I would use this book for all grades, read aloud with younger, but independent with older, to teach them about what it means to be greedy. I would have the older grades read the book independently and write a reflection about what lesson they learned in the book and how they can make a connection to being greedy or asking their parents for a lot. I would also use this book to teach foreshadowing and making predictions because there are many things that the author reveals that tells whats going to happen, like the weather and the color of the pond, and the apprehensiveness of the husband. The students can pick these details out to show foreshadowing. I would do this as an independent read with older grades because they can handle the content of the book and they can pick up on the foreshadowing themselves.

I would use this for a 2nd-3rd grade class as an interactive read-aloud because for younger grades I feel that will not understand the moral as much. I would use this as an interactive read-aloud because while reading to students they will be able to make inferences and ask questions while listening. I would use this book to teach the moral of greed and how if you get something you should not take advantage of it. This book could be used to teach poetry since poetry is in the book. I would use this book to teach students how to make inferences because they will be able to make predictions throughout the book and I would also use this book to teach cause and effect because it shows how the decisions the you make will effect the outcome you get. If the fishermen's wife would have appreciated what she had instead of being greedy she would have had a different outcome but because she became greedy it was taken from her.

This book could be used in any grade in elementary school as an interactive read aloud because it has many different components that students are learning about. The repetition and predictions can be used in k-2 while the poetry aspect and making inferences can be the focal point in higher grades. It works as an interactive read aloud because that allows the teacher to focus on one aspect of the book rather than all of the different components.

This is a story about a fisherman who catches a magic fish who grants him a wish. The man wishes for a decent cottage to live in, but upon returning home his wife sends him back to the flounder against his will for a castle, then to make her king, then emperor, then the pope, and then god. In the end they were returned to the pigsty where they started.

When I first read this I was baffled by the granting of each excessive wish after the other. Getting to the end where the woman was punished for her insubordination in wanting to be god I was praising the fish!

I could use this tale to teach about cause and effect. Evaluate the concept of greed, and its consequences. I could also create a writing project; have them write a story about a greedy character and see what consequences they can create.

Grimm, Jacob.(1980) The Fisherman and His Wife. A Tale from the Brothers Grimm translated by Randall Jarrell. Illustrated by Margot Zemach. New York: Farrar Strauss Giroux.
In this traditional story, a fisherman catches a flounder as he is fishing that claims to be an enchanted prince. The flounder asks the fisherman to let him go and he does but when he goes home to tell his wife, she is angry with him for not asking the fish for something great. The wife sends the fisherman off several times to find the flounder and each time, she demands a greater wish. The fisherman is not happy with this but agrees to go every time. In the end, the wife's greedy ways get her nothing more than she ever had.
The unique thing about this story is how the fish that grants wishes is very willing to grant all the wishes without questioning any thing they ask for. Perhaps its because he knew that in the end, they would just end up where they started. I also found it interesting that this was another tale in which a fish had the wishes. ( )