Edwina Victorious
by Susan Bonners
Edwina follows in the footsteps of her namesakes great-aunt when she begins to write letters to the mayor about community problems and poses as Edwina the elder.
General Information
http://www.suzyred.com/2002edwina.html Lots of links!
http://www.globalschoolhouse.org/cf/diff/ Kids can make a difference!
Specific Topics
**Letter Writing**
While helping her mother clean out Great-Grandaunt Edwina's attic, Eddy finds a box full of typed letters that she had written some forty years before. "Each letter was addressed to some important person--the president of the chamber of commerce, the director of the historical society, the chairman of the town council, the head of the library." (p. 11) Then, after seeing some things that need attention in her community, Eddy decides to follow in Aunt Edwina's footsteps and do some letter writing of her own. Try your hand at writing a letter. These links will help you.
http://www.letterwriter.net/ The lost art of letter writing
http://www.amnesty.org/actnow/wwa/letguide.htm Letter writing guide
http://englishplus.com/grammar/letrcont.htm Letter writing rules
http://www.educate.org.uk/teacher_zone/classroom/literacy/dear_zoo_rec_lesson3.htm Teacher lesson plan: Writing a letter
http://www.ghh.com/elf/ Envelope and letter folding
http://www.educate.org.uk/teacher_zone/classroom/literacy/downloads/en_book_reception_dear_zoo_letter.pdf Letter template
**The Fisherman's Wife**
Mayor Granger "had allowed himself to be swept along by Edwina's never-ending torrent of requests." (p. 80) In fact, he goes on to call Edwina "the fisherman's wife" because she gets a few wishes granted and then gets greedy and "starts wishing for all kinds of stuff." Find out more about this tale at the following link.
http://www.ongoing-tales.com/SERIALS/oldtime/FAIRYTALES/fisherman1.html The Fisherman and His Wife
**The Zoo**
On pages 91 & 92, Eddy watches a news report about the heat wave and how the zookeepers were keeping the animals cool. Eddy noticed that "wherever the camera panned, it showed cramped, barren, old-fashioned cages, not the spacious natural habitats she had seen in magazines and on TV." Eddy decided that "somebody should do something about that." Take a look at these neat zoo-related sites to see what Eddy is hoping to accomplish.
http://natzoo.si.edu/ Smithsonian National Zoological Park
http://netvet.wustl.edu/e-zoo.htm
The Electronic Zoo
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/
San Diego Zoo
http://www.zooweb.com/ Your worldwide link to zoos and aquariums
**Tapir**
On page 99, the mayor's assistant tells him that the only animal available for the press conference is a tapir. When the tapir arrives on page 112, Eddy describes it this way: It appeared to have been put together from three or four different animals. Its body was that of a large pig, but its legs were too long for a pig's. The feet belonged to a small rhinoceros. The nose was a very short elephant's trunk." Click on this link to see if you think Eddy's description was accurate.
http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/ The Tapir gallery