The Little Scarecrow Boy

by Margaret Wise Brown

Other authorsMargaret Wise Brown, Joy Cowley, David Ezra Stein, Rosa M. Curto

Printed music, Paperback, 1999

Status

Available

Call number

813.52

Genres

Children's Books

Collection

Your library

Publication

Scholastic, 1999.

Description

Early one morning, a little scarecrow whose father warns him that he is not fierce enough to frighten a crow goes out into the cornfield alone.

User reviews

LibraryThing member patsila

I don't know why we checked this book out again this year. The only good thing about this book is the vibrant illustrations.
My problem is as follows: Every day, a little scarecrow boy wants to go out into the fields with his father to scare crows, but every day his father holds firm, NO, the boy is

too young to go out in the field. Well, one day the little boy blatantly disobeys his father and sneaks out of the house to attempt to achieve his goals in the field. When he IS able to scare a crow his father finds him in the field and not only does he not punish him for his disobedience or alert him to the dangers of running away, he PRAISES him for his accomplishment.
When we have read this book, we have actually spent more time AFTER it's read discussing why the scarecrow should not have run away and what could happen to children who do that sort of thing.
NOTE TO SELF: do not check this one out.
A big disappointment from an otherwise lovely author.

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LibraryThing member bekstrom

This book is an example of fantasy. It is a believeable story. The scarecrows are given human characteristics in order to help the reader learn an important lesson about how parents pass down important knowledge to their children. It is done in a simple way that students would be able to

understand. I would use this book in a late primary, early intermediate classroom. The type of media used is pencils. There are aprubt lines, with nice shadding.

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LibraryThing member jessy555

Genre: Fantasy
Critique of Genre: This is an okay example of fantasy because it doesn't seem to have much of a point to it other than this little scarecrow boy finally scaring off a crow after numerous attempts.
Setting: The setting of this book, in a cornfield, is essential to this story. What if

they were in New York City trying to scare the crows away from the corn? Well, since there are no cornfields in the middle of New York City, that would be difficult to do.
Media: watercolor and pencil

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LibraryThing member jgabica

This Fantasy book highlights the life of a scarecrow family, as if scarecrows really lived, talked, and worded to scare crows. It's an engaging book for children, as they empathize with the little boy who wants to be a scarecrow in the fields like his dad. By the end, he succeeds in growing up and

being a great scarecrow. This book is told in the 3rd person, with the narrator talking about the boy, and then having one character talk to another. The switch is effective because it's more powerful to know how the dad really speaks to the son, and overall, it's dramatic. Media: Watercolor, gouache, and pencil on Arches watercolor pape

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LibraryThing member bcbias

I had never heard of this book before until I found it in a classroom one day. This is a great book to read during fall or even right before Halloween. It is about a little scarecrow who wants to be just like his dad and be a big and strong, scary scarecrow. He wants to go out to the fields with

his dad but his dad tells him that he is too young and not ready yet. The little boy wants to prove him wrong so he goes out into the fields by himself and has a lot of trouble scaring the crows off because it's harder than it looks. Finally he does scare them away and his dad is very proud of him.

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LibraryThing member mmjones3

The little scarecrow boy was too little to go out into the cornfields and scare away the crows. His father taught him six scarry faces. One morning he sneaked out and tried to scare the crows away. Finally, the sixth face scared them away and his father let him watch over the cornfields.

LibraryThing member icedchai

Genre: This book is a good example of fantasy. The event in the book could not happen because scarecrows can't walk and talk. They do, however, scare crows away. When reading this book, I thought about Michael Jackson in The Wiz because he was not able to scare away the crows, like the little boy

in the book/

Setting: 3 stars

Age: Primary

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LibraryThing member derbygirl

(easy) Little Scarecrow boy wants to emulate his scarecrow father and grow up to be the most fierce scarecrow boy in all the cornfields, every day of the world! His father thinks that he still needs to stay home and grow. How can scarecrow boy convince his father that he is ready? I find that the

more MWB books I read, the more I am convinced that her text only tell half the story. The illustrations that accompany her text in this book are just beautiful, yet frightening at the same time. I am not sure if her words would have conveyed the same emotion without the accompanying pictures. I was a bit concerned if the pictures would be too scary for my young boys, as I thought they were a bit freaky (and believe me, with my taste for the macabre, it takes quite a bit to freak me out)! The boys actually perked up a bit and their interest was tweaked during the crow and little scarecrow boy face off. They were both repelled but yet couldn't look away. At the end , they ended up in giggles. For fun, we practiced fierce scarecrow faces together.

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LibraryThing member lstec2

Reading this book again as an adult reminded me how odd I found this story to be as a child. I think this book is alright. The faces that the scarecrows make to scare the crows are illustrated in the story, and I think they could either be seen as hilarious or terrifying. The idea of a scarecrow

family is a very unique concept, so I really liked how creative the story is. One thing I also liked what the repetition of the poem: "No, little boy. / You can't go. / You're not fierce enough / to scare a crow. / Wait til you grow." Since the father repeated this poem each time he asked, the scarecrow boy was clearly motivated to do his best when his father taught him the six faces he should make while scaring crows. The big idea of this book is if you work hard you will be the best you can be. This is exhibited when the scarecrow boy goes out and uses his faces and scares a crow after practicing with his father many times beforehand.

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LibraryThing member adates12

The Little Scarecrow Boy is a story of patience and trust. His father tells him that he is not ready, but he doesn't believe him and goes along alone anyway. I think that this teaches readers to trust their parents or role models. Had the boy been patient, he would not have gotten stuck in a scary

situation.

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LibraryThing member Miss_Annie_O

This fantasy book is about a young scarecrow who dreams of becoming just like his dad - scaring crows away from their crop. Each evening, his father teaches him the six scary faces to make at crows but each morning, the little scarecrow is told he is too young and not scary enough to go work in the

fields. He is asked to stay home and grow. Eventually, the boy takes matters into his own hands and goes out into the fields to scare crows away; he makes five of the faces before he finally scares the big black birds away! But his father saw and was proud of him. And when the little scarecrow grew up, he was the best scarecrow in the whole world.

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LibraryThing member jenniferm14

This fantasy is an adorable story of a little scarecrow and his family. It is perfect for read aloud time with kindergarten and first grade students.

LibraryThing member Nicholepeterse

This book is about a little boy who wants nothing more than to be like his dad. He tries every day to make the same faces his dad makes to scare the crows. The book shows all their steps to get his faces down. One day he was allowed to go out in the field, it shows his slow success to scare away

the birds.
Fantasy
Use: to teach kids practice makes perfect and to show picture to illustration.

Media watercolor and pencil

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LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV

Doesn't rhyme like the most familiar of Brown's work. ?�I didn't care for the illustrations, either: the fierce faces were shown in close-up and so it was difficult for me to see what was going on... and the one time I did, the little scarecrow's eyes were shot out, hanging by threads, very creepy

despite the bright light colors. ?Ã¡ And I don't care how many stories I read about animate scarecrows, I cannot believe in them (except the one in Wizard of Oz). ?Ã¡However, if you do like scarecrow stories, see Otis and the Scarecrow for a new picture-book about one, and Worzel Gummidge for an older juvenile novel about one.

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LibraryThing member Rebecalynn

This book was about a scarecrow who was learning from his dad how to be a good scarecrow. His dad would not let him out into the field yet because he was not ready, so he decided to sneak out early in the morning and try it for himself. He has 6 stary scarecrow faces, he had gone through 5 of them

already and the crows were still following him, until he got to the 6th face, and he finally scared the crows. His dad was so proud of him.

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LibraryThing member Madelynnvallejo

This book tells the story of a family of Scarecrows. The little boy in the family desperately wants to go out into the cornfield to do what his dad does. The sun continues to tell the little boy no. The rest of the book is a story of attack and how the little boy bounces back.

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