Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network 

Show Name: Beyond a Bedtime Story

Episode Title: “The Princess and the Plot” Book Review

Episode #6

You are listening to Beyond a Bedtime Story the podcast with your host Emily.

In this episode of Beyond a Bedtime Story the Podcast I will provide reading prompts focusing on the plot and characters for “The Paper Bag Princess”.

Hi, Welcome back, I’m your host Emily, and you’re listening to Beyond a Bedtime Story: A Parent’s Guide to Children’s Reading! With this episode you’ll be one step closer to taking your bedtime stories to the next level, so let’s get into it! In this episode, we will be discussing The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch. It is a very short story that follows a princess's quest to save her prince from a dragon. She is called the paper bag princess because at the beginning of the book the dragon burns up her dress with his fiery breath, so she is left with just a paper bag to wear. We’re going to jump right into reading strategies with this story because there are quite a few.

• First, this story is a great starting point to review basic plot
• After reading, preface w/ your child: 
•  We know stories have a beginning, middle and end…
•  How does this story start? 
• Then what happens? 
• What was the big problem that the princess must solve?
• What does the princess do?
• What happens to the dragon?
• How did she get past the dragon? 
• How does the story end? 
• Essentially summarizing the plot of the story 
• Important terms: 
• beginning, middle, end 
• Problem (conflict)

Pretty simple, right? Yet, this iteration and actively prompting your child to identify and speak into existence aspects of lot will allow them to comprehend what went on, how things happened, and the importance of things like cause + effect (ex. the dragon stole the boy, SO the princess had to go after him), and an ending (story comes to a peaceful resolve)

In the next segment, we’ll focus on characterization within the story. We’ll be right back, don’t go anywhere.