INTERACTIVE READ ALOUD
Read aloud questions
1. This book has playful text beyond the main story, with fun dialogue, clever commentary, and a lively narrator.
→ Try reading with different voices to bring the characters to life.
→ Invite your little one to join in by repeating lines or choosing a special voice of their own.
2. Vocabulary Moment: ‘Exceptional’ means special.
→ What are some things, people, or places that you think are exceptional?
3. Steve wants to be exceptional like the peacock he meets in the forest.
→ What qualities do you think make someone exceptional?
4. When Steve sees the horn and realizes it will make him exceptional, he gets very excited and claps his “hands” (a.k.a. hooves).
→ Can you count how many times he claps?
→ Can you match that number with claps of your own?
5. Steve figures out how to put on the horn.
→ How do you think he looks? Does he look better? Does it remind you of anything?
6. Steve is excited to show all of his friends his horn.
→ What do you notice between the illustrations on these pages?
→ What do you think the illustrator is trying to tell us with the horse hoofprints connecting from spot to spot?
7. Steve tells Bob that he should find a horn too because he looks “kind of ordinary.”
→ What do you think that means?
→ How do you think this makes Bob feel?
8. Steve’s friends start attaching items to their heads.
→ Why do you think they do that?
→ Have you ever wanted something because someone else had it?
9. Bob alerts Steve that he no longer has the gold horn on his head, so off he goes to find it.
→ Do you know what happened to the gold horn? Where did it go?
10. Look closely at the illustrations when Steve is searching for his horn.
→ What details do you notice that add humor to the story?
→ How do the pictures help tell parts of the story that the words might not mention?
11. Vocabulary Moment: ‘Devastated’ means really, really bummed.
→ When have you felt devastated? Why did you feel that way? Was there anything that made you feel better?
12. When Steve is really sad, he drags his feet.
→ What does your body look like when you are feeling sad? Can you show it?
13. Steve looks into the water before getting a drink.
→ What does he see? What does he think he sees?
→ Is his horn really in the water?
14. Steve falls into the water trying to reach his horn.
→ What do you notice about him when he comes out from under the water?
→ How do you think he is feeling?
15. Steve looks at all of his friends, now looking exceptional with things on their heads.
→ Take a close look at all of the creative headpieces. Which one is your favorite?
16. All of a sudden, Steve exclaims that he is special because he is exceptionally different.
→What makes him say that?
→ How does he feel now?
17. Steve realizes he doesn't need the horn to be exceptional.
→ What does this tell you about what truly makes someone special?
→ Can you think of something that makes you unique (without any special accessories)?
