While the frame of a house includes a number of basic elements, such as the foundation, the floors, the walls, and the roof, stories generally include five key elements: the characters (who the story is about), the setting (where the story takes place), the problem, the actions that occur to solve the problem and the resolution (how the problem is solved and what happens in the end). To remember what these key parts of the story are, we use the acronym CSPAR. What if you were a boy and wanted to take care of children or a girl and wanted to be a firefighter? If your child points to Elizabeth, you could ask, “Do you remember who that is?” And when your child answers, you could say, “That’s right, that’s Elizabeth – our main character.”

Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch A Lesson Plan on The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch

Read some other alternative traditional tales such a The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas and Helen Oxenbury or Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl. So, as the story suggests there is a Princess. Her name is Elizabeth! She is beautiful, lives in a big fancy castle, is engaged to Ronald, and has everything her heart could desire. And then a dragon comes along and ruins everything (like most girl's everyday life - obviously). Prince Ronald has been carried away and all of her belongings are gone! So, like most girls these days, she put on her best paper bag and went off to save the Prince! And how will she battle this wretched dragon? With her smarts! The brave, clever girl who doesn't wait for someone to come rescue her but courageously solves her own problem.

Davies, Bronwyn (1989). Frogs and snails and feminist tales: preschool children and gender. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. p.48. ISBN 978-0-04-520007-8. OCLC 960911808.

The Paper Bag Princess Story - Bedtimeshortstories The Paper Bag Princess Story - Bedtimeshortstories

To help your child learn about CSPAR, you can make a point to highlight the different parts of a story with specific comments and questions during your book reading conversations. All in all, “The Paper Bag Princess” is a brilliant book from the famous Munsch/Martchenko duo as it shows that true courage will always win the day. Although I would have preferred the ending to be a little longer so that way it would be more satisfying just knowing what happened to each character after the adventure is over, this was not a major con for me, so I would still recommend this book to children ages four and up, but because of the dragon scenes, I think children ages five and older might stand those scenes better and the children ages four and up will like the simplistic writing of this book. She’s only just turned four so the skills needed to draw are still fairly new to her and she was super pleased with her princess’s face. One day my wife, who also worked at the daycare centre, came to me and said “How come you always have the prince save the princess? Why can’t the princess save the prince?”

Guidelines for Philosophical Discussion

Ronald,” said Elizabeth, “Your clothes are really pretty and your hair is very neat. You look like a real prince, but you’re a bum!” They didn’t get married after all. You may also like to read, The Princess And The Pea.