Dr. Donna's Review
“Strawberry Shortcake: Berryfest Princess”
Themes and Other Things
In this story, the citizens of Berry Bitty City must exercise one of the most important tasks of citizenship, they must elect the best person to serve as Berryfest Princess who will carry out the many responsibilities required to put on the annual Berryfest Festival. The story takes the citizens of Berry Bitty City through the process of electing a leader and then through the challenges that their leader faces in accepting and carrying out the many responsibilities. There are profound lessons in this story that will help children in the viewing audience who are taking their first steps out of the home environment and into the role of citizens in their communities. The story will appeal to 3 to 6 year olds. Younger children may miss some of the subtle messages but they too will enjoy the film and take away some important understandings. While the special appeal of the story is to girls, boys too will benefit from viewing and discussing the story’s themes.
“Berryfest Princess” introduces children to three important concepts:
Citizenship: The story promotes understanding of the skills, behaviors and attitudes that underlie membership in a community.
Civility: The story models the behaviors that contribute to a civil society.
Character: The story presents examples of those character traits that define the responsible, caring community leader and community member.
Talking points
- When the story opens, we learn that the Princess Berrykin is away and will not be back in time for the Berrykin Festival. Since the rulebook requires a Princess to lead the festival, the citizens will have to choose someone. Postman Bumblebee says that the fairest way to choose is to have an election. Discuss the meaning of “election” and why having an election is the fairest way to choose a candidate.
- There are many opportunities to introduce new vocabulary words during discussion of the film. Use these words in the conversation and stop to talk with children about their meaning:
Election Responsibilities
Vote Leader
Campaign Collaboration
Speech Cooperation
Tasks Assignments
Tie-vote Integrity
- Ask children why those who wanted to be selected had to go through a series of challenges. Help them understand that the challenges would help them select the best two candidates to run in the election.
- Discuss which two girls were selected and why. (Orange and Strawberry Shortcake).
- When the campaign gets underway, Strawberry learns that Blueberry, Raspberry and Plum are feeling bad because they have to choose between Strawberry and Orange. Ask why this makes the girls feel bad. (Because they like both Strawberry and Orange)
- Discuss the important point that Postman Bumblebee helps them understand e.g. “voting is not about who you like… it is about deciding who can best do the job.”
- Orange and Strawberry make important points in their campaign speeches. Discuss the points they make – Orange says she wants to do less planning and more doing. Strawberry discusses areas where she and Orange agree but says they also have differences. Strawberry says there are different and equally good reasons to vote for either girl but the job of a citizen is to “make a choice.” Discuss the differences between the two candidates. Ask children which point of view they like best? Which candidate would they vote for?
- Ask how the election turned out? (A tie-vote) How was the tie broken?
- Ask if children were surprised that Orange did not vote for herself? Ask “would you have voted for yourself?” Why? Why not?
- After Strawberry wins the vote, she learns that the job of being Berryfest Princess is very big. She needs to act like a “leader.” What does she do to handle the large number of tasks on the list? (She gives assignments to each of the girls.) How do they handle the tasks? (They get distracted and don’t complete their tasks.) Why does Strawberry start doing other people’s jobs? (She is frustrated because nothing is getting done. She doesn’t know how to say “No.”)
- What happens after Strawberry gets caught up by the wind and blown to the top of the tree? (The other girls don’t know where she is. They feel bad. They realize that they have not been good citizens. They have not been helpful or cooperative. ) What do the girls do to solve the problem? (They cooperate with one another to get Strawberry down from the tree.)
- Did they citizens of Berry Bitty City have a good parade to celebrate the Berryfest Festival? What made it a nice parade?
- The next part of the Festival was to find the special “wanderberry” that only appears at this time of the year. Who found it? (Strawberry)
- What happened when the citizens left the wanderberry out overnight? (The rabbits ate it.) How did everyone feel when they discovered that the wanderberry was gone? (They felt bad.)
- What sound did Strawberry hear when she was out searching for the wanderberry? (She heard a bird chirping.) What was wrong with the bird? (Its leg was caught in a vine and it was hungry.)
- Strawberry made an important decision when she decided to feed the new wanderberry to the bird. Why did she decide to do that when everyone wanted her to take the new wanderberry back for the picnic? (She said that she had to “do what I think is right…being a leader means making a decision and sticking to it.”) Another word to describe Strawberry’s action is “integrity” which means knowing the difference between right and wrong and being strong enough to do the right thing, even when it is difficult. Do you think Strawberry did the right thing? Was it a hard choice for her?
- Help children sum up the major themes of the story by reviewing the ideas of electing the best person for a job, carrying out the duties and responsibilities of leadership, doing the right thing even if it is not the popular thing to do.
Activity ideas
Help children sum up the major themes of the story by reviewing the ideas of electing the best person for a job, carrying out the duties and responsibilities of leadership, doing the right thing even if it is not the popular thing to do.
Have children draw pictures of their favorite scene from the story. Help them write a caption under the picture. Post the picture for all to see.
Ideas to develop understanding of “good citizenship”
- Children are citizens of different groups. Make up a chart of the groups to which they belong: family, school, church, teams. Add a section on what it means to be a good citizen: Include such thing as use good manners, obey the rules, accept responsibilities that help the group, respect the property of others, and so on.
- Have a good “citizenship award” for someone in the family who practices good citizenship.
- Visit an election site and explain the process and choices to children.
Ideas to develop understanding of “responsibility” and “integrity”
- Make a list of the family responsibilities that the child has: caring for a pet, taking out the trash, putting toys away, etc. Draw the trunk of a tree with branches. Draw and cut out several leaves. Write one responsibility on each leaf and pin it to the tree. Each time the child meets the responsibility, add a star on the appropriate leaf.
- List the responsibilities of others in the family. Discuss what would happen if each person did not meet their responsibilities?
- Read the book “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.” Talk about the choices that Alexander had to make to make the day better.
- Make up a story in which the main character is confronted with a choice between right and wrong. For example, he/she might see a friend break something and walk away. Talk through the “what would you do options” with the child. Reinforce the values that are important to your family.
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Book suggestions: These books are recommended to encourage you to read to and with children about the themes from the movie.
“The Vote” by Linda Scher (Steck-Vaughn, 1996)
“The Car Washing Street” by Denise Lewis Patrick (William Morrow, 1993)
“Helping Out” by George Ancona (Clarion Books, 1985)
“It’s Up to You, Griffin” by Susan T. Pickford and Mary Dunn Ramsey (Tidewater Publishing, 1993)
“Brave Irene” by William Steig (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1986)
“Ruby the Copycat” by Peggy Rathman ( Scholastic Trade, 1991)