'Pardon?' said the giraffe

Front cover

Pardon?' said the giraffe, is written and illustrated by Colin West, one of several that always make my students giggle! Not surprisingly, some of them are part of a collection called The Giggle Club, 'made to put a giggle into reading'.  Colin West actually says, 'These books are full of pictures to help you read'.  I have all nine of his picturebooks, and they work because there is always a giggle element which doesn't lean on the words.  You need to understand the words and the pictures together to get the joke - both words and images work together to create meaning. True to great picturebooks considered ideal for helping children learn to read, these books contain repeated refrains, cumulative language, strong sound patterning, rhythm and rhyme, and a fairly rich lexical input, and of course illustrations which carry the narrative, sometimes alongside the words, sometimes not. 

The book is slightly shorter than a normal picturebook, with just 24 pages instead of 32. The front cover introduces us to three of the characters: a frog, giraffe and lion, and if you look on the back cover, there's a lion too. The frog is perched on the lion and elephant's head, something he does in the visual narrative later on. 

As this is a book to get readers hooked, 'Pardon?' said the giraffe, has all those bits a picturebook should have. A neat set of endpapers, same at front and back, but still meaningful in the visual narrative. 

Front endpapers

A decorative motif, but can you see the frog in the midst of all the flowers? 

Title page

The title page has a neat little cameo illustration of an innocent looking giraffe.

Opening 1

And so our story begins with frog hopping on the ground wondering 'What's it like up there?'. Up there is so far away that we can only see the lower part of the giraffe's body, she's so tall she doesn't fit on the page. Children often comment on this. The giraffe can't hear. Is she deaf, or just teasing the frog? But each time she is asked the same question we read 'Pardon?' said the giraffe. 

Miraculously, a lion appears and the frog jumps on his head and asks again 'What's it like up there?' Then along comes a hippo ...

Opening 3

Neither lion or hippo look much impressed by frog using them as a ladder. What animal do you think he'll jump onto next to get nearer the giraffe? Her neck is getting longer! Yep, you guessed it, an elephant. And what luck this brought frog, just a bit clsoer to giraffe and he was able to hop on her nose. Each time of course, frog asks, 'What's it like up there?' and giraffe replies, 'Pardon?' Children love this, they happily chorus "'Pardon' said the giraffe". 

Opening 5

For the first time the animals don't look concerned or worried, look they are smiling at frog who is perching awkwardly on giraffe's nose. Can you guess what's going to happen next?  Well how you you feel if a frog jumped onto our nose?  Ticklish by any chance? Yep!  That's how girafe feels and of course she sneezes.

Opening 7

"Oops!" Down falls frog. Giraffe is equally curious, as you would be if you were tall ... "What's it like down there?" asked the giraffe. 

Opening 8

"Pardon?" said the frog. Everyone but the frog seems to think it's entertaining! Children love it too and eagerly rub their heads and pretend to be a confused frog. Like I said lots of repetition with a lovely twist, which is simple enough for small children to understand and appreciate. Magical Mr West.

Other books by Colin West include:
'Not me' said the monkey
Have you seen the crocodile?
One day in the jungle

Hello Great Big Bullfrog!

Go tell it to the Toucan

Enjoy!

Good old Brown Bear ...

Picture Puffin Edition, 1995

Henry Holt & Cº Edition, 1970

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? written by Bill Martin Jr and illustrated by Eric Carle was first published in 1967. It's a classic and a picturebook I recommend to all teachers who aren't sure about using authentic literature, especially if they are working with pre-primary and early-primary learners. It's repetitive in nature, the illustrations support learners' understanding of the words, and of course it's a concept book enabling children to either learn or contextualise colours and animals as well as begin to pick up the English adjective + noun word order. I've argued in a number of places that though this is a good reason to use picturebooks, it's not the only reason and children remain fairly passive when they are shown this picturebook - passive in the sense that they don't have to think much - pictures show and words tell the same information. Don't get me wrong, it's a wonderful picturebook and one I wouldn't do without! 

The front of the book presents the bear and the back of the book shows us the old bear's bottom... he walks into the book and walks out. Don't forget to show this sequence to your learners. 

Back cover, Picture Puffin Edition

The endpapers are wonderful, and I always go back to these during retells, as they help children remember the sequence of the animals by associating them with the strips of colour Carle has used.  In the Picture Puffin edition the endpapers have been signed by Eric Carle, in the Henry Holt Edition, there is a red bird instead... 

Front endpapers Picture Puffin Edition

Front endpapers Henry Holt edition

Bring this to the children's attention, whichever your version is and talk about it. The title pages differ too. The Picture Puffin Edition looks like a kind of window and replicates the ripped paper technique Carle uses on the endpapers. 

Title page, Picture Puffin Edition. 

Title page, Henry Holt Edition

And so we begin our journey through this rhythmic sequence of colourful animals, each dictating which animal comes next. The sequence starts with the iconic brown bear ... In the Henry Holt Edition, the bear is facing left not right, I've always thought that odd, walking away from the story instead of into it.

Opening 1 Picture Puffin Edition

All through this book as readers we ask each animal they see, for example, "Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?" and the animal responds, "I see a red bird." Upon each page turn we discover the announced animal. 

Opening 2, Picture Puffin Edition

Each animal appears bold and bright, huge on the page. The red bird is one of my favourites. Eric Carle has used different tones of red paper (which he has prepared himself I think) as well as colours derived from red. Children sometimes comment in their own language on this and we talk about the fact that purple is a mixture of red and blue and orange comes from yellow and red... 

Then comes the yellow duck, its long neck bent backwards to fit the page. Then the blue horse, its square back aligned with the top of the page. 

Opening 4, Picture Puffin Edition

No child seems to question this surreal horse, which I always find so comforting. I like the mixture of blues turning almost to green here too. Another of my favourite picturebooks by Eric Carle is The artist who painted the blue horse, and one I also share with my pre-primary learners. They always make the connection between these two horses. 

The blue horse announces he can see a green frog, then the frog announces a purpe cat.

Opening 6, Picture Puffin Edition

Purple cat in turn announces white dog. I like that the dog comes after the cat and not before and that it is the cat who brings him into the story. I wonder if this helps or hinders the children's ability to sequence the animals? 

The kinds of animals that Bill Martin Jr decided to include in this story don't fit into any one animal category. I like that too. There are pets, wild woodland animals and farm animals. Children are never expecting to see a sheep, but white dog announces a black sheep.

Opening 8, Picture Puffin Edition

As you can see from this illustration, the sheep is actually brown. Children often comment on this, and I explain that in real life black sheep actually have dark brown wool. I've noticed however that reprints of this book now have a black sheep and I often wonder whether this was because of market feedback. 

Black sheep announces a lovely big gold fish which I usually call 'orange fish' and then there's a nice surprise, for next we have a monkey, our token jungle animal!

Opening 10, Picture Puffin Edition

This monkey is not seen in full and though no child has ever commented, it's actually a turn in the visual narrative. The monkey is looking out at us and scratching his head ... what can he see?

Opening 11, Picture Puffin Edition

Why all the children of course!  I point to different faces and ask the children if they can see themselves. They always can as these faces are a multicultural set of smiling children all looking back at us readers.  

There's something commfortingly didactic about Martin Jr and Carle's book. The final spread is the result of the question, "Children, children, what do you see?" and helps young readers remember what it was they saw during this rhythmic, visual story. 

Opening 12, Picture Puffin Edition

Upon first seeing this page children often "Oohhh" in delight when they realise that they have to remember what they have seen. After several retells this becomes a page to chant out loud, each child chorusing in unison. It's a lovely way to end the book. 

I've chosen to give you the Picture Puffin Edition illustrations, because this edition is my favourite. The Henry Hold Edition has no monkey, instead there is a mother. And I have another edition which has a similar face, though slightly less scowly and she's a teacher.  If you want to read Eric Carle's blog post about this follow this link. The teacher illustration is pretty much like this one and as I have short hair and little round glasses and children always say it looks like me (even though my eyes are blue!).

Opening 10, Henry Holt Edition

Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? is a classic. There are loads of online resources to support using it in a pre-primary classroom and even for slightly older children, though I personally disagree with incorporating a picturebook of this picture-word simplicity with children over 6 or 7 years old, even if the activities are for older children.  As I said earlier, for teachers who have never used a picturebook, this is a great one to start with, so easy to tell with such big, bold illustrations.  The positive response from any group of young children will encourage teachers to have a go with other picturebook titles and that's definitely a plus!

I can't finish without sharing a reading by Eric Carle of this lovely book.  Filmed in 2007, when Brown Bear was 40 years old. It's a must. I hope that Eric Carle will still be around in 2017 to read it to everyone again. 

Eric Carle was 86 years old on June 25. Happy belated birthday Mr Carle and thanks for all your wonderful picturebooks.

What does Polly Wally like to eat?

Time for tea Polly Wally is a fun picturebook by Kali Stileman.  It's wacky and silly and perfect for 4 and 5 year olds. Stileman uses a sort of collage technique, cut shapes and scribbles to create lots of textures, in particular Polly Wally herself (himself?) who is a very busy blob of paint strokes.  Polly Wally is a bird, can you see the yellow beak and skinny legs?  What do you think she likes for tea? She's peering at a line of busy ants marching across the bottom of the cover...

The half title page shows a row of coloured birds on the grass, the title a contrasting grey above them.

Half title page

There's also a clue here about Polly Wally's tea, can you guess what it is? A nice bright pair of endpapers greet us as we open the book further ...

Endpapers

Stileman is a designer and these look a little like her wrapping paper designs! The copyright and title pages give us a couple more clues about Polly Wally's tea...

Copyright and title page

Opening 1

Sure enough as soon as we turn the page again we see Polly Wally with her knees knocking, she really is hungry.  Super large font to emphasize just how hungry Polly Wally really is.  Those front cover ants have managed to climb the tree and there's that butterfly again, and the seven-eyed spider we've seen a couple of times already (keep up!)

Opening 2

Ohh goodness, that's Jemima Giraffe!  Jemima likes "luscious lip-smacking leaves ... try some."  Umm, what do you think?  Will Polly Wally like the leaves? (NB the stick insect at Polly Wally's feet).

Opening 3

"Yum!" said the giraffe. "Yuck!" said Polly Wally!  Nope that's not what she likes to eat for tea. Look at her eyes!   Our story is set up, children know that whatever comes next will proceed in a similar fashion.  Polly Wally will try to eat the offered food and won't like it! There's lots of repetition... "I'm hungry" ... "I eat ..." "Try some." Yum!" said ... "Yuck!" said Polly Wally!  That's good as children get to grips quickly with those chunks of language and love helping tell the story with you.  The repetitive format of exclaiming hunger, being offered food and not liking it is also supportive and children can confidently guess what will happen next.
So, Polly Wally meets Xanthe Zebra, who likes sweet green grass, Eleanor elephant who eats lots of fabulous fruit, Colin crocodile who just agrees that he's hungry too... oops, fly off Polly Wally! Finally, Mavis monkey who eats nobbly nuts.  
But, it's not as simple as that because on each spread children notice the mini beasts scattered around, a worm in the grass, a stripy caterpillar ...

Opening 7

Can you see him on the verso page?  On other spreads there's a fat beetle climbing a tree and that seven-eyed spider hangs alongside Mavis Monkey.  And Polly Wally is almost always being watched from a not too far distance by a pert little red bird...

Opening 10

Can you see her in the verso page? When we turn to opening 11 we realise it must be Polly Wally's mummy, who's "come home with ..."

Opening 11

Close up of recto page

If we pull the flaps we'll see she's been cleverly collecting all those beasties for Polly Wally's tea.  "A wiggly worm, a tickly stick insect, a big shiny black spider, a speedy spider,a nd a creepy crawling caterpillar."  

Opening 12

It's our turn to go "Yuck!" now!  YUCK! How could you Polly Wally? It's good hearing/seeing the children making the connection between all the different insects when they see them under the leaves, and of course upon returning to the picturebook they are careful to look for the different creepy crawly beasties, knowing they will turn up on the penultimate spread.  And of course we can have a nice discussion about what we like eating for tea.  
An extra is that this particular edition, a paperback one, has lovely thick pages, so it's nice and robust and will take quite a lot of battering in the library!  
I'd like to thank Random House for sending me a copy of Time for Tea Polly Wally - greatly appreciated and well used already!

Monkey and me ... Monkey and me ...

Monkey and Me is another picturebook by Emily Gravett, but unlike Little Mouse's big book of fears, it's a picturebook for the younger end of pre-primary. It's perfect in every way and so typical of Gravett's skillful, sketchy style, and use of all those peritextual features to a maximum. 

Back and front covers

Front and back covers are connected through Monkey's tail: a jubilant little chap, welcoming us into the book. He is being held up as though in reverence by the little girl. The small cameo illustration of Monkey being dragged away on the back cover reinforces the toy's happiness at being part of her game. 

Front endpapers

I have the hardback version of this lovely picturebook and the endpapers are not only there to keep the book together, but begin our visual narrative: the small girl is getting dressed and struggling with her tights as monkey looks on.  This is our protagonist getting ready for what is to come as we turn the pages. The black-and-whiteness of the sketches also serve as a sort of preamble, as though Gravett is warming up. 

Copyright and title page

The title page shows us our little girl, now dressed, her tights bright red, and we can see from her sketch that she has a stripy t-shirt too. She's glancing across to Monkey who is similarly clutching the dedication and copyright information. 

This picturebook is repetitive in structure, the repetition comes in pairs: a spread with the chanting refrain, "Monkey and me, Monkey and me, Monkey and me, We went to see, We went to see some ... " and illustrations supporting this refrain, the girl pulling her monkey in all directions.  What did they go to see?  Can you guess by looking at the way she stands and walks?

Opening 1

Opening 2

The next spread shows what they see ... Why penguins of course! And here they are larger than life, waddling along, coaching babies and carrying fish. The word "PENGUINS" in big capital letters is as much part of the illustration as the actual birds.  And so this little book continues, our next spread sees the chanting refrain, and the little girl leaping with Monkey stuffed up her t-shirt, the animals she sees are Kangaroos. The font for "KANGAROOS" is also leaping across the spread. I use this picturebook very successfully with 3- and 4-year olds, and they don't take long to realise that on the first spread of each pair the little girl's movements are a clue to which animal comes next. Some children also begin to make connections with the letters, recognising the 'P' for penguin, the 'K' in kangaroo, or other letters they might know from their own names. 

Opening 5

Opening 6

This pair of spreads is a fun one, and the children love seeing the bats hanging from the very letters that spell their names. Some children say they are afraid of bats, but these chaps look quite harmless and together we can all agree that they aren't very frightening after all. 

The little girl takes Monkey to see elephants and then on the penultimate pair of spreads Monkey is smiling broadly, has anybody noticed he's not been smiling much till now? I wonder why?  Can you guess what they are going to see?

Opening 9

Why "MONKEYS" of course! The font fills the spread and the monkeys are in and out of it. 

Opening 10

This spread is a sort of crescendo, for when we turn the page, we see a sleepy little girl, hugging Monkey as she walks slowly across the recto page.  The words tell us, "Monkey ... and ... me, Monkey ... and ... me, Monkey ... and ... me, We went ..." (You can read it slowly, sleepily.) 

Opening 12

"... home for tea:" A tired little girl hugging her toy monkey, she's had chips for tea, with ketchup. An untouched banana lies temping a real monkey who peers over the table top. Her picture lies on the table showing what she's seen with Monkey on her tiring day. So far I've not had one child question the presence of the trespassing monkey, peeking into the child's world... did she really see all those animals? 

And as we close the book, we turn to the back endpapers. 

Back endpapers

Those delightful sketches in black and white again, but this time of the animals marching off out of the book.  Children love labelling them, remembering the animals they saw and pointing to the sleeping bats, hanging from the baby elephant's trunk. Great ending, great picturebook. Don't forget to re-read this little gem, children love remembering all the animals and the feeling the pleasure of getting it right. 

Rain, please rain.

Front cover

I've chosen Rain by Manya Stojic to celebrate recent rainfalls here in Portugal.  We've gone for nearly five months without any rain, and things were looking parched, plants were small and shriveled and the local farmers could be seen in huddles shaking their heads as they looked at the ground under their feet.  Some parts of Portugal had been rained upon, but not my bit, then a couple of days ago a great storm raged through the night and left everything humming and smelling delicious.  We all sighed happily.  I remembered this lovely picturebook, Rain, a gift from Opal Dunn, who has introduced me to so many picturebooks over the years. 

Rain was Manya Stojic's debut picturebook of over a decade ago.  The illustrations are bright, visibly made with large paint strokes that give the whole book a  feeling of immediacy and joyfulness.  The arm waving baboon on the front cover initiates the frivolity, you can almost hear him calling out happily, "Rain! Yeah!"

Each page and spread is painted right to the edges, this draws the reader into the narrative, and with every page turn we are carried out into an African savannah and feel the animals emotions as they sense the coming rain. 

Title page

Not only are the illustrations bold and bright in this picturebook, but it's a print salient picturebook - the verbal text is also big and bold.  Here on the title page we are shown an adult and baby baboon (the dedication above the illustration reads "In memory of my dad Lyuba with whom I enjoyed watching thunderstorms") and the words shout out at us, big and black.  This page we have to read, "Rain, written and illustrated by Manya Stojic"  What a great opportunity to talk about special picturebooks, created by one person. 

Opening 1

Turn the page and we see heat, sizzling heat.  The yellow grass is painted as though flickering flames and the sun in the top verso corner radiates across the pale blue sky.  Big black letters spell out "It was hot." 

Opening 2

On the next spread we are shown and told how the first of the animals sense the rain is coming. Thus begins a cumulative crescendo... "The rain is coming! I can smell it.  I must tell the zebras."  

Opening 3

Warning of rain comes with a flash of lightening, and the repetitive refrain, "The rain is coming!" (...) Porcupine can smell it. We can see it.  We must tell the baboons." 

Opening 4

With the roll of thunder, the baboons hear it and so our crescendo grows.  "Porcupine can smell it. The zebras can see it.  We can hear it. We must tell the rhino."  Notice that the animals in the three illustrations I've featured are shown in part, close up and even upside down. I really like this minimalist way of illustrating, and it doesn't stop children from understanding. 

Next we see a rhino, with large drops of rain - he feels it. "I must tell the lion."

Opening 6

Onto the lion, who lounges across the spread, tongue out. He can taste it.  

Lots of lovely repetition, which we can encourage children to chorus with us as we tell and retell. And then it rained and rained, black font against a painterly blue background. And what does rain bring?  

Opening 8

Lots of green, and even though the rain has stopped everything continues to grow, and so begins a second repetitive refrain beginning with the lion and going back through all the other animals: "I can't taste the rain now" ... "but I can enjoy the shade of these big, green, leaves." 

Opening 10

Lovely "cool, soft, squelchy mud."  Each animal reappears and delights in the results of the rain.  

Opening 11

The baboons eat fresh juicy fruit; the zebras have a refreshing drink, and the porcupine reminds us that even though he can no longer smell the rain, it will come back. 

And our narrative comes full circle, the sun dries everything up and ...

Verso back page

Wonderful in its visual representation of landscapes and animals, this picturebook is also especially good for young children who are beginning to notice print. Truely great for sharing.