Week 1 Review of Children's SEL Book "After the Fall" by Dan Santat

Title:  After the Fall; How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again

Author and Illustrator: Dan Santat 

                                

                                        SUMMARY 

 

"After the Fall" is a very cute and imaginative SEL story about what happens to the classic nursery rhyme character Humpty Dumpty after his tragic fall. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this extension on one of my favorite childhood stories. In this children's book, Humpty explains that after his fall, all the king's horses and all the king's men were able to put him together again, but of course things were not all as they once were. Humpty is left with a giant dose of fear when it comes to heights due to his fall. This story takes you through the course of Humpty's life and how he deals with overcoming his fear. During Humpty's journey he discovers a love for making paper airplanes and soaring them through the sky. However, one day his airplane landed on that very wall that Humpty fell from. Humpty was then faced with the choice of either leaving his beloved airplane that he enjoyed playing with so much, or being brave and conquering his fear of heights and the wall that caused him such grief. In the end, Humpty braves climbing up the wall and retrieves his paper airplane. 

                                                                 CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

"After the Fall" provides many opportunities for teachers to implement fun and engaging educational activities with their students. One of the first activities that came to my mind while reading this children's book would be to have the students build and create their own paper airplanes and fly them. This STEM activity could be done at the end of the week or day as a fun conclusive activity pertaining to the story. "After the Fall" is a story that shows students the importance of persistence and never giving up. This opens up the opportunity for many whole groups discussions among the students for teachers to foster. A great SEL activity that can be implemented over this book would be to have the students reflect and write about their own fears and ways that they can overcome them with persistence and bravery.