The Boy of the Three-Year Nap by Dianne Snyder

Title:The Boy of the Three-Year Nap

Author: Dianne Snyder

Illustrator: Allen Say

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company

Year: 1988

Awards/Accolades: Caldecott Honor

Summary: A really lazy son tries to trick his way into a life of ease by marrying a merchant's daughter, but the wise mother turns his trick back on him to turn him into a productive adult.

Use in Classroom/Library:

Questions from WCMU radio:

1. Why do people call Taro “The Boy of the Three-Year Nap”? (It was “said that if no one woke him, Taro would sleep three years at a stretch.”)

2. When Taro’s mother complains to him that the roof leaks, the walls are crumbling, and they are running low on food, he says that she should not worry because he has a “plan.”  Describe exactly what his plan is.  (Convincing the rich merchant to marry his daughter to Taro—ask the young child to give more details about the plan.)

3. Taro’s mother is puzzled by his plan.  What does she think he might be planning to do? (become a priest)

4. Describe how Taro’s plan works.

5. When Taro’s mother realizes how effective his plan has been, she comes up with a plan of her own.  Describe her plan. 

6. What are the results of Taro’s mother’s plan? (better house for her and a job for Taro)

7. What about his mother’s plan most surprises Taro? (the job).  How do you think he feels when he realizes that she has outsmarted him?

8. Look at the last picture in the book.  How do you think Taro feels by that point?  Why?

Curriculum Connections:

Language Arts: study of traditional tales/trickster tales

This title is in the Saint Joseph School Library.