Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf in UEL Primary PGCE 2015-16

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Oct 11, 2015 Jashim Uddin rated it really liked it

Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf by Catherine Storr

This is an excellent, humorous book that tells the story of a very clever and witty girl. It consists of 12 chapters, each telling a different short story about a little girl and a wolf whose main desire is to eat her. Many of the stories are based on the wolf’s interpretation of popular fairy tales involving wolves, including Little Red Riding Hood, the Three Little Pigs and the Wolf and the Seven Little Kids. Retelling previous stories allows Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf by Catherine Storr

This is an excellent, humorous book that tells the story of a very clever and witty girl. It consists of 12 chapters, each telling a different short story about a little girl and a wolf whose main desire is to eat her. Many of the stories are based on the wolf’s interpretation of popular fairy tales involving wolves, including Little Red Riding Hood, the Three Little Pigs and the Wolf and the Seven Little Kids. Retelling previous stories allows children to recall and make connections from prior knowledge.

The book describes how one day the front door bell rang and Polly went to open the door. And there was a great black wolf who said he had come to eat her up. Throughout the book Polly is tormented by a rather unpleasant wolf who constantly threatens to eat her! Polly, however is not frightened. She always thinks of something to outwit the stupid wolf on each and every occasion. Some of the clever way Polly overcomes the wolf is by devising a number of delicious ways to prevent him from eating her! Including chocolate cake and daisies. Polly cleverly and comically always escapes the wolf either by making him too full to eat her or by confusing him with reason.

The book contains a literary discussion theme throughout the stories for example ‘Monday’s Child’, in which Polly and the (not so stupid) wolf have a discussion, the wolf proves himself to be rather good at talking about poems, scoffing at the kind that merely rhymes and telling Polly that proper poetry should “make you feel you understand life for the first time”, before going on to recite a poem about cooking and eating children. The theme is continued throughout with reference to other favourite children’s book however the wolf proves that he has not learnt much from his study of literature throughout the story. This can be used to question children about their understanding of previous stories that they have read. Children will get the sense of ‘correcting’ the wolf which will enhance their prior knowledge.

I believe this book is suitable for children in key stage 1 and lower key stage 2. It can be used in English for reading and writing. The book can be used as a comprehension in English lessons and the children can recall the key points from the book which would help assess the children’s understanding. It can also be used to assess children understanding of previous books. The book contains some moral messages which children can also refer to. It would be excellent to use for role-playing (Drama) and exploring dialogue between characters (mini plays in groups).

Overall I think this is a brilliant book. It contains great illustrations. It’s funny and clever and will entertain primary school children as well as parents/adults alike. ...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Ali rated it really liked it

Shelves: early-chapter-books, short-stories

Brilliant book! It is a very witty story of a bright, resourceful little girl in an ordinary, suburban home who is constantly threatened by a wolf who wants to eat her. However, Polly can always outwit him, whether by letting him scoff chocolate cake so he is too full to eat her, or by confusing him with reason.

This is a collection of short stories rather than a complete narrative in itself. It would be great to read to a class of Y2 children, or as a guided reading text with level 3 readers. Hi ...more

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Jan 30, 2016 Simon Cian is currently reading it · review of another edition

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UEL Primary PGCE 2015-16