Summary

Mercy Watson to the Rescue By Kate DiCamillo

Summary Newbery Medalist DiCamillo (The Tale of Despereaux) once again displays her versatility with this jaunty debut to an early chapter-book series. The tale stars Mercy, a pig with personality a-plenty-and a penchant for "hot toast with a great deal of butter on it." When Mr. and Mrs. Watson tuck Mercy into bed at night and switch off the light, their pet no longer feels "warm and buttery-toasty inside" and decides "she would be much happier if she wasn't sleeping alone." So she climbs into the Watsons' bed and dreams of hot buttered toast, until the overloaded bed begins to fall through the floor. Mercy's obsession prompts her to hop off the bed-her devoted owners convinced that she's gone to summon the fire department. Alas, the peckish porcine's single-minded pursuit leads her to the kind next-door neighbor and ultimately does prompt a call to the fire department-but not before a series of comical twists (involving the kind neighbor's sister, Eugenia, who is of the opinion that "pigs should not live in houses"). Van Dusen's (If I Built a Car, reviewed above) boldly hued, tactically hyperbolic gouache paintings tap into the narrative's wry humor and joie de vivre-a memorable sequence depicts Eugenia in curlers and bathrobe chasing Mercy through the yards and winding up in an exhausted heap atop the porker heroine. Everyone ends up around the Watsons' table where the besotted couple piles up the undeserved toast for their "porcine wonder"-a fitting cap to this animated pig tale. Ages 6-8.

Discussion Questions What is Mercy afraid of at night? pg.5 Are you afraid at night sometimes? Of what? What is your favorite dream pg.9? Why wasn’t Mercy afraid of the earthquake?pg.14 Is Mercy courageous? What do you think? What are the Lincoln sisters like? Pg.27 Are they good neighbors? Why doesn’t Eugenia like Mercy? Pg.35 Do you agree with Eugenia, that pigs should live on a farm? Why or why not? Was there really an emergency when the firemen came? Why or why not? Pg.45 Tell us what you think an emergency is? Did Mercy really rescue her paents? Who really did? Pg. 50 Why do the Watsons want Mercy called “porcine wonder” instead of “pig”. What does porcine mean? Pg.56 Do you think Mercy thinks she is a pig or a hero? Pg.64 Why?

Activities & Fun Facts Group Activities

Activity 1: Have a sing-a-long and sing some of the children’s favorite bedtime songs. Suggestions: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or Rock a Bye Baby. Sing songs with hand motions too! Activity 2: Discuss emergency situations with the children and what they should do. Create a Emergency card with Police phone number and 911 Number. Children can decorate it as they would like to. Use card stock and consider laminating it for taking it home to post by their home phone. Activity 3: Consider making a Pig Puppet out of paper lunch bags. Download a picture of a pig face from Googleimages.com to cut out and glue on the flap of lunch bag. Curl a pink pipe cleaner and tape it to the back of bag for a curly piggy tail. Have children act out a favorite scene from the book using their Mercy Watson puppet.

Fun Facts

Kate DiCamillo worked in a book warehouse on the children’s floor and fell in love with children’s books there. She started writing when she was 35 years old. The author wrote the 2001 Newbery-honor book Because of Winn Dixie and won the Newbery Medal in 2008 for The Tale of Despereaux.

Reading Resources Websites

www.wakegov.com—Book Club Kits for Kids page www.mercywatson.com—See for games, book fun and more information about Mercy Watson

Other books you may enjoy:

Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride by Kate DiCamillo (J DiCamillo) Ivy Bean by Annie Barrows (J Barrows) Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry (J Lowry) Stink the Incredible Shrinking Kid by Megan McDonald (J McDonald) Clementine’s Letter by (J Pennypacker)

Information for this discussion guide was gathered from the following sources: Wake County Public Library catalog at www.wakegov.com/libraries Kate DiCamillo website at www.katedicamillo.com for author information and books The book Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate DiCamillo