Book Club › For club leaders › Club kits › The Princess and the Pea
The Princess and the Pea: a book club kit
Where it comes from. Hans Christian Andersen, a storyteller in Denmark, wrote this in 1835. He heard it as a boy.
In short (for the leader; it gives the ending away). A prince wants to marry a real princess, but cannot find one. During a storm a wet girl knocks at the castle gate and says she is a princess. The queen secretly puts a pea under twenty mattresses and twenty quilts. In the morning the girl says she hardly slept because of something hard in her bed, which proves she is a real princess.
The lesson, in one line. You can't tell who someone is from how they look.
Reading plan. Read it together at the meeting: about 3 minutes aloud, or ahead of time at home.
Questions to talk about
- What is the moral of The Princess and the Pea?
The story's answer: You can't tell who someone is from how they look. The girl arrives wet and untidy, and she is still the real princess. - Who wrote The Princess and the Pea?
The story's answer: Hans Christian Andersen wrote it in Denmark in 1835. He said he heard the story as a child. - How does the queen test the princess?
The story's answer: She puts a tiny pea under twenty mattresses and twenty quilts and asks how the girl slept. A real princess, she thinks, would feel it. - Why can the princess feel the pea?
The story's answer: In the story it shows she is a real, delicate princess. It is a joke about how particular royalty is, and a fairy tale, not a real test. - Who in the story was kind, and who was not? How do you know?
Listen for: Ask for the moment in the story that shows it. - Which part would you change, and how would the story end then?
Listen for: There is no wrong ending; ask what else would have to change.
Did you know?
- Hans Christian Andersen wrote it in Denmark in 1835. He heard the tale as a boy.
- It was in his first small book of fairy tales for children.
- Only a very delicate person could feel the pea through forty layers, or so the queen believed.
Activity: Draw the story as a map
On one big sheet, draw every place the story happens and the path between them. Mark the spot where things go wrong and the spot where they come right.
More to talk about
More facts for the leader
- In the end the pea is put in a museum.
Words to teach before you start
- traveled: went far away
- thunder: loud storm noise
- eyebrows: hair above eyes
- mattresses: soft bed pads
- quilts: thick blankets
- museum: place for treasures
Questions leaders ask
How long does a The Princess and the Pea book club meeting take?
Reading it aloud takes about 3 minutes in all, so plan one meeting of 30 to 45 minutes, with time left for the questions. The reading plan on the sheet says where to stop.
What age is The Princess and the Pea for?
It is written at Peabody level 7, a grade 2 reading level, so most children at that level can read it alone. Younger children can listen to it read aloud.
Do the children need to read it before the meeting?
No. Each child can read it free on Peabody, before the meeting or together at it, and the questions work either way. The sheet's short version gives the ending away, so keep it for the leader.
How do I use the questions?
Start with the story's own questions, which have answers in the leader's notes, then move to the open ones and listen for reasons. There is no wrong answer to an open question. Stop when the group runs out of things to say.
Club kits for stories like this
- Little Red Riding Hood (level 7)
- The Three Billy Goats Gruff (level 7)
- Jack and the Beanstalk (level 8)
- Stone Soup (level 8)
- The Bremen Town Musicians (level 8)
- The Elves and the Shoemaker (level 8)
How this kit is made
The short version, the facts and the first questions with their answers are the story's own, written for its page in Peabody's library and checked against the sources named there. The open questions, the activity and the plan are Peabody's, written for this kind of story. No part of it is written by a computer model.
Running the meeting: the meeting plans (30, 45 and 60 minutes) and the sign-up sheet.