The Funny Little Woman (Picture Puffin S.)

A retelling of a Japanese folktale about a woman who chases after a dumpling into a strange underworld where she has to cook for Oni or monsters. The illustrations combined with the way the story is told would make this a wonderful book to introduce a child to Japanese culture. One of the most

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interesting things about this book is how the illustrations follow how time passes as she's underground so that it can be noted how her house in black and white falls apart. This is a book that I would recommend for an early reader since not all of the words are immediately obvious in meaning, but they provide a good chance to broaden a child's views of the world within a good story.

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The funny little woman is written by Arlene Mosel. This book is about an old woman who lives in Japan and makes rice dumplings and how one day one of the dumplings escapes her.

This is a cute story about an old woman who cooks dumplings all day. This is a cute adventure story.

I would like to read

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this to my students because I think they would like the pictures in the book and how the old lady laughs alot. I could have them draw me a picture of a monster.

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A little woman ini China falls through the floor. She ends up cooking for monsters with a magic spoon. She tries to escape, but the monsters almost catch her. She ends up escaping with the spoon and cooks for her village with the spoon.

It was definitely a good laugh. Very upbeat and fun to read about how a little old lady tricks the oni.

The Funny Little Women is a 'waraibanashi', or a funny story from Japanese folklore retold by Arlene Mosel and illustrated by Blair Lent. While chasing a dumpling, the funny little woman encounters a Ojizō-sama, the protective Buddhist deity of travelers, who warns her that the oni, ogre-like

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monster spirits, live at the end of the road. The little woman ignores Jizō’s advice and is captured by the oni and taken to their stupas to cook rice dumplings. The oni give her a magic paddle which multiples one grain of rice into a full pot of rice. The little woman prepares rice for many months and grows homesick; she escapes from the oni and becomes the richest woman in Japan making rice dumplings with her magic paddle. Mosel’s illustrations are in the style of Japanese ink paintings, and express the humor of the story through the droll expressions of the characters.

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Caldecott winner. This is based off of a Japanese folktale in which a funny little woman was chasing a dumping and ran into the deity of travelers. She's warned that, at the end of the road, there is an oni. The little woman ignores this warning and is taken by the oni and is forced to cook. A

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magic paddle that the oni gives her allows the little woman to make a whole pot of rice with one grain. When she tries to escape by water, the monster drinks all of the water but laughs and spits it out, allowing the little woman to escape. She then goes back home and uses her magic paddle to make dumplings and becomes very rich.

I thought that this was a cute and clever story. The illustrations are done in a Japanese style and help make the story funny.

This is a great story to teach children about other cultures and folktales. As a class, I would ask what other types of folktales that they know of. Then, as a class, we could create our own version of a certain folktale.

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Summary:
The story is about a happy old little woman who cooks a lot. She ends up running after a fallen dumpling; she falls into a hole and ends up cooking for a wicked oni. After she escapes with a magic cooking paddle she ends up back home cooking for money.

Personal Reaction:
This happy little old

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woman reminds me to relax and not to stress over every little problem. There is always a solution if you’re relaxed and patient.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
1. I think I could have a cooking week in class, helping the students make easy recipes. The students could even share their favorite foods.
2. This story could be included in a ethnic or Asian week. During this week the students could learn about different ethnic groups.

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SUMMARY:
A little Japanese woman loses her dumpling, and goes on a journey to find it. Along the way she meets the wicked oni! The wicked oni captures her, and makes her cook dumplings with a magic spoon. One day she finally escapes, and lives happily ever after.
PERSONAL REACTION:
Although this book

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is also a caldecott medal winner, I did not like the pictures. However, I did appreciate the story. The little woman has a distinct laugh that I found humorous, and I loved that she showed absolutely no fear throughout her entire journey.
CLASSROOM EXTENSION:
The oni is portrayed as a monster, I think it would be a great art's and craft's lesson during October for Halloween. The children could make monster masks with paper sacks, yarn, markers ect.
It could also contribute to a lesson over different cultures, or travel. Maybe a back to school from summer vacation story. Therefore, all of the children can discuss where they went or where they would like to go for their summer vacation.

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Summary:
There is a little woman who liked to make dumplings out of rice. One day, she lost one of her dumplings in a crack and she chased after it. As she chased after it, people warned her that it was rolling towards the oni, or the evil monsters. She was not afraid. She got her dumpling away from

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the oni, and was able to make it back home despite the oni’s attempts to capture and cook her. After that she was the fastest dumpling maker in Japan.

Personal Reaction:
I thought the story was good, and very multicultural for reading it to children. But, for this to be a Caldecott winner, I was not that impressed with the pictures. They were very good and authentic to the culture, but I thought they were slightly dull and boring and needed a little more color.

Extension Ideas:
1) Have the class discuss the culture of Japan and have them talk about points in the book that is different than American culture. Also make dumplings out of rice and bring it to the class for them to try, or make the dumplings in the class together.
2) Have the class draw their own oni to present and hang on a wall in the classroom.

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This book is appropriate for K-2nd grade students. This is a Japanese folktale about a little woman who liked to laugh and make dumplings. One day she chased a runaway dumpling into a hole where she was taken to the land of "Oni's" (devil) to make them dumplings. She eventually finds her way home

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and opens a dumpling shop. This is a funny story that children would be able to laugh along with.
* Good for teaching folktales
* Similar to other culture folktales

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"The Funny Little Woman" is a book about an optimistic woman who always finds laughter, regardless of the situation. One day the little woman, who lives in Japan, was making dumplings in her house when an earthquake hit. The dumpling rolled all the way outside. The little woman chased it. She asked

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several people along the road if they saw her dumpling. They replied with a yes, but also warned her that it headed towards the direction of the bad sad of town. Eventually she was captured by a non human monster, where she was taken back to their magical house. In the magical house, the monster showed her a way to make rice with only one rice. The trick was to used a magic spoon. The spoon was able to multiply the rice, and before the little woman knew it, she had a lot of rice. She eventually escaped the monsters, but held on to the spoon. She was able to sell those magic spoons and she ended up becoming the richets woman in Japan.

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This is a cute picture book about a "funny little woman" who chases a lost rice dumpling down a crack in the ground and enters a world full of "Wicked Onis." She uses her wit and sense of humor (she's always laughing) to escape and live a happy life. The story was entertaining for kids (not too

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scary with the Wicked Onis), the illustrations were attention holding, and the story overall had a nice message.

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This is a great book about a little woman and her dumplings. She has to overcome obstacles but eventually does and becomes the richest woman in Japan. This is a great story to have elementary students do readers theatre to.

Great for all ages. Builds good character. We can have the children write a story about times they have had good character.

Caldecott Award Winner. The first graders I read this book to thought it was funny, and they liked all the pictures within the book! Good book.

Caldecott winner, 1973
a Japanese tale about a women who chases a dumpling, encounters evil Oni, and then tricks them out of their magic paddle.

At first, the funny little woman's laugh irritated me, but it turned out to be an interesting story. The funny little woman was also clever.

a sweet story about a dauntless old lady; it's nice to have a hero who isn't a strapping young lad. The illustrations are great.

A woman enters the underworld and is kidnapped by the "Oni." They give her a magic paddle to make rice dumplings in massive amounts. Eventually, she tricks the Oni and sneaks back to her house, where she becomes rich using the magic paddle.

The Funny Little Woman is a traditional literature book about a woman in Japan. She loved to make dumplings but one rolled away and kept going into a hole. After trying to get the dumpling, she fell into a hole. The statues warn the funny little woman to not go down the road because there were

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wicked oni at the end of the road. She continued to until she saw a wicked oni and he took her to become his cook. After being trapped for some time she tried to escape and after the oni tried to stop her she gets the magical paddle and sells it to become very wealthy. The story brings traditional Japanese culture to children through the illustrations and story telling.

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This is a legend book about a little woman who went in search of her dumpling that fell down into a hole. In her search for her lost dumpling she gets caught by the oni who lock her up and make her cook rice. When she decided she had had enough she took the magic paddle they had given her and ran

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away. But she didn't make it far before they pursued her. She started boating across the river, but they oni came and drank the water away. She jumped out of the boat but became stuck in the mud. This sight made the oni laugh which caused the water to come out of their mouths and back into the river. This allowed her to paddle to safety. She then used the magic paddle to make and sell rice and she became rich.

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A funny story about a funny little woman who loves to cook. It's a good lesson about listening to the advice of others. Nice watercolor illustrations to accompany the storyline as well!

This Japanese folktale is about doing what you love, and making the most of bad situations; doing so will pay off in the end. I like this book for three reasons. To start, many aspects of the Japanese culture come through in the text. This goes to include the funny little woman cooking rice

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dumplings, to her encounters with Jizo Sama and the wicked oni, two Japanese Buddhist spirits. I like that the plot is simple. The mounting action climaxes when the little woman escapes the wicked oni and then, using the magic paddle she took from them, becomes the richest woman in Japan. Finally, I enjoyed how the illustrator, Blair Lent, incorporates the little woman’s house onto every page of the book. When she is above ground making dumplings, it is colorful and inviting; when she is below ground, being captured and escaping from the oni, her home is drawn in black and white, signifying it is still there for her, but that she can only dream about it.

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This is old legend (genre) of a woman in Japan. This woman loved to eat dumplings but one day it rolled away into a hole in the ground. When she went to grab the dumpling she fell into the collapsing hole. There she saw statues of the gods. They warned her not to continue finding her dumpling but

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she laughed and carried forward. The woman saw another statue of a god and had a similar conversation but following her was an "oni" (a wicked creature). The oni took the woman to have her be his cook. Once arriving at the oni's home he had her cook rice for him and the other oni's with a magic paddle that made the food multiply rapidly. She cooked for them for a long time when one day she decided to escape. She got into a boat when the oni's saw her and tried to drinking all the water so she would not escape; but she ended up escaping the oni's with the magic paddle for all of Japan (above ground). She became the richest woman in Japan.

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