SeaSerpentandMe.html

The Sea Serpent and Me
Written by Dashka Slater ; Illustrated by Catia Chien

On Monday, a girl befriends a tiny sea serpent she finds in her bathtub. The two become quick friends, but the sea serpent is growing and cannot stay in her house for long. Over the next few days, the sea serpent entertains the girl with stories of the amazing creatures of the sea. On Friday, the two go to the sea so he can get home. He is a little scared, but the girl helps him to find the courage to swim out on his own.

Biographical Sketches:

Dashka Slater says that, “. . . telling stories is my favorite thing to do.” Both of Slater’s parents were authors and encouraged her innate love of words and story-telling throughout her life. As a child, Slater regularly contributed stories and poems to Cricket magazine and was often published. She filled notebooks with her writing and when she wasn’t writing, she was reading. As she grew older, Slater began to work as a journalist, writing for publications like Salon, Mother Jones, and The New York Times Magazine. She published her well-reviewed novel for adults, Wishing Well, in 2000. Her inspiration to write children's books began after the birth of her son. Her other books for children include: Baby Shoes, Firefighters in the Dark, and Princess Amanita and the Nine Noses, which will be released in 2010. She lives in Oakland, California.

Catia Chien describes herself “as an avid painter.” She lives in Santa Ana, California and illustrates children’s books, films, animations, and comic book anthologies. She draws much of her inspiration from her childhood in Brazil.

Suggested Activities:

Make an ocean scene by drawing amazing sea creatures and plants with crayon and then "washing" over the page with blue-green water colors.
Study sea serpents in literature, including the Loch Ness Monster. Have the students tell a sea serpent story or create a group story using the "days of the week" structure of this story.
Students might imagine the sea serpent as an imaginary friend. Discuss the various imaginary friends of students in the class. Have the students draw and/or write about their imaginary friends.
The girl in this story needs to help her friend say goodbye. In some ways it is a story about growing up and striking out on your own. Have the students talk about ways that they have taken steps toward independence, such as going to school for the first time, or walking to a friend's house alone. How did it feel? Was it scary or exciting or both? Did the sea serpent want to go to the sea? Why did he hesitate? Help the students to make connections between themselves and the sea serpent.
Compare this story to the song “Puff the Magic Dragon.” There are many similarities and differences that can be charted on a Venn diagram.
Make sea serpents out of modeling clay.

Companion Books:

Berger, Carin. Little Yellow Leaf. Greenwillow Books. 2008.
Cohen, Miriam. Will I Have a Friend? Illustrated by Ronald Himler. Star Bright Books. 2009.
Diterlizzi, Tony. Ted. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. 2001.
Flaherty, Alice Weaver. The Luck of the Loch Ness Monster : A Tale of Picky Eating. Illustrated by Scott Magoon. Houghton Mifflin Co., 2007.
Henkes, Kevin. Wemberly Worried. Greenwillow Books. 2000.
King-Smith, Dick. The Waterhorse. Crown. 1998.
Lionni , Leo. Swimmy. Random House.1963.
McLerren, Alice. Roxaboxen. Illustrated by Barbara Cooney. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1991.
Peet, Bill. Cyrus, the Unsinkable Sea Serpent. Houghton Mifflin. 1975.
Yarrow, Peter and Lenny Lipton. Puff the Magic Dragon. Paintings by Eric Puybaret. Sterling Publishers. 2007.

Books by Dashka Slater:
Baby Shoes. Illustrated by Hiroe Nakata. Bloomsbury Books. 2006.
Firefighters in the Dark. Illustrated by Nicoletta Ceccoli. Houghton Mifflin. 2006.
Princess Amanita and the Nine Horses. To be published in 2010.

Websites: