eggs for me, then I’ll just have tofatten you up and have you for din ner.

NARRATOR 2: The ugly duck ling was get ting scared. He was soscared that he couldn’t even eat. He was get tingskinnier and skin nier. Pretty soon he was so skinnythat he was able to slip out of his cage and es cape on down the road.

UGLY DUCKLING: Oh, woe is me! Nobody loves me! Nobody likesme! All they want to do is make fun of me orcapture me or even eat me for din ner. I don’t haveany friends.

NARRATOR 1: After walking for a long dis tance, the ugly ducklingfound him self in a thick bed of reeds beside a lake.

UGLY DUCKLING: I think I’ll just stay here. There’s plenty of food, andnobody can see me here. I can hide out here for ever.

87

Page 100: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 2: One day at sun set, the ugly duckling heard a noise.He looked up in the sky and saw a flock of beautifulbirds fly ing over head. Their feathers were white,their beaks were yellow, their necks were long andslender, and they had large, graceful wings.

UGLY DUCKLING: I wish I could look just like them, if only for a day.

NARRATOR 1: Winter came to the coun try, and the lake began tofreeze over. The ugly duck ling needed some food,so he set off down the road.

NARRATOR 2: But the road was covered in snow, and it was verydifficult for the ugly duckling to walk. Fi nally hecould walk no fur ther, and he fell exhausted on theground.

FARMER: Well, well, what do we have here? You poorthing—you’re al most frozen to death. I’ll put you in my pocket and take you home to my children.They’ll take good care of you.

NARRATOR 1: In the farmhouse the ugly duck ling was show eredwith care. He was warm, and he al ways had plentyto eat.

NARRATOR 2: However, by the time spring rolled around the uglyduckling was way too big.

FARMER: I should set him free. He is strong now and can findhis own food.

NARRATOR 1: And so the farmer took the ugly duck ling to thepond and set him free.

NARRATOR 2: It was then that the duckling saw him self mirroredin the waters of the pond.

UGLY DUCKLING: Goodness, look how I’ve changed! I can hardlyrecognize my self any more. I’m no lon ger ugly.

NARRATOR 1: Right then a flock of swans, wing ing their waynorthward af ter a long win ter, swooped down ontothe lake.

88

Page 101: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 2: When the duckling saw them, he re alized that hewas one of them. He wasn’t an ugly duckling af terall . . . he was a swan.

YOUNG SWAN: You are a swan—just like us. You now have longwhite feathers and a yellow beak. You now have along, graceful neck. Where have you been hid ing?

UGLY DUCKLING: It’s a long story. It’s a long, long story.

NARRATOR 1: Now he swam proudly with all the other swans.

NARRATOR 2: One day, while glid ing across the pond, he heardsome chil dren talking.

NARRATOR 1: The chil dren said that the new swan was the mostbeautiful bird they had ever seen.

NARRATOR 2: And the new young swan was filled with happiness!

89

Page 102: Fairy Tales

The Three Billy GoatsGruff

STAGING: The char acters may all be stand ing be hind mu sic stands. Or to add a lit tlemovement, you may have the three billy goats walk across an imag inary “bridge” (be -tween two sets of chairs placed par allel to each other in the mid dle of the stag ing area).

Narrator Off-stage sound � X X �

Small Billy Goat Me dium Billy Goat Large Billy Goat X X X Troll X

NARRATOR: Once upon a time there were three billy goats wholived in a barn down in the val ley. When the snowsmelted in the spring, they longed to travel up intothe mountains to eat the sweet grass that grew there.On their way to the mountains they had to crossover a rush ing river. There was a bridge across theriver—a bridge made of rickety wooden planks.And un derneath the bridge there lived an ugly,one-eyed, and very ter rible troll. Before anyone

90 From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 103: Fairy Tales

could cross the bridge, they had to get permissionfrom the ugly, one-eyed, and ter rible troll. He nevergave per mission—he just ate anyone who hap penedto come along.

Well, one day the three billy goats gruff de cided that they were n’t afraid of the troll. Be sides, the greengrass was long and sweet, and they wanted some. So they walked up the valley and came to the bridgeacross the river. The small billy goat was the firstone to reach the bridge. He be gan to walk across.

OFF-STAGE SOUND: Trip, trap. Trip, trap. Trip, trap.

TROLL: [growling] Who’s that trot ting over my bridge?

SMALL BILLY GOAT: [in a squeaky voice] It’s only me. I’m go ing up tothe mountain to eat the sweet grass.

TROLL: [angrily] Oh, no, you’re not! I’m go ing to eat youfor break fast!

SMALL BILLY GOAT: [pleading] Oh, please don’t, Mr. Troll. I’m only thesmallest billy goat. I’m much too tiny for you to eat.And besides, I would n’t taste very good. Why don’tyou wait for my brother, the second billy goat gruff? He’s much big ger than me, and he would be muchmore tasty.

NARRATOR: The troll thought about that for a while and de cidedthat he did n’t want to waste his time on such a lit tlegoat—especially if there was a bigger goat comingalong.

TROLL: All right. You can cross my bridge. Go and eat allthe grass you want. Besides, you’ll be fatter, and Ican eat you when you re turn.

NARRATOR: So the smallest billy goat crossed the bridge and ranacross to the other side.

The troll did not have to wait long for the secondbilly goat.

OFF-STAGE SOUND: Clip, clop. Clip, clop. Clip, clop.

91

Page 104: Fairy Tales

TROLL: [growling] Who’s that clattering across my bridge?

MEDIUM BILLY GOAT: It’s just me. I’m go ing up to the moun tain to eatsome sweet spring grass

TROLL: [angrily] Oh, no, you’re not. I’m go ing to eat youfor break fast.

MEDIUM BILLY GOAT: Oh, please don’t. I may be big ger than the first billygoat, but I’m much smaller than my brother, thethird billy goat. Why don’t you wait for him? Hewould be a much better meal than me.

NARRATOR: The troll was get ting hun grier . . . very hun gry. Buthe did not want to waste his ap petite on amiddle-sized goat—especially if there was a muchlarger goat coming along.

TROLL: [gruffly] All right. You can cross my bridge. Go getnice and fat on the mountain, and I’ll eat you onyour way back.

NARRATOR: So the medium billy goat scampered over the bridge to the other side.

Very soon thereafter, the third billy goat be gan tocross the bridge.

OFF-STAGE SOUND: Tromp, trap. Tromp, trap. Tromp, trap.

TROLL: [growling] Who’s that stomp ing over my bridge?

LARGE BILLY GOAT: [in a deep voice] It’s just me. I’m go ing up to themountain to eat the sweet spring grass.

TROLL: [angrily] Oh, no, you’re not! I’m go ing to eat youfor break fast!

LARGE BILLY GOAT: That’s what you think!

92

Page 105: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR: The large billy goat low ered his horns, gallopedacross the bridge, and butted the ugly, one-eyed,terrible troll. Up, up, up went the troll into the air.And then, down, down, down he went into therushing water of the river be low. Soon hedisappeared into the swirling waters and was goneforever.

LARGE BILLY GOAT: Now it’s time for break fast.

NARRATOR: The large billy goat walked across the bridge andjoined his two broth ers on the other side. They spent the rest of the morn ing en joying the sweet springgrass in the high mountains.

ALL GOATS: Chomp, chomp, chomp!

93

Page 106: Fairy Tales

Sleep ing Beauty

STAGING: All the char acters may be seated on tall stools or chairs. Each char actershould have a mu sic stand or lec tern with a copy of the script on it.

King Queen Prin cess Witch Prince X X X X X

Narrator 1 Nar rator 2 X X

NARRATOR 1: A long, long time ago there lived a king and queenwho, more than any thing else, wanted a child. Oneday, while the queen was bathing in the castle pond,a small frog crawled up next to her. He told her thatin just a year’s time, she would have her child—adaughter of great beauty.

NARRATOR 2: The frog had spo ken the truth, for in a year’s timethe queen gave birth to a beautiful daugh ter. Theking and queen were both filled with joy andordered a great feast and a great celebration to honorthe birth of their new daugh ter.

94 From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 107: Fairy Tales

KING: Let us cel ebrate! Let us dance! Let us sing! For wehave been blessed with a beautiful daugh ter!

QUEEN: Yes, this is a joy ous day. Let us make merry. Andlet the bells toll across the king dom.

NARRATOR 1: Invitations were sent out across the kingdom,inviting all to come to the festivities. How ever, onewoman, a witch by trade, did not receive aninvitation, because she lived in a far cor ner of thekingdom—a cor ner not known to the king’smessengers.

NARRATOR 2: And so it was. The celebration took place. Therewas dancing and there was sing ing, and there wasgreat merriment. And each of the guests brought agift for the new child. One by one, they came andlaid their gifts at the foot of the baby’s cradle. Andone by one, they celebrated the birth of the newchild.

NARRATOR 1: But un seen by ev eryone, the witch had crept into thecastle. Sud denly she swept into the Great Hall andyelled at all the guests.

WITCH: [loudly and angrily] I guess I am not good enoughfor you. I guess I am not good enough to be in vitedto your lit tle celebration. And so the die is cast.Because you all have such hard hearts, I, too, have ahard heart. I shall cast a spell on this new child. Inher fif teenth year, the daugh ter of the king andqueen shall prick herself on a spin dle and shallnever wake up. Indeed, she will re main asleep forone hun dred years. One hun dred years! ONEHUNDRED YEARS SHALL SHE SLEEP!!

NARRATOR 2: Everyone was shocked at the witch’spronouncement—so much so that a great si lence fellover the hall. It was then that the king made a royalcom mand.

95

Page 108: Fairy Tales

KING: I command that every spin dle in the king dom beburned immediately. Every one! Ev ery one must bede stroyed!

NARRATOR 1: And so it was. Ev ery spin dle in the king dom wasimmediately de stroyed. There was not a sin gle oneto be found anywhere.

NARRATOR 2: Now it came to pass that the young girl grew up.She was both fair and beautiful. She was ad mired by all who visited the castle as a wise and modestyoung lady.

NARRATOR 1: Now it came to the time in her life when the youngprincess was 15 years old. And on that day herfather and mother were away. The young maiden,filled with curiosity, went from room to room in thecastle, searching for something to do.

NARRATOR 2: At last she came to an old tower in a far corner ofthe castle. She climbed the winding staircase, andthere at the top was a wooden door. She pushedopen the door and there, in side a tiny room, was anold woman with a spindle. She was spin ning longstrands of flax.

PRINCESS: Good day, old woman. And what are you do ing inthis old tower?

WITCH: Why, I am spin ning. I am spin ning this beautifulflax.

PRINCESS: And what is that spin ning around so merrily?

WITCH: Come. Come and see for your self.

NARRATOR 1: The young girl reached out. She had scarcelytouched the spin dle when she pricked her fin ger.The evil spell fell upon her immediately, and shecollapsed into a deep, deep sleep.

96

Page 109: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 2: Indeed, the spell fell upon the whole of the castle.The king and queen, who had just returned fromtheir journey, fell fast asleep. The whole of the courtfell into a great trance. All the king’s horses and allthe queen’s dogs fell into a great slum ber. The birdson the roof, the sheep in the sta ble, the chickens inthe yard, the cooks, the but lers, and the sta ble boysall fell fast, fast asleep. The wind was stilled, andnot a leaf moved on any of the trees sur rounding the castle.

NARRATOR 1: Around the cas tle there grew a great hedge ofthorns. The hedge grew higher and higher—up andover the castle—until noth ing of the castle could beseen. Indeed, the cas tle disappeared under the greatcov er ing of thorns.

NARRATOR 2: But the story of the prin cess spread far across theland. And from time to time young men would cometo the castle to try to pierce the thorny exterior andfind the sleeping prin cess. But each one who triedwas caught fast by the thorns and died a mostmis er a ble death.

NARRATOR 1: After many, many years a young prince, who hadalso heard the story, came into the king dom.

PRINCE: I know that within that thorny hedge and within thathidden cas tle there sleeps a beautifulmaiden—Sleeping Beauty. Al though she and theentire court have been asleep for one hun dred years, I will go and see my Sleeping Beauty. I am not afraid!

NARRATOR 2: Now, it was the time when the hun dred years hadpassed. It was the time when Sleeping Beautyawoke after her long, long sleep.

NARRATOR 1: When the prince came up to the castle, he saw that itwas cov ered, not by a solid hedge of thorns, but bygarlands of beautiful flowers. He en tered the castleand saw before him all the sleeping ser vants, all thesleeping an imals, all the castle life still fast asleepwhere they had fallen one hun dred years before.

97

Page 110: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 2: At last he came to the old tower. As he opened thedoor at the top, he could see Sleeping Beauty on thefloor. Slowly he walked over to her, bent over her,and gave her a kiss. As soon as he kissed her, sheawoke from her hun dred-year sleep.

PRINCESS: Who are you?

PRINCE: You have been awakened from your deep sleep.

PRINCESS: How long was I asleep?

PRINCE: You were put un der a spell by an evil witch andhave been asleep for one hun dred years.

NARRATOR 1: Then, hand in hand, the prince and the prin cesswalked back down the staircase and into the castle.And at that mo ment all the an imals, all the ser vants,the king and queen, and all who had fallen sleepwere awakened. And once again, the cas tle wasfilled with joy and laugh ter.

NARRATOR 2: And it came to pass that the prince and prin cesswere married in a great celebration. And they livedvery happily for the rest of their years.

98

Page 111: Fairy Tales

Cinderella

STAGING: The two nar rators should be placed at the rear of the stag ing area. Eachshould be stand ing be hind a mu sic stand or lec tern. The other char acters may be seatedon tall stools or chairs. If one is avail able, you may wish to place a pump kin (or apapier-mâché rep lica) in the middle of the stag ing area.

Narrator 1 Nar rator 2 X X

Step sister 1 Step sister 2 X X Cinderella X Fairy Prince X X

NARRATOR 1: Once upon a time there lived a beautiful youngmaiden who was very un happy. He mother had died,and her fa ther had married an evil woman with twoequally evil daugh ters. The step mother and the twostepsisters made the young girl, whose name wasCinderella, work hard all day long—from morn ingun til night.

99

Page 112: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 2: She had to scrub the floors, wash the dishes, cookthe meals, and wear dirty, hand-me-down clothes allday long. She was always picked on and was alwaysyelled at.

STEPSISTER 1: [commandingly] Cinderella, wash these floors.Come, and wash these floors right now!

STEPSISTER 2: [commandingly] Cinderella, come and cook me mydinner. I am very hun gry, and I want my din nerright now.

STEPSISTER 1: [commandingly] Cinderella, come and clean thepots and pans. They are dirty and need cleaningright now.

STEPSISTER 2: [commandingly] Cinderella, you are lazy. You arelazy, lazy, lazy. Come and do some work you lazy,lazy girl!

NARRATOR 1: One day, some very lovely and very beautifuldresses ar rived at the house. There was a ball to beheld at the castle—a ball in honor of the prince, who had recently re turned from a very long jour ney.

NARRATOR 2: Unfortunately the dresses were only for thestepmother and her two daughters. There was not adress for Cinderella.

STEPSISTER 1: [gloating] Ha, Cinderella, there is not a dress foryou. You must stay here while we go to the ball anddance with the hand some prince.

STEPSISTER 2: [gloating] Yes, you must stay here and scrub thefloors and wash the dishes and do all the work whilewe are dancing at the cas tle with the prince.

CINDERELLA: [sadly] Oh, I am so sad. All I do is work, work,work. I wish that just once I could go to the ball atthe castle and dance through the night—just likeev ery one else.

NARRATOR 1: Just then there was a flash of light in the kitchen.

NARRATOR 2: Just then a small fairy ap peared in the kitchen.

100

Page 113: Fairy Tales

FAIRY: Do not be afraid, Cinderella. I can grant you yourwishes. You shall go to the ball and dance with thehand some prince.

CINDERELLA: But how can I? All I have are these dirty rags.Surely the prince’s guards will turn me away fromthe door when they see how I am dressed.

FAIRY: Do not fear—for there is magic in the air.

NARRATOR 1: And with that, the fairy flicked her magic wand. Inthe twinkling of an eye, Cinderella was dressed inthe most beautiful gown of all; in deed, many wouldsay that it was the pret tiest dress in the en tireking dom.

NARRATOR 2: She was wearing gold rings and a lovely pearlnecklace. Her hair was hanging in long, goldenbraids. She was, in deed, a most beautiful woman.

FAIRY: Now, you will need something to get you to the ball.Bring me a pump kin.

CINDERELLA: At once!

NARRATOR 1: Cinderella ran to the cel lar and fetched a largepump kin.

FAIRY: Now we need six mice.

NARRATOR 2: Cinderella ran to the cup board, and there hud dled inthe corner were six tiny mice.

FAIRY: This is all good.

NARRATOR 1: The fairy once again flicked her magic wand, andthe pumpkin turned into a sparkling coach.

NARRATOR 2: Then the fairy flicked her magic wand again, andthe six mice turned into large white horses.

CINDERELLA: I cannot be lieve my eyes! This is too wonderful forwords.

101

Page 114: Fairy Tales

FAIRY: Listen, oh beautiful Cinderella. You will now bepresented to the court of the hand some prince—ahandsome prince who will be enchanted by yourloveliness. But you must re member this—you mustleave the ball at mid night and come straight home.For at midnight the spell will be bro ken. Your coachwill turn back into a pumpkin, your six horses willturn back into mice, and you will be dressed, onceagain, in dirty old rags. Do you un derstand,Cinderella?

CINDERELLA: Yes, I un derstand!

NARRATOR 1: When Cinderella en tered the ballroom at the castle,everyone stopped what they were do ing to look atthe beautiful maiden. “Who is she?” they asked.

NARRATOR 2: When the prince saw Cinderella, he was overcome byher beauty. He walked over to her and asked her dance.And the two of them danced all through the night.

STEPSISTER 1: [angrily] Who is that woman? Who does she thinkshe is?

STEPSISTER 2: [angrily] Yes, who is she, and where did she comefrom? It seems the prince only has eyes for her.

PRINCE: [to Cinderella] You are the most beautiful woman Ihave ever seen.

CINDERELLA: Thank you, dear prince. But in a short time I shall begone. I shall be gone—never more to be seen again.

PRINCE: What do you mean?

CINDERELLA: It is true. Soon I must de part this pal ace and re turnto whence I came.

NARRATOR 1: Cinderella had a wonderful time at the ball. But allof a sud den she heard the sound of the town clock . . . it was the first stroke of mid night.

NARRATOR 2: Cinderella re membered what the fairy had told her.Without a word of good-bye, she slipped from theprince’s arms and ran down the castle steps.

102

Page 115: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR 1: As she ran, she lost one of her slip pers, but she hadno time to stop and pick it up. She had to re turnhome be fore the last stroke of midnight.

NARRATOR 2: The prince, who was now madly in love with thebeautiful maiden, scooped up the slipper.

PRINCE: [commandingly] Ev eryone, you must go and searchfor the girl whose foot this slipper fits. I will neverbe happy again un til she is found.

NARRATOR 1: The prince’s min isters searched high and low andtried the slip per on the foot of ev ery woman theymet along the way.

NARRATOR 2: Arriving at the house where Cinderella lived, theytried the slip per on her step mother and her twostepsisters, but it did not fit any of them.

NARRATOR 1: Finally they tried the slipper on Cinderella’s foot . . .

NARRATOR 2: . . . and it fit just right.

STEPSISTER 1: How can it fit her? She is so ugly and only wearsdirty rags.

STEPSISTER 2: Yes, how can she be the one? This is not right!

FAIRY: I will show you who she re ally is!

NARRATOR 1: And the fairy waved her magic wand . . .

NARRATOR 2: . . . and Cinderella appeared in a splen did dress,with golden hair and the fin est jewels.

CINDERELLA: I can’t be lieve it! I just can’t be lieve it!

PRINCE: She is, in deed, the most beautiful woman in theland. And I shall make her my wife.

NARRATOR 1: And so it was that the prince and Cinderella weremarried in a grand ceremony, and they lived all theirdays in great happiness.

NARRATOR 2: Meanwhile, the two step sisters spent the rest of theirdays scrubbing the floors, washing the dishes, andcleaning the house . . . all in their dirty rags, of course.

103

Page 116: Fairy Tales

This page intentionally left blank

Page 117: Fairy Tales

PART III

FAIRY TALES

(WITH A TOUCH

OF HUMOR)

Page 118: Fairy Tales

This page intentionally left blank

Page 119: Fairy Tales

Beauty and ThisIn cred i bly Ugly Guy

STAGING: Nar rator 1 may stand to the left of the staging area; Narrator 2 may stand tothe right. The two char acters may be seated on high stools or chairs in the cen ter. Theymay wish to use plastic toy phones as props.

Ugly Guy Beauty X X

Nar rator 1 Nar rator 2 X X

NARRATOR 1: [rambling and rapidly] Once upon a time there wasthis deep dark for est in which there was a lit tlecottage where this man and this woman lived withall their chil dren, and all the animals of the for estwould be their friends, and they ate ber ries andleaves and ev eryone was happy and smiling and justwanted to be left alone so they could eventually livehappily ever after, ex cept for the fact that theseout-of-work sto ry tell ers came wan der ing throughthe for est one day and de cided to turn the family’slife into some in credibly neat fairy tale or fa ble or

107From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 120: Fairy Tales

legend or something like that so that they would allbecome in credibly rich and be able to live happilyever af ter for the rest of their lives, but do you thinkthey even thought of sharing all their riches withthat family deep in the enchanted for est? No, ofcourse they did n’t, but that’s prob ably an other story,which I don’t have time to tell you be cause I’mtrying to tell you this story that re ally is n’t a realstory but just a story I made up because I wanted toget rich and famous like all those other sto rytellers;so what I did was take one of their sto ries—actuallyI just bor rowed it for a while—and decided tochange just a cou ple of the facts and events; well,maybe I changed a lot of the facts and events, sothat I could tell it to you all and you all wouldbecome in credibly ex cited and want to hear it againand again and want to tell your friends about thisstory, and they would want to hear it again andagain and, of course, I would be come very rich andvery famous and in vite you all over to my castle andgive you a ride in my in credibly fast carriage; butmaybe I’m get ting ahead of myself; per haps I’dbetter just tell you the story and see if you like itfirst—OK, OK, OK? Well, anyway, here goes!

[more slowly] Once upon a time there was thisreally gor geous look ing blond maiden; I mean a realknock-out, a real beauty, with a fan tastic personalityand everything. As you might expect, all the princesfrom the local cas tle wanted to date her and take herto the movies, and concerts, and all the other kindsof things guys do with in credibly beautiful maidens.But this in credibly rav ishing young maiden did n’tlike all the young men in the castle, most of whomwere about as stupid as a door mat any way. Well, itjust so happened that there was this really ugly guyover in the next castle. I mean, you talk about ugly;he was so bad he made paint peel just by be ing in aroom. He was so ugly he had to put a bag over hishead just to sneak up on a glass of water to take a

108

Page 121: Fairy Tales

drink. He was so ugly that dogs would howlwhenever he walked by. He was so ugly . . . .

NARRATOR 2: Will you just get on with the story, already?

NARRATOR 1: OK, OK. So any way, this really really really uglyguy wants to take the fan tastically stun ning youngmaiden out for a date. So he calls her up oneeve ning.

UGLY GUY: Good evening, may I please speak to thephenomenally stun ning young maiden, please?[pause] Thank you.

UGLY GUY: Hello, wonderfully gor geous young maiden. This isan in cred i bly ugly guy.

BEAUTY: Oh, hello. Don’t you sit behind me in math class?

UGLY GUY: Yeah, that’s me. I thought you never no ticed me.

BEAUTY: Well, actually, I have n’t. It’s just that all the othergirls have been talkin’ about you. So what do youwant?

UGLY GUY: [shyly] Wel-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l. You see. The Fall Ball iscoming up in a few weeks down at the castle. And Iwas just sorta, kinda, well you see I was justthinking and wondering and maybe even kindahopin’ that . . . well, would you like to go with meto the ball?

BEAUTY: Are you ask ing me for a date?

UGLY GUY: [unsure and rambling] Well, yes I am. Would youlike to go with me? I mean I realize that I’mcertainly one of the ug liest and strang est and mostrepulsive creatures you’ve ever seen. And I’mprobably not a very good dancer or anything likethat. And I can barely carry on a con versation withanyone. And sometimes I have bad breath and re allygross peo ple out when I talk with them. And I’msorta clumsy and will prob ably spill punch andcookies all over you. And I never take a bath andprobably smell like I’ve been liv ing in a sewer all

109

Page 122: Fairy Tales

my life. And I never comb my hair or brush myteeth. And my clothes are all dirty and torn and beatup and ragged and stained and all that stuff. And Inever clip my toe nails or wash my socks. But inspite of all that, I’ve got a really great personality.

BEAUTY: Well, you know, I am sort of in trigued. I’ve neverreally gone out with an ex traordinarily grotesqueand hid eous guy before. It sounds like it might befun. OK, yeah, sure, why not? Let’s go out.

UGLY GUY: [excitedly] Oh, wow! That’s great. Look, why don’tI pick you up in my beat-up old hay wagon nextFriday night at about 7:00? OK?

BEAUTY: That sounds good. I’ll see you then.

NARRATOR 2: And so it was that this remarkably repulsive andunattractive guy was able to take the most in crediblyravishing and stun ning maiden in the wholekingdom to the an nual Fall Ball. And of course theyhad a great time . . . except for that time the reallymonstrous and un sightly guy tried to kiss thewon der fully and ex qui sitely beau ti ful youngmaiden. But that’s another story.

Adapted from An thony D. Fredericks, Frantic Frogs and Other Frankly Fractured Folktales for Readers Theatre(Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 1993).

110

Page 123: Fairy Tales

Coughy: The Dwarf Snow White Never Told You

About

STAGING: The nar rator should sit on a high stool in the front cen ter of the stag ing area. The other char acters may stand, or sit on stools.

Doc Dopey Sleepy X X X

Grumpy Sneezy X X

Nar rator X

NARRATOR: [sometimes rambling] Now, you know how thesestories go. See, there’s this “once upon a time” partof the story that tells you when and where the storytook place. Then there’s this lit tle ditty about somewon der fully beau ti ful prin cess, and some in cred i blehunk of a prince, who meet each other, are separatedby some rag ged old witch or a wicked wizard with

111From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 124: Fairy Tales

an attitude prob lem, and then by the end of the story are reunited again to live happily ever after. Af teryou’ve heard one, haven’t you just about heard themall? Think about it, just how many beautifulprincesses and handsome princes are there? I mean,look at me . . . I’m good lookin’, hand some, bright,in tel li gent, and so-o-o-o-o-o-o in cred i bly smart, butdo you see me putt ing on some green le otards to goprancing around some deep dark for est to look forsome drop-dead prin cess who wants to be res cuedfrom an evil spell? Come on, let’s get real! I’ve suregot better things to do with my time. But any way,on with this story, which is a story about this girlwho just happens to find her self in the midst of adeep dark for est, hav ing been put there by her evil(what else?) stepmother. She’s ob viously lost andalone and frightened and cold and all that other stuffwhen she just hap pens to come upon a small cottagein the middle of the woods (how con venient). So she walks in, finds no body home, and de cides to pick up a broom and clean out the place (just like they do inall those other sto ries). Any way, she is pol ishing the silverware and scrub bing the floors when the realoccupants of the house come home from work.They’re small, tiny, short, and un dersized lit tlemen—that’s right, you guessed it, the seven dwarfs.Except in this story there’s an other lit tle dwarf thatwas left out of the original story. Of course there’sDopey, and Sneezy, and Doc, and Sleepy, andGrumpy, and Happy, and Bashful. But this newdwarf, his name is Coughy. Why? Well, stu pid, it’sprobably because he coughs a lot. Anyway, let’s geton with the story.

SNOW WHITE: [surprised] My good ness, look at you all! How didyou all get to be so short?

SNEEZY: [irritated] Look, lady. Just an swer this. How did you get in our house, and who in vited you here,any way?

112

Page 125: Fairy Tales

SNOW WHITE: Well, you see, the Narrator said it was OK to justwalk in here and start the story from this point.

NARRATOR: Hey, don’t look at me, guys. I just work here.

DOC: [defiantly] Yeah, just what makes you think you canjust waltz in here any time you like, clean our house,and become an im portant character in our story? Doyou think you’re some fancy pants young modelwho can just do anything she wants and get awaywith it? Well, I’ve got news for you, sis ter. Thishere’s the real “Deep Dark Forest,” and we don’tallow just any character to crawl into our house anyold time she wishes just so she can get a starringrole in a story.

DOPEY: [slowly] Yea, just remember what happened to thatGoldilocks woman. You heard what she got for that“breaking and entering” episode in the Three Bearshouse on the other side of the for est. So you’d betterjust watch your self, sister!

SLEEPY: [snappy] So what’s your story, White? In fact, I betyour last name is n’t even White. I bet it’s somethinglike “Ball,” or “Drift,” or “Storm,” or somethinglike that. White’s prob ably just a made-up name you use in these sto ries. Is n’t that right?

SNOW WHITE: No re ally, it’s re ally White, Snow White. You see, Iwas born one dark morn ing dur ing the middle of ablinding snow storm and my father couldn’t . . .

GRUMPY: [slightly angry] Look, we’ve all heard that sad talebefore, and believe me, we don’t buy it for onesecond. Who do you think you’re foolin’?

DOC: So let’s get back to the real issue here. How comeyou’re in our house washing our pots and pans andsweeping our floor? Maybe, just maybe, we hap pento like be ing slobs. Did you ever think about that?What makes you think that just be cause there’sgarbage all over our cot tage and dust and dirteverywhere, that you have a right to come in and

113

Page 126: Fairy Tales

clean it up? We just hap pen to like liv ing this way. I mean, look at all the boys and girls out in theaudience. Aren’t their rooms messy and dirty? Don’tthey have dirty clothes all over the floor and messybeds? Don’t they like to live like slobs, too? You’redarn right they do! So what are you go ing to do,visit each and every one of THEIR homes and cleanthem up? Fat chance!

DOPEY: Yeah, Doc’s right. We just happen to like liv ing likepigs. Is there any law against that?

GRUMPY: And that certainly does n’t give you any right tocome in here in the mid dle of a nice lovely story and start all this dust fly ing around.

SNOW WHITE: Hey, guys, ease up! I was just try ing to help.Besides, I thought it might be a nice way to get thisstory mov ing along. Af ter all, all the kids in theaudience are pretty fa miliar with the orig inal story,and I thought that this would be a good way to getthe new story off the ground. Oh, my gosh! I for gotabout the new story. I was sup posed to tell themabout your cousin Coughy.

DOC: [irritated] Now see what you’ve gone and done.You’ve spent so much time on this supposedly greatintroduction to the story that we’re all out of timefor the rest of the story. Thanks a lot!!!

NARRATOR: [at times ram bling] Well, as it was, Snow White wasnever able to tell the story about the eighth dwarf,Coughy. But just so you don’t feel to tally left out,Coughy was later sent to the castle, the one wherethe evil stepmother lived, to pick up a pre scriptionfor his cough. He got a coughing at tack just as theevil stepmother was walking by the drug store, andhe coughed all over her. The evil stepmother camedown with a case of pneu monia and died a shorttime later. Coughy became a hero to all thetownspeople and eventually had a statue erected inhis honor in the center of town. Some talent agency

114

Page 127: Fairy Tales

signed him to ap pear in a TV commercial for a newcold medicine. He eventually wound up making alot of money and retiring to a condo in Hawaii(which is why you never hear about him in the usualSnow White sto ries). The other dwarfs have tocontinue working in the di amond mine to try to earna liv ing. And Snow White . . . well, she just keepsgoing through the for est cleaning up all the cottagesshe can find.

Adapted from An thony D. Fredericks, Frantic Frogs and Other Frankly Fractured Folktales for Readers Theatre(Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 1993).

115

Page 128: Fairy Tales

Don’t Kiss Sleep ingBeauty, She’s Got Re ally

Bad Breath

STAGING: The nar rator stands off to the side. The char acters may sit on stools orchairs. Or they may wish to stand in a cir cle in front of the au dience.

Nar rator X

Prince 1 Prince 2 Prince 3 Prince 4 X X X X

NARRATOR: Once upon a time, there was this very beautifulprincess. All the princes wanted to marry her.However, one day a wicked witch made thisbeautiful girl eat a poi soned apple. Beauty (that washer name) fell fast asleep. All the princes knew thatit would take a kiss to wake her up.

PRINCE 1: Wow! All I have to do is kiss Sleeping Beauty, andshe will awaken from her sleep to be my bride.

116 From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 129: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR: [to the prince] That’s right, Prince 1.

NARRATOR: [to the audience] Let’s see what happens whenPrince 1 re turns to the cas tle to tell his prince friends about his discovery.

PRINCE 1: Hey, guys. You’re not go ing to be lieve this, butSleeping Beauty is sound asleep in the en chantedforest. And she is waiting for one of us to give her akiss that will wake her up.

PRINCE 2: Well, why did n’t you kiss her?

PRINCE 1: Well, it seems as she has re ally bad breath . . . . Imean really bad breath! WHEW! Did it stink!!!

PRINCE 3: You mean, you did n’t kiss her af ter all?

PRINCE 1: No way, José. Her breath was so bad I couldn’t evenget in the room.

PRINCE 4: That’s hard to be lieve. You mean, her breath is sobad that we can’t even get close enough to kiss her?Wow, what a waste!

PRINCE 1: Yeah, and you know what else? She snores like abear. Ev ery time she breathes the windows rattle andthe dishes in the kitchen crack and break.

PRINCE 3: Boy, that’s un be liev able!

PRINCE 1: Not only is she stinking up the air, but she’s makingthe whole neighborhood shake with her snor ing.Nobody wants to live in the enchanted for estany more.

PRINCE 2: Well, how are we go ing to wake her up? Doesn’tsomebody have to kiss her in or der for this story toend the right way?

PRINCE 1: Hey, maybe you, pal, but not me! If you want to goahead and kiss old “Hog’s Breath,” then help your self.

117

Page 130: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR: And so no body wanted to kiss Sleeping Beauty. She just slept in the for est, making loud noises andstinking up the air. And if you ever go into theforest and lis ten real hard, you can still hear herto day.

Adapted from An thony D. Fredericks, Tadpole Tales and Other To tally Terrific Treats for Read ers Theatre(Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 1997).

118

Page 131: Fairy Tales

Goldilocks and the ThreeHam sters

STAGING: The narrator sits off to the side on a tall stool or chair. The other char actersmay be stand ing or sitting in chairs.

Papa Ham ster X Baby Hamster X Mama Ham ster X Goldilocks XNar ra tor X

NARRATOR: Once upon a time there were three ham sters. Onewas Baby Ham ster. He was the smallest. Themiddle-sized ham ster was Mama Hamster. Thebiggest hamster was Papa Ham ster. They all livedtogether in a cage in Mrs. John son’s classroom. Oneday Mama Hamster baked some hamster food in thehamster oven and put it on the hamster table forbreakfast. They all stood around to eat.

119From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 132: Fairy Tales

BABY HAMSTER: OWWWW! This hamster food is too hot!

MAMA HAMSTER: You are right, Baby Hamster. What should we dountil it is cool?

PAPA HAMSTER: Let’s go for a run on the exercise wheel on the other side of the cage. When we come back the ham sterfood will be just right.

NARRATOR: The hamster fam ily left their hamster breakfastcooling on the hamster table. They walked over tothe exercise wheel inside their hamster cage to gofor a morning run. While they were on the wheel, alittle girl named Goldilocks, who was a stu dent inMrs. Johnson’s class, was walking by the cage. Shewas on her way to get her pencil sharpened. Shewalked by the cage and smelled the hamster food.

GOLDILOCKS: OOOHHH. That smells so good! I did n’t haveanything for breakfast at home. Maybe I’ll just takea quick peek in side this cage.

NARRATOR: Goldilocks looked through the bars in the cage andinto the lit tle hamster house. She un locked the cageand stuck her head right inside.

GOLDILOCKS: Look at this big bowl of hamster food. I’ll have totry it. Oh, no, this is just too hot. Maybe I’ll eat thismiddle-sized bowl. No, it is just a lit tle too cold. I’lltry this tiny bowl. Oh, yes! This is just right!

NARRATOR: Goldilocks ate all the hamster food in BabyHamster’s bowl. Then she began to look around theinside of the little hamster house. She no ticed thethree hol low tubes that the hamsters played in.

GOLDILOCKS: Look at those tubes. I think I’ll stick my fin ger inthe big one first. Goodness! This one’s too big.Maybe the middle-sized tube is better. No, it’s stilltoo big. I think this lit tle one will be just right.

120

Page 133: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR: But when Goldilocks put her big fat finger in sidethe tiny lit tle tube, she got stuck. She shook andshook and shook her fin ger un til the tube flew offand smashed into a hun dred pieces on the floor.That made her very angry. She de cided to lookaround the house some more. She found the threesmelly old rags that the hamsters used for their beds.

GOLDILOCKS: Those smelly old rags sure do look interesting. Ithink I’ll pick them up. I’ll try the big one first. Oh,no, this is much too dirty for me. Per haps themiddle-sized one is better. No, this one’s much toostinky. I’ll try the lit tle one. Yes, this one’s not toodirty and not too smelly. I’ll use it to blow my nose.

NARRATOR: But when Goldilocks tried to pull her head out ofthe cage, it became stuck. Soon the three ham sterscame back from their ex ercise wheel.

BABY HAMSTER: Look, Father! Somebody has been in our house.

MAMA HAMSTER: Let’s go in very carefully and very slowly.

PAPA HAMSTER: SOMEONE HAS BEEN EATING MY HAMSTERFOOD!

MAMA HAMSTER: SOMEONE HAS BEEN EATING MY HAMSTERFOOD!

BABY HAMSTER: SOMEONE HAS BEEN EATING MY HAMSTERFOOD! And it’s all gone!

NARRATOR: The hamsters began look ing around the house. PapaHamster saw that his hol low tube had been moved.

PAPA HAMSTER: SOMEONE HAS BEEN PLAYING WITH MYHOLLOW TUBE!

MAMA HAMSTER: SOMEONE HAS BEEN PLAYING WITH MYHOLLOW TUBE!

BABY HAMSTER: SOMEONE HAS BEEN PLAYING WITH MYHOLLOW TUBE! And they broke it into athou sand pieces.

121

Page 134: Fairy Tales

NARRATOR: The hamsters went to the sleeping area of theirhouse. Papa Ham ster was the first to see that his raghad been dis turbed.

PAPA HAMSTER: SOMEONE HAS BEEN MESSING WITH MYRAG!

MAMA HAMSTER: SOMEONE HAS BEEN MESSING WITH MYRAG!

BABY HAMSTER: SOMEONE HAS BEEN MESSING WITH MYRAG! And, look, there she is with her head caughtin our cage.

NARRATOR: [faster and faster] Goldilocks got very scared. Thethree hamsters began run ning to ward her.Goldilocks pulled harder and harder. The hamsterswere getting closer and closer. Goldilocks wasgetting more and more scared. Fi nally, with one lastyank, she pulled her head out just in the nick oftime. [slowly] Af ter that, she prom ised she wouldnever ever eat hamster food again. The threehamsters got a large rat to guard their house and putlocks on all their doors. And they all lived hap pilyafter ever.

Adapted from An thony D. Fredericks, Silly Salamanders and Other Slightly Stu pid Stuff for Readers Theatre(Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 2000).

122

Page 135: Fairy Tales

Little Red Riding HoodPunches the Wolf Char acter

Right in the Kisser

STAGING: The char acters may all be seated on tall stools. The nar rator may be stand -ing, or seated on a stool, at the edge of the stag ing area.

Cinderella Snow White Sleeping Beauty Little Red Riding Hood X X X X

Nar rator X

NARRATOR: Once upon a time a bunch of sto rybook charactersgot to gether for their monthly literary meeting,where they talked about all the good lit erature (andsome bad literature, too) that was be ing shared withstudents in schools all over the country. Well, asoften happened, the dis cussion soon turned to someof the characters our friends here [points] have todeal with every time a story is read aloud.

123From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 136: Fairy Tales

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD: [upset] Hey, girls, you know what? I’mgetting just a lit tle sick and tired of al wayspacking a little picnic basket full of good ies,skipping through the deep dark woods, andmeeting this hairball of a character—whomthe writers call a wolf—and then rac ing himover to Granny’s house to see who can get toGranny’s bed first.

SLEEPING BEAUTY: Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

SNOW WHITE: Yeah, you got it tough, sis ter. Ev ery timesome teacher tells that story to her lit tlestudents, you re ally get the “short end of thestick,” so to speak. I mean, why does youradventure have to have some guy with anattitude prob lem who hasn’t shaved in amonth or more?

CINDERELLA: Yeah, who do those writ ers think they are?How come we fe males always have to dealwith mean, old, or ugly characters all thetime? Just look in the library and you’ll seewhat I mean. How many sto ries do you knowthat are filled with hand some, po lite, andvery rich princes? Noooooooo, they’re allfilled with mean, old, or ugly dudes.

SLEEPING BEAUTY: Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD: It sure is get ting to be a drag. I don’t mindpacking the picnic basket every time the story is told. I don’t even mind taking a strollthrough the woods and listening to the sounds of na ture. I don’t even mind helping out mypoor sweet old Granny every once in a while.But when I have to deal with that fur ballwith bad breath . . . .

124

Page 137: Fairy Tales

CINDERELLA: He’s never been nice to you. He growls atyou in the woods. He out races you toGranny’s house. He steals Granny’s pa jamasand tosses her un der the bed. And then heputs his smelly old body in her bed to waitfor you to waltz in the door. It’s re allysick en ing.

SNOW WHITE: It’s ugly, I tell you. Really, re ally ugly. Hesmells, he stinks, he never washes, and youhave to talk with him ev ery sin gle time someparent or teacher tells the story. Wow, youreally have it bad, girl!

SLEEPING BEAUTY: Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD: You know what I should do? The next time Isee that stinky fur ball, I should just walkright up to him and sock him one right in thekisser. That would teach him a les son. I bethe’d never mess with me again.

SNOW WHITE: Yeah, right in the kisser. You’d sure showhim who was boss!

CINDERELLA: Yeah, just haul off and land one right in themiddle of his hairy old wolf face. By the timehe woke up, you’d be all the way to Granny’shouse, and he’d have a headache for at least a week.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD: Yeah, I re ally should teach him a lesson he’dnever for get.

SLEEPING BEAUTY: Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

CINDERELLA: [defiantly] Besides, you’d show him who wasreally in charge. Those fancy dancy writ ersall think that they’re all soooooo smart andbrilliant. They just sit around all day makingup these sto ries where these ugly wolfy furballs attack all us good lookin’ and veryin tel li gent la dies. Ob vi ously all the writ ersare males, ’cause women writers would never

125

Page 138: Fairy Tales

have some dude with a furry face and badbreath as the lead character in a story. They’dmake sure that the women were all princessesand queens and all the furry males would bekept in a cage in the dun geon of somefaraway castle . . . or something like that.

SNOW WHITE: Hey, I tell you what. Why don’t we all gettogether, march right down to that deep, darkforest that Red has to walk through in ev erystory, and teach that fur ball of a wolf a reallesson? What do you say?

SLEEPING BEAUTY: Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

CINDERELLA: Yeah, that sounds like a great idea!

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD: I’m all for it. Let’s go.

NARRATOR: And so it was that our three heroines (no bodycould wake up Sleeping Beauty) marched outof Red Rid ing Hood’s house and into theforest. Before too long they were able to lo catethe wolf, who was doz ing un der a tree andwaiting for the next story to be gin. The threewomen sur rounded the wolf and watched asRed Rid ing Hood punched him right in thekisser. I mean she re ally socked him good!Wham! Blam!! He never stood a chance. Heliterally staggered out of Red Rid ing Hood’sstory and into an other story, about some gi antguy who lived at the top of a very tallvegetable. But all he could do in that story wasmumble a lot and walk around in circles. Hewas never the same again. In his place, RedRiding Hood hired a cute little bunny andcompletely re wrote the ending of her story.And of course she lived happily ever after.

SLEEPING BEAUTY: Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Adapted from An thony D. Fredericks, MORE Fran tic Frogs and Other Frankly Fractured Folktales for ReadersThea tre (Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 2008).

126

Page 139: Fairy Tales

The Gin ger bread BoyGets Baked at 350° for

15–20 Min utes

STAGING: The narrator may stand off to the side. The other characters may sit on tallstools or in chairs.

Nar rator X Gingerbread Boy X Lit tle Old Woman Lit tle Old Man X X

NARRATOR: Once upon a time there was a Lit tle Old Woman anda Lit tle Old Man. They lived alone in a lit tle oldhouse in the mid dle of a lit tle old for est in a lit tle old country in a lit tle old time. One day the Little OldWoman de cided to make a lit tle old Gin gerbreadBoy. I don’t know, maybe she was think ing that theGingerbread Boy would be come her son one day.But how a Gingerbread Boy could be come the sonof a Lit tle Old Woman and a Lit tle Old Man is

127From Fairy Tales Read ers Theatre by An thony D. Fredericks. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Copy right © 2009.

Page 140: Fairy Tales

something that I just don’t un derstand. Hey, I’m just the narrator, not some rocket scientist! Anyway,let’s just say that the Lit tle Old Woman was just alittle touched in the head—what you and I mightcall crazy. Anyway, on with our story.

LITTLE OLD WOMAN: Well, now I’m fin ished mixing the flour, but ter,sugar, gin ger, and all those other in gredients. I thinkI’ll just shape them all into a lit tle Gin gerbread Boy.Won’t that be cute!

LITTLE OLD MAN: Hey, Little Old Woman, why are you do ing that?

LITTLE OLD WOMAN: Because we don’t have a son of our own, my LittleOld Man.

LITTLE OLD MAN: [aside to the audience] I think the narrator per son isright. I think my Lit tle Old Woman is just slightlycrazy. But what do I know? Anyway, that’s just theway she is, so let’s just get on with the story.

LITTLE OLD WOMAN: Never mind what that silly nar rator said. I’m justgoing to put this little Gingerbread Boy into theoven and bake him for about 15 to 20 min utes at atemperature of 350°. Then maybe we’ll eat him upfor din ner.

LITTLE OLD MAN: Whoa there, my loving Little Old Woman. Whywould you want to eat up the Gin gerbread Boy fordinner? Did n’t you just say that maybe he could beour son.

LITTLE OLD WOMAN: Yeah, I did. Sometimes I get confused and don’tknow what I’m talking about. I guess I just can’tmake up my mind. I don’t know if I really wantsomething to eat for dinner or whether I just want to have a son.

LITTLE OLD MAN: Well, a gin gerbread son would be nice. He couldmow the lawn. He could wash the windows. Hecould sweep the driveway. He could do lots ofthings around here. Af ter all, Little Old Woman,both you and I are old and lit tle, and we can’t do allthe things we used to.

128

Page 141: Fairy Tales

LITTLE OLD WOMAN: You are right, my Lit tle Old Man. But I’m re allygetting very hun gry. I haven’t had anything to eatfor a long time. And, just like our friend, OldMother Hub bard, we don’t have any thing in thecup board.

LITTLE OLD MAN: Yes, you’re right. There’s very little to eat aroundthis lit tle house. Maybe we should just for get abouthaving a gin gerbread son and just eat him up assoon as he gets out of the oven.

NARRATOR: All the time the Lit tle Old Woman and the Lit tleOld Man were talk ing, the lit tle Gin gerbread Boywas in the oven bak ing away at 350°. But he wasalso listening very carefully to the con versation theLittle Old Man and the Lit tle Old Woman werehaving. And to tell the truth, he did n’t like what hewas hearing. He de cided that this wasn’t the placewhere he wanted to live. So, while the Little OldMan and the Little Old Woman were talking away,the Gingerbread Boy snuck out of the oven, tip-toedacross the kitchen floor, and slipped out the backdoor.

LITTLE OLD WOMAN: [confused] Hey, where did our Gingerbread Boy go?

LITTLE OLD MAN: Why did he run away from us?

NARRATOR: Well, to tell the truth, the Gingerbread Boy wantedto save his skin, so to speak. But he quicklydiscovered that life out side a 350° oven can be quite dangerous, especially when there’s a fox around. Hewound up having more ad ventures than he wasready for . . . and some of them weren’t very pretty.But then again, that’s an other story. So now it’stime to say good-bye.

LITTLE OLD MAN: [wav ing] Good-bye.

129

Page 142: Fairy Tales

LITTLE OLD WOMAN: [wav ing] Good-bye.

LITTLE OLD MAN: [whispering to the Lit tle Old Woman] Say, I’m stillhungry. What have we got around here to eat?

Adapted from An thony D. Fredericks, MORE Fran tic Frogs and Other Frankly Fractured Folktales for ReadersThea tre (Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 2008).

130

Page 143: Fairy Tales

Ref er encesCunningham, P., and R. Allington. 2003. Classrooms That Work: They Can All Read and Write.

Boston: Allyn & Ba con.

Dixon, N., A. Davies, and C. Politano. 1996. Learn ing with Read ers Thea tre: Build ing Con nec tions.Win ni peg, MB: Peguis Pub lish ers.

Fredericks, A. D. 1993. Frantic Frogs and Other Frankly Fractured Folk tales for Readers Thea tre.Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press.

———. 2001. Guided Read ing for Grades 3–6. Aus tin, TX: Harcourt Achieve.

———. 2007. Non fic tion Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers. Westport, CT: Teacher IdeasPress.

———. 2008a. MORE Fran tic Frogs and Other Frankly Fractured Folk tales for Readers Thea tre.Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press.

———. 2008b. African Legends, Myths, and Folktales for Readers Thea tre. Westport, CT: TeacherIdeas Press.

Martinez, M., N. Roser, and S. Strecker. 1999. “I Never Thought I Could Be a Star”: A ReadersTheatre Ticket to Reading Flu ency.” The Reading Teacher 52: 326–334.

Meinbach, A. M., A. D. Fredericks, and L. Rothlein. 2000. The Complete Guide to The matic Units:Cre at ing the In te grated Cur ric u lum. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Pub lishers.

Rasinski, T. V. 2003. The Fluent Reader: Oral Read ing Strategies for Building Word Recognition,Flu ency, and Com pre hen sion. New York: Scholastic.

Strecker, S. K., N. L. Roser, and M. G. Mar tinez. 1999. “To ward Un derstanding Oral Reading Flu -ency.” Yearbook of the Na tional Reading Con ference 48: 295–310.

Tyler, B., and D. J. Chard. 2000. “Using Readers Theatre to Fos ter Fluency in Strug gling Readers: A Twist on the Repeated Reading Strategy.” Reading and Writing Quarterly 16: 163–168.

Wiggens, G., and J. McTighe. 1998. Un der stand ing by De sign. Al ex an dria, VA: As so ci a tion for Su-per vi sion and Cur ric u lum Development.

Wiske, M. S., ed. 1998. Teach ing for Un der stand ing. San Fran cisco: Jossey-Bass.

Wolf, S. 1998. “The Flight of Reading: Shifts in Instruction, Orchestration, and At titudes ThroughClass room Thea tre.” Read ing Re search Quar terly 33: 382–415.

131

Page 144: Fairy Tales

This page intentionally left blank

Page 145: Fairy Tales

More Teacher Re sourcesby

Anthony D. Fredericks

The following books are available from Teacher Ideas Press (130 Cremona Drive, Santa Barbara,CA 93117); 1-800-368-6868; http://www.teacherideaspress.com.

African Leg ends, Myths, and Folk tales for Read ers Thea tre. ISBN 978-1-59158-633-3.(166pp.; $25.00).

Teachers are con tinually looking for materials that will enhance the study of cultures aroundthe world. This collection of readers theatre scripts of fers just that through an ap proach to the cul-tural study of Africa that will be fun and motivational for students—and improve their readingflu ency.

Build ing Flu ency with Read ers Thea tre: Mo ti va tional Strat e gies, Suc cess ful Les sons andDy namic Scripts to De velop Flu ency, Com pre hen sion, Writ ing, and Vo cab u lary. ISBN978-1-59158-733-0. (225pp.; $35.00).

Packed with practical ideas and loads of cre ative strategies, this resource of fers teachers and li -brarians a wealth of in novative and dy namic techniques to stimulate and sup port the teaching ofreading flu ency across the el ementary curriculum. This book is filled with the latest in formation,up-to-date data, and lots of in ventive scripts for any classroom or li brary.

Frantic Frogs and Other Frankly Fractured Folk tales for Read ers Thea tre. ISBN1-56308-174-1. (123pp.; $19.50).

Have you heard “Don’t Kiss Sleeping Beauty, She’s Got Really Bad Breath” or “The BrusselsSprouts Man (The Gingerbread Man’s Un believably Strange Cousin)”? This resource (grades 4–8)offers 30 re producible satirical scripts for rip-roaring dra matics in any classroom or li brary.

The In tegrated Cur riculum: Books for Re luctant Read ers, Grades 2–5 (2nd Edi tion). ISBN0-87287-994-1. (220pp.; $22.50).

This book pres ents guide lines for mo ti vat ing and us ing lit er a ture with re luc tant read ers. Thebook con tains more than 40 book units on ti tles carefully selected to motivate the most reluctantread ers.

In ves ti gat ing Nat u ral Di sas ters Through Chil dren’s Lit er a ture: An In te grated Ap proach.ISBN 1-56308-861-4. (193pp.; $28.00).

Tap into stu dents’ in herent awe of storms, vol canic eruptions, hur ricanes, earthquakes, tor na-does, floods, av alanches, land slides, and tsu namis to open their minds to the won ders and power ofthe nat u ral world.

133

Page 146: Fairy Tales

In volv ing Par ents Through Chil dren’s Lit er a ture: P–K. ISBN 1-56308-022-2. (86pp.; $15.00).

In volv ing Par ents ThroughChil dren’s Lit er a ture: Grades1–2. ISBN 1-56308-012-5. (95pp.; $14.50).

In volv ing Par ents ThroughChil dren’s Lit er a ture: Grades3–4. ISBN 1-56308-013-3. (96pp.; $15.50).

In volv ing Par ents ThroughChil dren’s Lit er a ture: Grades5–6. ISBN 1-56308-014-1. (107pp.; $16.00)This series of four books of fers en gaging activities for adults and chil dren that stimulate com -

pre hen sion and pro mote read ing en joy ment. Re pro duc ible ac tiv ity sheets based on high-qual itychildren’s books are designed in a convenient format so that children can take them home.

The Li brar ian’s Com plete Guide to In volv ing Par ents Through Chil dren’s Lit er a ture:Grades K–6. ISBN 1-56308-538-0. (137pp.; $24.50).

Activities for 101 children’s books are presented in a re producible format, so librarians candistribute them to students to take home and share with par ents.

MORE Fran tic Frogs and Other Frankly Fractured Folk tales for Read ers Thea tre. ISBN 978-1-59158-628-9. (154pp.; $25.00).

Remember all the fun you had with the orig inal Fran tic Frogs? Well, they’re back!!Here’s an other laugh-fest overflowing with scripts that will leave students (and teachers) roll -ing in the aisles. (Don’t miss “The Original Hip-Hop [by Busta Frog]”.)

MORE Sci ence Ad ven tures with Chil dren’s Lit er a ture: Read ing Com pre hen sion and In-quiry-Based Sci ence. ISBN 978-1-59158-619-7. (443pp.; $35.00).

Get ready for hun dreds of hands-on, minds-on pro jects that will actively en gage studentsin pos itive learning ex periences. Each of the 62 units offers book sum maries, science topic ar-eas, critical think ing questions, classroom resources, re producible pages, and lots of easy-to-doac tiv i ties, in clud ing sci ence ex per i ments for ev ery grade level.

MORE So cial Stud ies Through Chil dren’s Lit er a ture: An In te grated Ap proach. ISBN1-56308-761-8. (225pp.; $27.50).

Energize your so cial stud ies cur riculum with dy namic, hands-on, minds-on projects basedon such great chil dren’s books as Amaz ing Grace, Fly Away Home, and Lon Po Po. This booksis filled with an ar ray of ac tivities and projects sure to “energize” any so cial studies cur riculum.

Mother Goose Readers Thea tre for Be ginning Readers. ISBN 978-1-59158-500-8.(168pp.; $25.00).

Designed es pecially for educators in the primary grades, this resource pro vides en gagingopportunities that capitalize on chil dren’s en joyment of Mother Goose rhymes. There lots toshare and lots to enjoy in the pages of this re source.

MUCH MORE So cial Stud ies Through Chil dren’s Lit er a ture: A Col lab o ra tive Ap-proach. ISBN 978-1-59158-445-2. (256pp.; $35.00).

This col lection of dynamic lit erature-based ac tivities will help any teacher or li brarian en -ergize the entire so cial stud ies cur riculum and im plement na tional (and state) standards. Thisresource is filled with hun dreds of hands-on, minds-on pro jects.

134 More Teacher Re sources

Page 147: Fairy Tales

Non fic tion Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers. ISBN 978-1-59158-499-5. (220pp.;$25.00).

This collection of science and so cial stud ies non fiction scripts for be ginning readers issure to “jazz up” any language arts program in grades 1–3. Teachers and li brarians will discovera wealth of cre ative op por tu ni ties to en hance flu ency, com pre hen sion, and ap pre ci a tion of non-fic tion lit er a ture.

Read ers Thea tre for Amer i can His tory. ISBN 1-56308-860-6. (173pp.; $30.00).This book offers a participatory ap proach to American history in which students be come ac -

tive participants in several his torical events. These 24 scripts give stu dents a “you are there” per -spective on critical mile stones and colorful moments that have shaped the Amer ican ex perience.

Sci ence Ad ven tures with Chil dren’s Lit er a ture: A The matic Ap proach. ISBN 1-56308-417-1.(190pp.; $24.50).

Fo cus ing on the Na tional Sci ence Ed u ca tion Stan dards, this ac tiv ity-cen tered re source uses awide va ri ety of chil dren’s lit er a ture to in te grate sci ence across the el e men tary cur ric u lum. With athematic approach, it features the best in science trade books along with stimulating hands-on,minds on ac tivities in all the sci ences.

Science Dis coveries on the Net: An In tegrated Ap proach. ISBN 1-56308-823-1. (315pp.;$27.50).

This book is de signed to help teachers in tegrate the Internet into their science pro grams andenhance the scientific dis coveries of stu dents. The 88 units emphasize key concepts—based on na-tional and state standards—throughout the science cur riculum.

Silly Salamanders and Other Slightly Stu pid Stuff for Readers Theatre. ISBN 1-56308-825-8. (161pp.; $23.50).

The third en try in the “wild and wacky” readers theatre trilogy is just as crazy and just as weirdas the first two. This un believable re source of fers stu dents in grades 3–6 doz ens of silly send-ups ofwell-known fairy tales, legends, and orig inal stories.

Social Stud ies Dis coveries on the Net: An In tegrated Ap proach. ISBN 1-56308-824-X.(276pp.; $26.00).

This book is de signed to help teachers in tegrate the Internet into their so cial stud ies pro -grams and enhance the classroom discoveries of stu dents. The 75 units emphasize key concepts—based on na tional and state standards—throughout the social stud ies cur riculum.

So cial Stud ies Through Chil dren’s Lit er a ture: An In te grated Ap proach. ISBN 1-87287-970-4 (192pp.; $24.00).

Each of the 32 instructional units contained in this re source uti lizes an activity-centered ap -proach to el ementary social stud ies, featuring children’s picture books such as Ox-Cart Man, InCoal Coun try, and Jambo Means Hello.

More Teacher Re sources 135

Page 148: Fairy Tales

Songs and Rhymes Readers Thea tre for Be ginning Readers. ISBN 978-1-59158-627-2.(154pp.; $25.00).

Bring music, song, and dance into your classroom language arts curriculum with this de light-ful collection of pop ular rhymes and dit ties. Be ginning readers will en joy learning about familiarchar ac ters in this en gag ing col lec tion of scripts.

Tadpole Tales and Other To tally Ter rific Ti tles for Read ers Theatre. ISBN 1-56308-547-X.(115pp.; $18.50).

A fol low-up volume to the best-selling Frantic Frogs and Other Frankly Fractured Folk -tales for Readers Thea tre, this book pro vides pri mary level readers (grades 1–4) with a hu morousassortment of wacky tales based on well-known Mother Goose rhymes. More than 30 scripts anddozens of ex tensions will keep students roll ing in the aisles.

136 More Teacher Re sources

Page 149: Fairy Tales

In dexAllington, R. L., xiAu di ence. See Read ers thea tre per for mances:

au di ence

“Beauty and the Beast,” 17–21“Beauty and This In credibly Ugly Guy,”

107–10

Chard, D. J., ix“Chicken Little,” 71–76Chil dren’s lit er a ture and read ers thea tre, xCho ral read ing, 6“Cinderella,” 99–104Com pre hen sion

de vel op ment, x“Coughy: The Dwarf Snow White Never Told

You About,” 111–15Cunningham, P., xi

Dixon, N. A., viii“Don’t Kiss Sleeping Beauty, She’s Got Really

Bad Breath,” 116–18

“Elves and the Shoemaker, The,” 22–25“Emperor’s New Clothes, The,” 26–31English/language arts standards, x, xi–xii

Fairy taleshumorous, scripts for, 107–28and readers thea tre, vii–viiireaders theatre scripts for, 17–130

Frantic Frogs and Other Frankly FracturedFolktales for Readers Thea tre, 3

Fredericks, A. D., viii, ix, 7

“Gingerbread Boy Gets Baked at 350° for 15–20 Minutes, The,” 127–30

“Gingerbread Man, The,” 62–66“Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” 67–70“Goldilocks and the Three Hamsters,” 119–22

“Hansel and Gretel,” 32–35

IRA/NCTE Stan dards for the Eng lish LanguageArts, xi–xii

“Jack and the Beanstalk,” 36–40

Language arts and read ers thea tre, xLiteracy growth, im pact of read ers thea tre on,

viii–ix“Little Red Hen, The,” 59–61“Little Red Riding Hood,” 77–80“Little Red Riding Hood Punches the Wolf

Character Right in the Kisser,” 123–26

Mar ti nez, M., viiiMcTighe, J., xMeinbach, A. M., 7

“Princess and the Pea, The,” 41–43

“Rapunzel,” 44–48Rasinski, Tim, viiiRead ers thea tre. See also Read ers thea tre scripts

in classroom, 3–7and el e ments of chil dren’s lit er a ture, xand de vel op ing read ing flu ency, ixed u ca tional value of, ixef fects on com pre hen sion de vel op ment, xand fairy tales, vii–viiifa mil iar iza tion with, 4, 5-6impact on lit eracy growth, viii–ixin te gra tion of, 4, 7in tro duc ing, 3–7per form ing. See Read ers thea tre per for mancesin li brary, 3–7practice of, 4, 6–7research on impact of, viii–ixand standards, xi–xiivalue of, ix–xi

Read ers thea tre per for mancesau di ence, 12–14de liv ery, 12post-pre sen ta tion, 14pre sen ta tion op tions, 13props, 11script prep a ra tion, 9–10script se lec tion, 12stag ing, 10–11starting, 10

137

Page 150: Fairy Tales

Read ers thea tre scripts“Beauty and the Beast,” 17–21“Beauty and This Incredibly Ugly Guy,” 107–10“Chicken Little,” 71–76“Cinderella,” 99–104“Coughy: The Dwarf Snow White Never Told

You About,” 111–15 “Don’t Kiss Sleeping Beauty, She’s Got

Really Bad Breath,” 116–18“The Elves and the Shoe maker,” 22–25“The Em peror’s New Clothes,” 26–31“The Gin gerbread Boy Gets Baked at 350° for

15–20 Min utes,” 127–30“The Gin gerbread Man,” 62–66“Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” 67–70“Goldilocks and the Three Hamsters,” 119–22“Hansel and Gretel,” 32–35“Jack and the Beanstalk,” 36–40“The Lit tle Red Hen,” 59–61“Little Red Riding Hood,” 77–80“Little Red Riding Hood Punches the Wolf

Character Right in the Kisser,” 123–26“The Princess and the Pea,” 41–43“Rapunzel,” 44–48“Rum pel stilts kin,” 49–53

“Sleeping Beauty,” 94–98“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” 54–58“The Three Billy Goats Gruff,” 90–93“The Three Lit tle Pigs,” 81–84“The Ugly Duckling,” 85–89

“Rum pel stilts kin,” 49–53

Sentence strips, 5, 6“Sleeping Beauty,” 94–98. See also “Don’t Kiss

Sleeping Beauty, She’s Got Really BadBreath”

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” 54–58Stages for in tro duc ing read ers thea tre, 3–7Stan dards. See Eng lish/language arts standardsStrecker, S. K., ix

“Three Billy Goats Gruff, The,” 90–93“Three Little Pigs, The,” 81–84Tyler, B., ix

“Ugly Duck ling, The,” 85–89

Wiggens, G., xWiske, M. S., xWolf, S., viii

138 Index

Page 151: Fairy Tales

About the Au thor

Anthony D. Fredericks ([email protected]). Tony’s back ground in cludes more than39 years of ex pe ri ence as a class room teacher, read ing spe cial ist, cur ric u lum co or di na tor, staff de-veloper, professional sto ryteller, and col lege pro fessor. He is a pro lific au thor, having written morethan 75 teacher re source books, in cluding the enormously pop ular MORE Fran tic Frogs and OtherFrankly Fractured Folk tales for Readers Thea tre, the best-sell ing Build ing Flu ency with ReadersThea tre, the cel e brated MUCH MORE So cial Studies Through Children’s Literature, and the dy -namic Read ers Thea tre for Amer i can His tory.

In ad dition, he has authored more than three dozen award-winning children’s books, in cludingThe Tsunami Quilt: Grandfather’s Story; Near One Cattail: Turtles, Logs and Leaping Frogs; Di no-saur Droppings, An i mal Sharp shooters; and A Is for An aconda: A Rainforest Alphabet Book.

Tony currently teaches el ementary methods courses in read ing, lan guage arts, sci ence, socialstudies, and children’s lit erature at York College in York, Penn sylvania. In ad dition, he is a pop ularand en thu si as tic vis it ing chil dren’s au thor to el e men tary schools through out North Amer ica, wherehe cel e brates books, writ ing, and sto ry tell ing.