The Wise Woman And Her Secret

Written by: Eve Merriam

Illustrated by: Linda Graves

Recommended for: Children Ages 4-8

Themes: Fiction, Character Education

Summary:

     Townspeople travel a long distance to reach the wise old woman to learn her secret of what it is that makes her wise. They impatiently demand to know her secret so that they can get back home to their busy lives. Instead of telling them her secret, the wise old lady tells them that they must search to find out her secret. So the townspeople spend the day search, growing much more impatient as the day goes by. That is, except for little Jenny who admires the beauty of all that is around her. After searching the well, the townspeople throw a green coin on the ground and continue there search. Jenny becomes facinated with this coin and begins to ask the wise old woman all about the coin. With this, the wise old woman tells Jenny that she has discovered her secret: the secret of wisdom is to be curious.

     Children will enjoy this story because it keeps them guessing about what the wise old woman's secret could possibly be and why the townspeople want it so badly. The illustrations are very elaborate and show the emotions of the characters. The illustrator has done an excellent job in showing the wonderment in Jenny's eyes, and children will easily pick up on the fact that Jenny is not like the rest of the townspeople and instead has more in common with the wise old woman.

Suggestions for the Classroom:

     This is a wonderful story for analyzing a Character and comparing different characters within a story.

* Pre-Reading Activities: Discuss with students that sometimes when we read stories that their are characters that are a lot alike and others who are very different. For example, in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Happy is very kind and happy but Grumpy always seems to be in a bad mood. However, Snow White is very kind and the Seven Dwarfs are all very kind to her as well. Ask students to give you examples of other characters in stories who are very different. Now have them tell you about characters who are alike.

Tell them that today they are going to listen to you read a story and that you would like to think about the characters and in what ways they are alike and what was they are different.

* During Reading: Stop and ask the students to describe the characters and their actions throughout the story. Discuss how the characters actions may make the other characters feel: Why do you think that the woman told one of the townsmen to say please to the wise old woman? Why do we say please? How do you think the man felt when the wise old woman would not tell them her secret? How did Jenny feel when she found the feather and the twig? How did the townspeople feel about her discovery?...

* Post-Reading Activity: Depending on the students needs, you can either complete a Venn Diagram as a class comparing two of the characters or they could work on this activity independently. If you decide to do it as a class, I would compare The townspeople and Jenny. Dicuss with the students the way that the townspeople treated the wise old woman. Ask them to describe how the wise old woman treated the townspeople. Many students will probably choose to compare Jenny and the wise old woman as they have much in common. Fill in the information that they give you in the diagram, noting how the characters/groups are alike and how they are different.

About the Author:
     Eve Merriam grew up in Pennsylvania, raised by Russian parents who orignially named her Eva Moskovitz.She began writing poetry as a young child, seven years old, and never stopped. Besides being a published poet, Merriam also works as an author of books and articles for adults and children, aplaywriter and a teacher. She states that she has always been facinated with rhymes and word play and enjoyed reading and writing stories and poems all of her life.

 About the Illustrator:
     Linda Graves lives in Massachusetts with her husband and enjoys illustrating childrens books. She studied painting portraits under Daniel Green and her books often include elborate illustrations of people. She has her own website where you are able to view some of her book samples and learn a little more about her style as an illustrator.