CBCA 2021 Shortlist – Picture Book of the Year nominee Not cute. is the latest book from the much-celebrated author and illustrator Philip Bunting.
Not cute. is a funny story about an adorable Quokka who wishes to be described as anything but cute. He would prefer to be dangerous, scary or ferocious. Quokka encounters a number of Australian animals and becomes more and more frustrated at being considered cute. He starts to become angry, aggressive and too big for his boots. Quokka eventually meets an animal who agrees with him and meets an unfortunate fate. The final pages include a quote from Aesop, “The stubborn listen to nobody’s advice and become a victim of their own delusions”, a wonderful prompt to discuss the consequences of one’s actions.
How can I use Not cute. in the classroom?
This book is a great starting point for many lessons in the classroom… I recently used it to teach a Dynamic Dialogue lesson and the kids loved it.
The dialogue in the story lends itself to drama. So we acted out the story and interchanged the ‘said’ words from the story, while discussing the meaning of the new vocabulary.
Not cute. features a plethora of ‘Words that are better than said’ including:
We used Dynamic Dialogue writing prompts to imagine some hilarious conversations between the different animals.
Then, using the book Not Cute. as an example we explored how to use punctuation with direct speech.
Try it Out
To save yourself a heap of time grab my Not Cute. book companion resource here:
Not cute. Print and Go Activities and Worksheets
I created a Dialogue writing prompt freebie that you can use in your classroom:
You can buy the full resource here:
Dynamic Dialogue Writing Prompts
You can find more book buddy resources in my TPT store.
Visit Little Learner Hub to find more great teaching resources!
