Scholastic, 1958

Summary: Madame Bodot receives an unusual gift - a boa constrictor she names Crictor. He lives a normal child-like life, jumping rope, helping his friends and going to school. Crictor's chance for fame comes when robbers terrorize the neighborhood.

Level: Grades 1-3

Themes: bravery; unusual pets

Activities:

1. Is Crictor a fiction or a non-fiction book? List three things from the book that prove your answer.

2. Find two sources that give information about boa constrictors in the library and write in your reading journals the titles and call numbers.

3. Answer in your journal:

a. About how long do you think Crictor was when Madam Bodot measured him?

b. When Crictor becomes grown up, how long would he be? Measure this along the floor. Use masking tape to mark the nose and tail points.

c. How many months or years might Crictor live?

4. Imagine that you had a boa constrictor for a pet. What could you and your UNUSUAL pet do that other children couldn't do with their USUAL pets? Now, what couldn't you and your boa do that other children could do with their usual pets? Make a class book about these ideas.

5. Have someone read to the group or a class some information about Tomi Ungerer. (An adult can assist by extracting the pertinent bits from Something About the Author.) Write in your journals re-addressing the questions asked in activity 3.

6. See a movie or filmstrip on one of Ungerer's books. Compare and contrast with the book.

Non-Fiction

Johnson, Sylvia A. Snakes. Lerner, 1986.
Lambert, David. Snakes. Watts, 1986.
Stidworthy, John. Snakes of the World. Grosset and Dunlap, 1971.
Zim, Herbert S. and Herbert M. Zim. Reptiles and Amphibians. Illus by James Gordon Irving. Golden Press, 1956.

Related Fiction

Noble, Trinka Hakes. The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash. Dial, 1980.
Jimmy's Boa Bounces Back. Dial, 1989.
Jimmy's Boa and the Big Birthday Splash. Dial, 1982.

Other Books by Tomi Ungerer

Allumette: A Fable with all Due Respect to Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm and the Honorable Ambrose Bierce
Beast of Monsieur Racine
The Hat
I am Papa Snap and These are My Favorite No Such Stories
The Mellops Go Diving for Treasure
The Mellops Go Flying
The Mellops Strike Oil
Moon Man
No Kiss for Mother
Orlando, the Brave Vulture
Snail, Where are You?
The Three Robbers
Zeralda's Ogre

Books Illustrated by Tomi Ungerer

Beastly Boys and Ghastly Girls. Edited by William Cole.
The Clambake Mutiny. Jerome Beatty.
Flat Stanley. Jeff Brown.
Oh, What Nonsense! Compiled by William Cole.
Seeds and More Seeds. Millicent E. Selsam.
Too Hot to Cook Book. Miriam Ungerer.

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Prepared by Gail Garthwait, Asa Adams School, and Audrey Conant, Wayne Elementary Schoo

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