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The Great Story World
Mix-Up
Read the Books or Play Puzzle Games on-line
The Great Story World
Mix-Up
In the Great Story World Mix-Up children are
introduced to the main premise of the series, that all the stories ever created
are mixed-up and have to be fixed. Penelope, a realist with scientific
expertise and Jilly, a fairytale expert who knows about magic and spells, use
their natural talents to try and solve the problem they created,
together. By exploring the magical land of Story World with the sisters
students are introduced to literary genres and characters they may not have
seen before. They experience first hand how Penelope and Jilly
solve problems differently encouraging students to use their own talents while
be accepting and willing to try other’s ideas while working cooperatively.
Subplots in The Great Story World Mix-Up include
loyalty, acceptance of people’s differences, admitting when you are wrong and
doing the right thing. In the end children will find, as do the
characters, that using a combination of both logic and imagination and sticking
to your principles the best solutions are found. Buy It Now
Chapter Questions
Chapter questions are a fun, smart way to get
students thinking about what they have just read. The following chapter
questions are designed to enhance cognition, build vocabulary and add
understanding by encouraging students to associate passages with memories and
small moments of their own. Use all or a few of the questions below to
spark conversation and enhance reading groups.
Chapter 1, The Secret
Door
1) How did Penelope and Jilly find the secret door
in the old library?
A) They ran down long
corridors in a forgotten part of the library.
Jilly hit the wall with a
karate chop.
2) What did Penelope and Jilly find in the secret
room?
A) Knights shields, a
king’s scepter (magic wand), a pointy magician hat, a statue of a funny looking
dog and a giant globe.
3) The globe had a map of Story World, what was
unusual about it?
A) Storybook characters
were on the map and they were moving.
4) How did Penelope and Jilly break the Story World
globe?
A) Jilly was spinning in
a long cape and tripped, Penelope grabbed her waist and they both fell into the
globe breaking it into a million pieces.
Chapter 2, Disaster!
1) Penelope and Jilly find the broken globe pieces
look like a puzzle, what happens when they fit the pieces together?
A) There is a flash of
green light and they are transported to Story World.
2) How does Jilly figure out where they are?
A) Jilly uses her
fairytale expertise to deduce that the dark haired girl on her puzzle piece is
Snow White and that they are in the Evil Queen's Enchanted Forest.
Chapter 3, Story World
1) Penelope and Jilly run through the forest, who
do think is chasing them, are they right? How do they feel while they are
running?
A) They think the
Huntsman is chasing them but it is really the changeling dog, Sparky. As
they run they feel scared, out of breath, confused.
2) What is Sparky's full name? What is his
memorable phrase? What is the first surprising thing the girls notice about
him?
A) His name is Roland T.
Barnabus the Third. His catch phrase is "Don't mess the fur!"
He is a dog who can talk!
Chapter 4, The Dwarf
Cottage
1) Where does Sparky take Penelope and Jilly, what
do they find.
A) Sparky leads Penelope
and Jilly to the cottage of the seven dwarfs. There they find that the
Dwarfs have been turned into the three little pigs. This is because Snow
White's story has been mixed up with the story of the three little pigs.
2) Penelope and Jilly realize their actions
breaking the Story World Globe caused the Dwarfs to be mixed-up with the three
little pigs. They admit their mistake and try to fix it. What would
you do if you made a big mistake? Would you try to fix it alone or ask
for help, who would help you?
A) Parents, teachers,
friends, siblings...it's had to admit when you are wrong but most mistakes can
be fixed if you ask for help!
Chapter 5, The Mix-Up
1) Who did Penelope and Jilly release when they
broke the Story World Globe?
A) The Evil Wizard
2) What do they do to get ready for their big day?
A) Eat a healthy dinner
for energy and get a good night's sleep.
Chapter 6, One Little Pig
1) Penelope and Jilly find the first little pig's
house of straw, what do they think it looks like?
A) A haystack
2) Penelope and Jilly need to wake up Sleepy, how
do they do this?
A) They tickled his nose
with a feather until he lets out a thunderous snore that blows all straw into
the air.
Chapter 7, Two Little
Pigs
1) At the second little pig's house Penelope and
Jilly meet Bashful, what does it mean to be bashful?
A) It means to be shy.
2) How does Jilly open the door to the house of
sticks?
A) Jilly karate chops the
door.
3) Where did the third little pig build his house?
A) At the base of the
Haunted Mountain.
Chapter 8, Grumpy
1) Penelope and Jilly find Grumpy in the third
little pig's house, why can't he get out? How can they break the spell on
the locks?
A) The Evil Wizard put a
spell on the locks. To break the spell they must free Snow White and the
three little pigs who are locked in the Evil Wizard’s Castle.
2) Who decides to go up the Haunted Mountain to
free Snow White? Why?
A) Penelope and Jilly
decide to go up the Haunted Mountain.
They go because it is
their fault that Snow White and the three little pigs were captured, and they
want to make things right. If Penelope and Jilly had not broken the Story
World globe and freed the Evil Wizard, none of this would have happened!
3) Penelope and Jilly bring Sparky to help
them. Would you go up the Haunted Mountain? Who would you bring to help?
What do you think you would find?
A) There is
no right answer here! Let students have fun sharing their ideas.
Chapter 9, The Evil
Wizard's Castle
1) Why is the Haunted Mountain so cold?
A) The air gets colder as
Penelope and Jilly climb higher.
2) A winged creature flies overhead, it is the
dragon! How would you describe him?
A) Green neck, scales,
round spiky head, forked tongue, sharp teeth, strong wings, sharp talons,
strong, scary, sneaky, powerful, fast, fire breathing.
3) The dragon surprises Penelope and Jilly and
captures Sparky. At first the girls run away but then they stop. How do
you think they feel, why did they keep going up the mountain?
A) At first Penelope and
Jilly are terrified and they run away. But when they see the dragon had
capture Sparky, they know they can't let their friend get hurt. They have to
save him!
Chapter 10, Ghostly
Happenings
1) Penelope uses reason to come up with a plan to
save Sparky. She and Jilly gather rocks as they walk up the path to the Evil
Wizard's castle. What is their plan? What would you do?
A) They pick up rocks and
use then to create a distraction. Then Jilly lures the wizard outside by making
ghost sounds while Penelope sneaks in to save Sparky.
2) Sparky defeats the Evil Wizard and transports
Penelope, Jilly, Snow White and the three little pigs to safety, how does he
accomplish this?
A) Sparky is a changeling
dog which means he can change his shape once a day, on special occasions he can
change twice. Sparky makes himself grow until he is big enough to knock
down the Evil Wizard. Then he grabs the Evil Wizard's magic hat and transports
them all to the bottom of the mountain.
Chapter 11, Home
1) Even though Penelope and Jilly are in a magical,
amazing land, they still want to go home. Why?
A) No answer is wrong
here but some to include are seeing loved ones, being in a familiar place,
being safe, enjoying your own house, being in your own room, seeing a pet,
being with friends, going to school, enjoying an activity like dance or sports.
Bonus Activities
Make a Map of Story World
With paper and markers or crayons have students
draw a map of Story World starting with the Huntsman's Forest, The House of the
Seven Dwarfs, the little pig’s houses of sticks, straw and brick the Haunted
Mountain and the Evil Wizard's castle. Have students draw lines to show
the different ways Penelope and Jilly could get from one place to another. Use
your imagination; add details like bridges, elevators, whatever makes sense!
Curriculum
Logic
Art
Create a Puzzle Picture
Using markers or crayons have students draw their
favorite scene from the story. With scissors have the students cut their
pictures into puzzle pieces. Working with a partner have, students exchange
puzzles and put them back together.
Curriculum
Puzzle solving
Art
Add a Character
After reading, the Great Story World Mix-Up,
discuss the characters and the roles they play in book. (Penelope=real
world solutions, Jilly=magical solutions, Sparky=guide and changeling, Evil
Wizard and Dragon=villains)
Ask students to add their own character to a scene.
Characters could include a person or creatures from another story, a
friend Penelope and Jilly bring with them, a magical object like a talking
cookie, or a character from the original stories like the Big Bad Wolf.
Encourage the students to give this character valuable attributes that
will help or stop Penelope and Jilly from unscrambling the story.
Curriculum
Writing
Language Arts
Write a
Newspaper Article
Using paper and markers or crayons,
or during computer lab, have students create a newspaper article based on the
Great Story world Mix-Up. Explain to students that articles should
contain a headline, a brief summary of the event and their own unique take on
what happened. Headlines could include the following:
Sisters Find Secret Door In Old
Library!
Story World Dwarfs Turned Into Pigs!
Evil Wizard Starts New Fashion Trend,
Pointed Magic Hats!
Dragon Tells All, What Its Like To
Fly!
Curriculum
Creative Writing
Name the
Evil Wizard and Dragon
In writing our books we forgot to
name the Evil Wizard and the dragon!
Have students think of words to
describe both these characters, then have the children work in groups to think
of names that fit their personality traits.
Curriculum
Creative writing
Write a review
Help students apply critical thinking to the text
by asking them to write a review. Explain to students that a good review
includes a brief summary of the text, something the author did well, something
they didn't do well and the student's opinion about the book. Provide
students with vocabulary words to use in their review. This is the format
I like to use is below.
Curriculum
Vocabulary
Writing
Comprehension
Critical thought
Have fun! For more information, to
email the authors or to find out how to have your student's work posted on our
site send your comments to laurahillbooks@gmail.com
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