Janetalope and Susanalope signing copies of Jackalope at the Texas Library Association Convention in Houston, TX
(April 2003)
1. Ideas for stories
When we were growing up we visited our aunt and uncle's ranch in Texas. Hanging on a wall in their house was a jackrabbit head with horns. They called it a Jackalope and our cousins told us it was a real animal. We wondered about it for many years and finally wrote our own version of how that jackrabbit got those horns!
Have students bring in pictures of animals with strange or unusual features and write their own versions of how that feature came to be!
Or, have students combine 2 animal names and draw the new animal character and write a story.
THE Jackalope
Aunt Lillian and Uncle Sonny
(Mr. and Mrs. Felix Real, Jr.)
Make a family tree like the famous "Jack Family Tree"--complete with pictures of you, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
3. Word Play
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Find all of the vegetable words that Fairy Godrabbit uses and write the real words ("You don't carrot all about me" means "You don't care at all about me." Make up a puny dialogue given a certain category
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Find the various other puns/idioms and list their real form and meanings (bad hare day is a take off on bad hair day, a slang expression which means your hair won't do what you want it to do.
4. Hide the Jackalope
*To help build excitement for Susan Stevens Crummel’s visit, I created this powerpoint presentation for the students. The boys and girls loved seeing Jackalope in many different spots throughout our school!
~Jill Thompson, librarian at Roosevelt Alexander Elementary in Katy, Texas.
Click on the picture to see the power point show -->
5. Imaginative Writing
Have students imagine their Fairy Godmother. What does she look like? What is her name? What can she do? What would be your wish?
6. Readers' Theater
Have students perform Jackalope. For a script, click on the picture >>
