Questions and Activity Ideas for Teaching Baloney (Henry P.)

Henry P. Baloney is an alien schoolkid who needs to come up with a very good excuse to explain why he is late for school again. His teacher, Miss Bugscuffle, has promised him “permanent lifelong detention” if his excuse is lacking. His tale begins with a lost zimulis (pencil) and takes him on an inter-planetary adventure. Is Henry’s highly original tall tale true, or is it just a bunch of “baloney”? 

The book challenges readers to figure out the meaning of several alien words using context. However, we find out in the end that the unfamiliar words are actually from at least 20 actual Earth languages.

There are several read aloud videos of Baloney (Henry P.) on YouTube and another on SafeShare.

• Based on the title and the illustration on the cover, who is Henry? Why do you think so?
• What do you think it means if someone tells you something is a lot of baloney?  (Hint: not the sandwich meat)
• Do you think people sometimes fib when they don’t want to get in trouble? 

• What is the setting of the story?  
• Do you think Henry is telling the truth? Why or why not?
• What do you think Henry’s alien words really mean? Look for clues in the words, pictures, and in what you already know.

• What are some character traits that describe Henry?  (Use this free character traits list if they need help generating words.)  
• What is a Tall Tale? Why do you think Miss Bugscuffle wants Henry to write one?
• Do you think Henry has changed from the beginning to the end of the story? Has he learned a lesson about telling the truth? Why or why not?

Remind students that they can use context clues from the text and prior knowledge to determine the meaning of unknown words. Invite them to keep track of the “alien” words in the story and to write what they think they mean and what text evidence and prior knowledge helped them.

A simple chart like the one below is a great way to organize this information!

Have students use Henry’s “alien” words to write a tall tale of their own. For students who struggle, provide a word bank like the one below: 

• ZIMULUS - pencil
• SZKOLA - school
• PIKSAS - pictures
• TWRF - noise
• UYARAK - stone
• AAMU - morning
• SPEELPLAATS - playground
• PORDO - door

If your students are unfamiliar with tall tales or other types of traditional literature, this resource is a great introduction. 

Many stories have a main character or “protagonist” who grows or changes from the beginning to the end of a story. The character might learn an important lesson. 

Henry doesn’t seem to have changed. Ask your 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade students to think about how they could change the story so that Henry learns a lesson about not telling tall tales - and perhaps write an alternate ending! 

Review with students how these conjunctions are used in compound sentences.  

• Because – explains why something is true
• But – shows  a shift in the opposite direction
• So – tells us the effect of something

Invite students to write expanded sentences from events in the story using these sentence stems:

• Henry was late to school because…
• Henry was late to school, but...
• Henry was late to school, so…

• Miss Bugscuffle was upset because…
• Miss Bugscuffle was upset, but…
• Miss Bugscuffle was upset, so…

• The Astro Guys made Henry their king because…
• The Astro Guys made Henry their king, but…
• The Astro Guys made Henry their king, so…