THE CABLE CAR AND THE DRAGON BY HERB CAEN ILLUSTRATED BY BARBARA NINDE BYFIELD

Before sharing the book:
Begin by sharing and discussing the map at the beginning of the book. Point out the cable car at the top of the illustration. Invite the children (or child) to find other cable cars in the map. Find the dragon. How many are there? Tell the children that the map shows part of the city of San Francisco. Ask them what they can tell about the city by looking carefully at the map. Point out the location of San Francisco on a United States map.

Reading and discussing the book: After reading the story aloud, revisit the illustrations to note more information about the city. Begin a discussion with the following topics. Describe Charlie. Describe the elements in the story that are true, and those that are fantastic. How were Charlie and Chu the same, and different? What do you think will happen to Chu next?

After the reading:
Compare the city of San Francisco with your city or town. How are they the same? How are they different? What form of public transportation is used in your area? Invite the children (or child) to find out more about that public transportation. Lead them in listing what they know, what they want to know, and how they will discover new information.

Encourage the children to discover more about the Chinese New Year celebration. Some children may wish to read more tales about dragons. Encourage them to visit the library to borrow books about Chinese New Year or dragons.