A review by the_fabric_of_words
Once upon a Place by Eoin Colfer

5.0

As a teacher, I was always looking for new, contemporary, short stories that would grab and hold my students' reading attention, so when I saw this on the library shelf... I grabbed it!

It is an anthology of stories and six poems set in Ireland, compiled by Eoin Colfer, the Irish Laureate na nÓg. He has a short story in the collection, as do other famous authors who will be known to many adults and some kiddos.

Some are excellent, some are scary, some creepy, some are meant to make you think, and others are poignant and moving. I loved the short story by Roddy Doyle, and it fulfilled the "poop" requirement that all MG simply must contain! My son loved the last story, about a boy who saves a feral kitten.

The publisher, Little Island, offers truly excellent teaching guides (called book guides) for many of its other books, but not this one, so I hesitated to include it in my postings For Educators.

However, I'd love to hear from anyone who's taught the short stories and is willing to share their teaching materials with me.

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