Mary Rayner (1933–2023)

Marathon is Steve's dog. Steve loves to run (as we can see from his dog's name), but Marathon prefers to eat and sleep. Steve always took Marathon on his runs and although he didn't like running, he always followed along because he was a good dog and loyal. One day, Steve and Marathon were out running and Steve hurt his ankle. Steve is no longer able to run and Marathon is very concerned because he sees his Steve is in pain. The doctor tells Steve that he has to stop running, but if he wants to keep exercising, he can try swimming because its less strain on his joints. Steve is sad because he can't bring Marathon to the pool, but when Marathon hears this, his tail starts wagging uncontrollably with excitement. The make a deal that Marathon will "guard" the apartment while Steve is at the pool and Marathon still gets to go outside fro short walks and to play at the beach.… (more)

"Mr and Mrs Pig's Evening Out" is a story with background knowledge of "The Three Little Pigs". Mother and Father Pig decide to go out one evening thus hiring a babysitter for their ten little piglets. The babysitter turns out to be a wolf from the agency and without thinking, Mr and Mrs Pig go out for the evening. After a while, Mrs Wolf began to feel hungry. She tiptoed up the stairs into the piglets bedroom and snatched one. He started snorting and squealing so hard that he woke up all of his brothers and sisters. The pigs grabbed a blanket and followed Mrs Wolf downstairs. The piglets came up behind Mrs Wolf and threw the blanket over her head and wrapped her up. When father and mother pig can home the piglets told them of their narrow escape. Father pig took Mrs Wolf and dumped her in the river, where she was not heard from again. Honestly this story is a little scary but the idea of basing it off of the "Three Little Pigs" story is quite creative. After reading this story I decided I would not read this story inside the classroom unless it was for older students (5th or 6th grade minimum). I wouldn't want to send my students home scared to ever let their parents out of sight.… (more)