Frederick

Lionni, Leo. Frederick. New York: Dragonfly Books, 1967.

Frederick is another oldie but goodie picture book I share with my “littles” every year. It was a Caldecott Honor book. Leo Lionni was both the author and illustrator for this well-loved picture book.

Frederick is a part of a mouse family preparing for winter. The other mice collect nuts, seeds and grain while Frederick appears to sit and do nothing. Frederick tells his friends he is gathering the sun’s rays, colors, and words. After they have run out of food, they ask Frederick to share his supplies. While his supplies don’t curb their hunger, they do improve the quality of life, at least a little bit.

With my kinder kids, I have a couple of activities I like to do. I don’t do the same ones each year – it really depends upon their skills. You can find a maze and a paper mouse (cut out and glue together) activity on the Random House web site.  You can also find a cut out and glue together comprehension activity free on Teacher Pay Teacher. 

With my first graders I paired the book with another Lionni book It’s Mine!. We completed a Literary Elements chart for each title to compare the two. I usually complete these charts together because some of my first graders don’t remember from one week to the next the meaning of things like character, setting, problem, and solution so I re-teach it each time.

Frederick (Step Into Reading, Step 3) is available from Amazon. Thanks for using my affiliate link which helps support this children’s literature blog.