Photo Gallery: from left to right. 1. The display case at my school where the students had made story plans and paper wagons with all the characters on board as well as the chicken coop and the fox's house. 2. My paper wagon with puppets as the characters. 3. Ben Wooldrige made the wheels with cucumber slices.
'The Paper Wagon' is fiction for readers 5-7 years old.
Cover art and interior illustrations by Graham Ross
At noon, they saw a hairy black spider standing at the side of the road. The little hen pulled in the reins. "Halt! Stop!" she called. The wagon stopped beside the spider.
The rooster has been stolen away by the fox. What is the little hen to do?
Go to the shed and build a paper wagon, that's what.
The story of 'The Paper Wagon' was inspired by an old folk tale from Friesland. When I read this tale I thought it was so hilarious and I should do something with it. When Maggie de Vries, editor at Orca Book Publishers, at the time, suggested I should write it as a chapter book for the Orca Echoes series, I knew that this folk tale would be perfect for this age group.
Instructions for making the Paper Wagon
1. take square piece of paper and fold it in half (2 rectangles)
2. open the paper up, turn it and fold it in half again (4 squares)
3. open up the paper, fold one side to the centre line (4 rectangles and 2 squares)
4. open up the paper, turn it and fold the other side to the centre line (8 rectangles)
5. open up the paper, turn it, fold the other side to the centre line ( 8 squares and 4 rectangles)
6. open up the paper and fold the last side to the centre line (16 squares)
7. cut one strip of 4 squares off (12 squares left)
8. on the short ends, cut two slits
9. put glue on the middle square, fold the next square in front and stick to the glue
10. put glue on this square, fold the last square in front and and stick to the glue
11. do the same on the other short side
12. poke two holes on each side of the wagon
13. use sticks or pipe cleaners or short dowels
14. attach the wheels, e.g. apples, cucumber slices, marshmallows etc.
15. make the characters out of play-dough, art materials or recycled materials, such as toilet
paper rolls, left over construction paper, pipe cleaners, styrofoam balls etc.
Have Fun!
Cover art and interior illustrations by Graham Ross
At noon, they saw a hairy black spider standing at the side of the road. The little hen pulled in the reins. "Halt! Stop!" she called. The wagon stopped beside the spider.
The rooster has been stolen away by the fox. What is the little hen to do?
Go to the shed and build a paper wagon, that's what.
The story of 'The Paper Wagon' was inspired by an old folk tale from Friesland. When I read this tale I thought it was so hilarious and I should do something with it. When Maggie de Vries, editor at Orca Book Publishers, at the time, suggested I should write it as a chapter book for the Orca Echoes series, I knew that this folk tale would be perfect for this age group.
Instructions for making the Paper Wagon
1. take square piece of paper and fold it in half (2 rectangles)
2. open the paper up, turn it and fold it in half again (4 squares)
3. open up the paper, fold one side to the centre line (4 rectangles and 2 squares)
4. open up the paper, turn it and fold the other side to the centre line (8 rectangles)
5. open up the paper, turn it, fold the other side to the centre line ( 8 squares and 4 rectangles)
6. open up the paper and fold the last side to the centre line (16 squares)
7. cut one strip of 4 squares off (12 squares left)
8. on the short ends, cut two slits
9. put glue on the middle square, fold the next square in front and stick to the glue
10. put glue on this square, fold the last square in front and and stick to the glue
11. do the same on the other short side
12. poke two holes on each side of the wagon
13. use sticks or pipe cleaners or short dowels
14. attach the wheels, e.g. apples, cucumber slices, marshmallows etc.
15. make the characters out of play-dough, art materials or recycled materials, such as toilet
paper rolls, left over construction paper, pipe cleaners, styrofoam balls etc.
Have Fun!
"Me again, Dimple. What a silly tale 'The Paper Wagon' is. It's as silly as our 'Three little Pigs' story. I wonder when we are going to make our straw house!"