The Boy of the Three-Year Nap (1988)

I thought that this was a sweet story. It is definitely formatted like a folk tale, in the sense of having a specific moral and a little twist at the end. It is about a boy who is so lazy, people say if nobody ever woke him, he would nap for 3 years. He never wants to do any work, because he says he's always too tired. So, when a wealthy rice merchant moves into a mansion next door, the boy creates a plan to marry his daughter, and live a life of luxury without working, because of the father's wealth. However, his plan goes awry in the end, teaching that you can't just be lazy and trick people in order to get ahead. ( )

Media: watercolor
Age: Primary
Review:
This book belongs to the folk tale genre because the story teaches good morals. The boy is very lazy and all he does is sleep. He plans to marry a rich man's daughter so he does not have to work, but his mother plans to get him a job so he will not be lazy anymore. ( )

Summary:
This is a story about a boy named Taro is known as the boy of the three year nap because of how lazy he is. The only time he wakes up and does something is when he eats, or watches his wealthy neighbors next door build their mansion. He ends up planning how to marry the wealthy man's next door daughter and helps his widowed mother out along the way.

Personal Reaction: It was a cute story, when I read the title I wondered how this story would turn out. I had not even ever heard of this book. It would be a good book to read aloud to a classroom.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
1. You could have a discussion over Japans's herritage and what rice sacks are.
2. Pull out vocabulary words from this book and go over the meanings. ( )

this book is a folk tale about a boy who is very lazy who comes up with a plan to get over on a rich merchant. When the boys mom finds out about the plan she makes her own plan to help get the boy a job so that he is no longer lazy.