A Few Foolish Friends

Again I find myself changing a story to suit my Family Story Time program.  This time it is the book Six Foolish Fishermen by Robert D. San Souci.  Like many folktale picture books it is a bit too long to read for storytime.  However, this story would be great to tell using the flannel/magnet board so I wrote my own version making several changes.  At the end of his book San Souci mentions in his "Author's Note" that his version is made up using various noodlehead stories from around the world.  He set his story in Cajun country because of his interest in Cajun culture.  I recognized elements in the book from other stories, particularly the counting episode.

I made the sensible person in the story a little girl because children know they are really smarter than the grown-ups. What I like about my version is that I can leave out elements of the story if needed to suit the attention span of the group. (This is the first of a series of evening programs I will be doing so I don't know what age range will be attending.)  My version, "A Few Foolish Friends," can be found as a Google document here.

I drew the six friends and the little girl for the story.  Their basic shape is the same (stick figures with clothes) though I varied their sizes and made an effort to give each face a personality.  It took some time but I now have a variety of figures to use in other stories.  I used clip art for the fishing poles and sandwiches and drew the coffee and bait.

Drawings:

Ready for the magnet  board:

This week's Flannel Friday is hosted by Mary at Miss Mary Liberry.  Previous and future postings can be found at Anne's So Tomorrow blog.   Go to the Flannel Friday Pinterest page for everything in one place.