Suddenly!

Suddenly! by Colin McNaughton is perfect for helping kindergarten students think about predicting.  The text is larger in size.  The illustrations are very supportive to the text and using our picture clues to understand the story is essential.  The text also has a pattern and would allow us as writers to think about the word suddenly and what happens following that word each time. 

Preston the pig is a forgetful pig.  Preston the pig changes his mind all the time.  Preston the pig is being chased by a large wolf and doesn't know it.  Being forgetful and changing his mind saves him each time when the large wolf is ready to grab or eat him!  When Preston arrives from home from his journey to the store with his purchases he tells his mother he feels like he's been followed.  The illustration here is clever.  In the background you see a shadow of Mom's back which looks like and the reader would predict the large wolf!  Maybe we predicted this based on our knowledge of the three pig stories, too.  However, the ears are really a bandana tied on Mom's head and the full color illustration on the next page generated a surprising, fast, and furious discussion when our prediction didn't match the text.  This is one of new to me favorites, enjoy!