The Minpins

Title: The Minpins

Author: Roald Dahl

Illustrator: Patrick Benson

Publisher: The Penguin Group (http://us.penguingroup.com/)

Publication Date: 1991

Genre: Adventure

Audience: Grades 3-5

Awards: 1991 Redbook Children's Picture Book Award, and An American Bookseller "Pick of the Lists"

Overview: The Minpins is a story about a little boy who wanders into a forbidden forest that his mother warns him never to enter. He is chased up a tree by a tremendous beast, and finds himself amongst a world of small people called Minpins. After learning about their wonderful world, he is faced with the problem of returning home, because the beast is waiting at the bottom of the tree for him. Together with the Minpins, they create a plan to defeat the beast once and for all. After Little Billy returns home he remains great friends with the Minpin people in the forest for the rest of his life.

Activity: This story is a bit lengthy, but if you plan for a lesson around it, it will make a great read aloud. As a follow up you can do a lesson on character traits, and use semantic scales (with opposite characteristics on each end i.e. sensible and foolish). Have the students decide where on the scale a certain character would fall, and support their thinking with examples from the text or real life.

Reviewer's Name: Allison Parsons