The Worm Turns / Little Dog Lost
From Molly of Denali · 2019
Summary
After Grandpa Nat tells a spooky story about giant ice worms, Molly, Tooey, and Trini get convinced the worms caused a power outage at the Trading Post — until they dig into the real explanation. Then, when Tooey's new sled dog Anka wanders off during a training run and doesn't come home by morning, Molly and Tooey discover that finding a lost dog can take a whole village, and a ham radio.
Viewer safety
Grandpa's ice-worm tale is told as a spooky campfire story but turns out to have a down-to-earth explanation — nothing graphic on screen.
Our rating is a quick teacher-to-teacher guide — preview before showing.
Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Discussion
A good story can feel true even when it isn't — that's part of what makes folktales fun, as long as we know the difference.
- What did Grandpa Nat's story make the kids believe caused the power outage?
- What was the real explanation? How did they figure it out?
- When Anka went missing, how many people ended up helping look for her? Why did it take so many?
- Have you ever heard a scary or exciting story that turned out to have a simple explanation?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: folktale, explanation, community, search, ham radio.
Try it: Write one sentence describing the "story" explanation for the outage, and one sentence describing the real explanation. Circle which one is true.