Finding Perspective Using “Autumn Gardening”

The interesting point of “Autumn Gardening” is that it provides a very different perspective of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima than most students in the United States have heard. Most know the bombs brought an end to World War II, but many do not realize at what cost. Mariko’s flashbacks give a very detailed, human take on the effects of living through an atomic bomb, and many students likely will begin to wonder about other perspectives on world events.

“Autumn Gardening” is a great way to teach perspective in literature. A way to have fun with perspective is to have students also read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. After reading Jon Scieszka’s version of this famous children’s tale, have students take a story they are familiar with, either from a movie, a book, or a child’s tale like the one above. Have them use the Storyboard Creator to do a plot diagram of the same tale told from the bad guy’s perspective. For example, from Sleeping Beauty, the students might choose Maleficent; from Little Red Riding Hood, students might choose the wolf, and so on.

Example Storyboard of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

• The Wolf is on trial, fighting for his life. This whole thing has been a misunderstanding! He didn't murder anyone!


• You see, the Wolf was just trying to make a cake for his granny, and he had a terrible cold. He ran out of sugar for the cake, so he had to go find some!


• He came to the First Little Pig's house and as he knocked on the door, he sneezed! The house was made of straw, so it fell over... and killed Mr. Pig. The Wolf was hungry, so he wasn't going to let a ham dinner go to waste!


• The Wolf set off again in search of sugar and came to the Second Little Pig's house. Same deal: sneeze, the house was made of sticks, ham dinner. Still no sugar for granny's cake!


• Finally, he came to the Third Little Pig's house. Luckily, his house was made of brick, so it didn't fall when the Wolf had another sneezing attack. However, the Third Pig made a derogatory remark about Wolf's granny, so the Wolf tried to break in and fight him.


• The Wolf was arrested, and he says that the media made up the whole "murder" story because searching for sugar for a cake didn't sound very exciting. The Wolf claims the real story is: he was framed!