Previously (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Bruce Ingman (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"* "Funny, touching, ridiculous and dramatic - a treat from start to finish." The Guardian on The Runaway Dinner" --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description

The team behind THE RUNAWAY DINNER reverses direction in this clever pastiche of fairy tales in which everyone lives happily ever . . . before.

"Jack was running like mad in the dark woods with a hen under his arm.
Previously, he had stolen the hen and climbed down a beanstalk."

But do you know what was Jack doing before he climbed down the beanstalk?

Or what Jack and Jill were arguing about before they went up the hill? And what happened before that? Every story, every person, and every thing started somewhere, and now the inventive and whimsical Allan Ahlberg explores what all your favorite storybook characters were up to previously, aided by Bruce Ingman’s energetic illustrations.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick (August 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0763635421
• ISBN-13: 978-0763635428
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 9.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #399,727 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Previously, April 27, 2008

By	C. Williams (Salem, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I LOVED this book! It will be one that I use in my classroom year after year. I showed it to our media specialist and she wants to buy her own copy so that she can do lessons using it also. It's a great book, and the kids loved it as much as I did!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Richie's Picks PREVIOUSLY, March 15, 2009

By	Richie Partington "http://richiespicks.com" (Sebastopol, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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This review is from: Previously (Paperback)

"Goldilocks arrived home all bothered and hot.
Previously she had been running like mad in the dark woods.
Previously she had been climbing out of somebody else's window.
Previously she had been sleeping in somebody else's bed, eating somebody else's porridge, and breaking somebody else's chair!Previously she had been humming a tune and having a little skip by herself in the dark woods.
Previously she had bumped into a hurtling and older boy named..."

PREVIOUSLY is both a very fun and a very important picture book that can be used as a learning tool with older readers.

Just the other day, the humanities teacher asked the wide-eyed sixth graders experiencing their first day of middle school, "What is history?" and "When you look at the word 'history,' what other word do you see?"

In PREVIOUSLY, Allan Ahlberg interweaves the tales of Goldilocks, Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack and Jill, The Frog Prince, Cinderella, and The Gingerbread Boy to illustrate how there was something going on previously (before each story began) and how the people and places that make up history -- whether silly/make-believe or serious/real -- are all related and dependent upon one another. This is a vital and profound concept for middle school history scholars to synthesize in order to make sense of the waves of information in which they will be surrounded as they spend three years traveling from ancient civilizations to contemporary American history.

The tale of PREVIOUSLY, illustrated with Bruce Ingman's colorful acrylics, is made even more fun for older readers through inclusion in the antecedent portions of the traditional tales of such modern day twists as "the free gift in the cornflakes box," and the prince having previously been "traveling his kingdom in a milk-white Mercedes."

"And all the bears were cubs.
And all the frogs were tadpoles.
And all the buckets and chairs and ballroom floors were planks of wood.
And all the wood was trees in the dark woods."

And before I wrote this review I made myself a smoothie.
And before that, the UPS dude dropped off a padded mailer from Candlewick Press...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Children's book, March 7, 2009

By	Janvan (ND to NY to NC) - See all my reviews

The book is VERY cute. Unfortunately it was presented as a book for children from 5 - 8. NOT SO. 4 - 5 would be generous. I got two of them for children who will soon turn 7 and it was MUCH too juvenile for either of them. I was sorry, but gave it to them anyway as it was for Valentine's day and I didn't have time to make a change. Had I had the time to view it in a store I would never have bought it for these kids. Darling book, but miss-identified. I had heard it reviewed on NPR and it sounded perfect.