Teeny Tiny

A teeny tiny woman finds a teeny tiny bone at the graveyard, and decides to bring it home and make soup with it, in this traditional English ghost story, only to find herself with a not-so-teeny-tiny problem, when a ghost shows up, demanding the return of his bone.

Originally collected in Joseph Jacobs' English Fairy Tales, this odd little tale has also been retold by Paul Galdone and Jane O'Connor. This edition, with text by Jill Bennett, seems to be a fairly straightforward reproduction of the Jacobs version, and will be of particular interest to Tomie dePaola fans, I think. With its repetitive structure (everything is "teeny tiny"), and ghoulish subject matter, Teeny Tiny would make a wonderful story-hour selection, particularly show more around Halloween. show less

A "teeny tiny" woman takes a bone home to make a soup. But when she gets into bed, a haunting voice asks for it back. Yikes! A great story to show building tension and suspense, and also dramatic irony: we see the ghosts but the woman doesn't. It's also a funny story because everything is preceded by the adjectives "teeny tiny" so we develop a pattern throughout the story. Read in a "teeny tiny" voice and then an increasingly loud booming voice as we near the climax of the action. A big hit with kindergarteners!

This is a classic English ghost story, in the vein of "The Golden Arm", where eventually you end up screaming at your unsuspecting vict- uh, child.

Great fun, not much to it than that. If you want to read the story beforehand you can look it up on google.

Can't rate, as I only read it for the illustrations. Those, of course, are delightful. The story is told straightforwardly, but it's one I've never liked. I suppose this could make a good Halloween story for upper pre-school?