A pile of washing

I blogged about one of my favourite Jez Alborough books ages ago, Hug. This post is about another of his picturebooks, Washing line. It's a small book, nothing mega, except of course it's full of Alborough's humour and perfect for sharing while children are learning about clothes. 

Front cover

Here's the front cover showing a huge pair of spotty underpants hanging on a line, and a little white mouse scampering by. Not only does this present one of the characters in the story (the mouse) but also an important item of clothing in the storyline. Who could these underpants belong to? 

Copyright and title pages

There are no endpapers, but the copyright and title pages make up for this!  The copyright is written on a white sheet hanging on the line, and there's that white mouse again, this time undressed. The title page shows a basket of washing, ready to hang out, I suppose. These are all good things to return to having shown the picturebook to small children. 

Opening 1

The pages in this book aren't all the same size.  Can you make out the page break in the middle of the grass there? The elephant has found some very long socks on the washing line and is asking, "Whose are those socks hanging on the washing line?" Do you know? What animal has long legs? Turn the flap and you see a kinky flamingo in warm stripy socks! "They're mine", said the flamingo.

Opening 2

On each spread a bit of the next item of clothing can be seen, it rarely goes unnoticed by the children, certainly not during rereads. They love calling out what will come next. This time, both the elephant and the flamingo want to know "Whose is that jumper hanging on the washing line?"

Opening 3

"It's mine" grunted an orang-utan!  Of course with arms that long! You probably can't see the tiny yellow dress, but it's there in the top right hand corner. 

Opening 6

We discover this belongs to the mouse - can you see her on the pole? There's a hint on the front cover of course, where we saw her scampering over the boxer shorts, and children will comment on this during retells. That strange orange and blue striped thing is a scarf, '"Whose is that jumper hanging on the washing line?" asked the elephant, the flamingo, the urang-utan and the mouse'. Children call out "a snake", but they're wrong!

Opening 8

It's a giraffe's scarf of course! As we've turned each page the animals enquiring about the hanging clothes get greater in number, and we have to remember the order in which they appeared - this is a very subtle maths related activity and one of the many reasons that these kinds of picturebooks are so useful for small children - remember we are never 'just' teaching English!

Opening 9

But look! What an enormous pair of boxers. "Whose are those underpants hanging on the washing line?" asked the flamingo, the orang-utan, the mouse and the giraffe (have you noticed the elephant has gone?)

Opening 10

Turn the flap and oooo! It's the elephant!  "They're mine of course!"  He does have a big bottom! 

But then all the animals wonder what to do next, afterall they are wearing their dry clothes. But elephant has an idea. We can see a bit of his idea to the right of the illustration ... can you guess?

Opening 13

Arghhh!  "LET'S GET THEM WET AGAIN!" Cool idea Mr elephant, and the children chortle with delight! But that's not the end of the story for if we turn the page again, we see all the clothes hanging on the line, dripping of course! 

Opening 14

Can you remember who wears what? The children can and it's a great way to help them remember and make connections. There's a bright sun shining on the clothes so they'll dry nice and quick and this is something to talk about with the children too. 

What a simply lovely picturebook. So easy, nice and repetitive and with a wonderful twist at the end. Great for a clothes related topic, but also very useful for helping children sequence and match, suitable early maths concepts. And if you don't follow the sharing of this story by setting up a washing line in your classroom, shame on you!

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.

The irony of Matilda's cat

Front cover

I waited anxiously for Emily Gravett's most recent picturebook.  She's one of my favourite, favourite picturebook creators and she was creating a book about cats ... I'm a cat lover, so that made her even more wonderful (actually I also love dogs, so she's already satisfied my canine wishes with Dogs)... and here it is, Matilda's Cat ... fresh off the press, it's been out for less than a month.  Delightful, and very preschool, but there's an ironic humour in there which will keep us teachers giggling to ourselves, and possibly also get picked up by the children - so much to look at and discover and make connections with and between. Those of you who are familiar with Sendak's Where the wild things are, are sure to make the visual connection between our girl protagonist in a cat suit and Max in his wolf suit. 

Gravett's front covers are all fairy similar in format, especially those for preschool aged readers: a pale background with the main characters appearing large as life.   Matilda's Cat is no exception - we are shown a girl child in a cat suit holding a cat - a grinning cat at that!  They are both ginger cats, that is the cat suit is ginger and the cat is ginger.  This is  important for we can question right from the start whether Matilda's cat is her cat persona or her ginger tabby. 

Back cover

It is the back cover that answers our question - an arrow points to the real cat, who is doing the best of cat things, sharpening his claws.  Is it a he or a she cat?  I kind of think it's a she cat, her pouchy belly is just like my cat Sooty, who's a well to do four-year-old kitty. I just love Matilda's cat's stripes, and that lovely twirly bit on her haunches. 

In true Gravett style, the picturebook peritext is used to the full.  the endpapers are a pale duck-egg-blue ...

Front endpapers

... cat prints take us from verso to recto and we see the ginger feline leaving the page, her head appears as we turn into the copyright and title page spread. She's looking distinctly worried as she looks across at Matilda who is enthusiastically completing a drawing of her lovely six-legged cat.  

Copyright and title pages

The title font, as on the font cover is in freehand and it continues throughout the picturebook ... if you haven't connected the visual of Matilda in her cat suit with Max in his wolf suit then I'm very disappointed... the pointy ears and the rectangular clawed feet along with a dangerously long tail - there are no whiskers or buttons, but this is Max reincarnated, and not matter how hard I try, I can't rid the visual connection.  

Opening 1

The following spreads show Matilda, in her cat persona, doing what she thinks cats do: her happy declaration, "Matilda's cat likes ..." followed by a fun activity that most cats do like leads us through the visuals.  "... playing with wool", is one of my cat's favourite playtimes, but Matilda's ginger tabby is terrified.  Matilda was enjoying herself greatly!  I like the cats on the wool - you'll notice they are like the orange cat illustration by the dedication and in fact are repeated on some of the following spreads decorating different parts of the illustration. Matilda's attempt at doing cat things come in threes (a structure which is also evident in another of her picturebooks, Wolf won't bite) - playing with wool, boxes (could this be a reference to the well loved My cat likes to hide in boxes) and riding bikes.  Her ginger tabby is either miffed or terrified (actually my cats don't like bikes either). 

Opening 2

Opening 3

What's interesting about the verbal text is that as Matilda passes onto another activity, and thus through a page turn,  the previous activity remains on the next spread, but  gets crossed out.  It's peculiar: a silent acceptance by the narrator, confirming what we see in the illustrations. I've not used this picturebook with children yet, but I'm interested to see how they respond to this. 
And so Matilda moves through tea parties, funky hats and fighting foes, not once is the ginger tabby impressed.  Opening 6 is Matilda at her most Max-like marching across the recto with a sword in her hand.  And so the next set of three activities appears ... "Matilda's cat likes drawing."

Opening 7

There's a nice array of sketches showing what Matilda has done so far with her feline friend, her drawings portraying a complying cat knitting a scarf, riding on her bike, sharing a pic-nic tea, playing happily in boxes, dressing up (you see the ginger tabby is a girl cat!) and fighting real foes. 
Upon turning the page, " ...climbing trees,  and bedtime stories." (Max climbs trees in his adventure too!)

Opening 9

Matilda is buried in her book, unaware of poor ginger tabby's reaction to the chosen title (Gravett's own picturebook about dogs!) ... the looming shadow is made by Matilda's cleverly placed hand, and poor tabby is truely terrified, tail bushy and shackles up, her whiskers are frazzled in fright. 
But Matilda has had enough ...

Opening 10

As her ginger tabby sits on the offending book and licks herself back to normal, Matilda crossly lists the things that she knows her cat does not like... revisiting the spreads we have just seen and emphasizing "... OR bedtime stories."  I suspect that children will enjoy remembering the different activities and thus be challenged to remember the sequence they have shared with Matilda through the illustrations.
We turn the page and Matilda has shed her cat suit, and Ginger tabby is looking keen, we see Matilda leave the spread in her PJs, covered in black terriers and wearing dog slippers... so what does Matilda's cat like?  

Opening 12

"... MATILDA", of course! The illustration shows us a happy couple: tabby on her back, and Matilda's dog-clad-arm hugging her.  You can almost hear the purrs coming from the illustration (check out the stylised cats on her duvet).  But that's not the end ... don't ever forget Gravett's endpapers.

Back endpapers

Here they are... those cat prints leading from verso to recto and Matilda's tabby is making the most of her opportunity to get her own back on those dog slippers. 

So much to see and smile over. The verbal text accompanies the little girl, told by an invisible narrator, who describes what Matilda enjoys doing.  We, the reader, are left to claim as loudly, or as quietly, as we like, that Matilda's cat does not like any of those activities, until finally Matilda takes note and agrees with us (or did she know all along?).  It's such fun and I can't wait to share this picturebook with my preschoolers.