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You Matter

by Christian Robinson
Atheneum Books for Young Readers: New York, 2020.Suggested Grade and Interest Level: Preschool through 2nd

Topics to Explore: Perspective-taking; Self-esteem

Skills to Develop: Vocabulary, including Beginning concepts (i.e., spatial; sizes, colors, and shapes, and Part-whole relationships); Grammar and syntax, including Two- and three-word utterances, Present tense constructions; Literate discourse, including Relating personal experiences and Verbal expression

Critique: Christian Robinson’s illustrated stories are those of few words and big messages. His drawings in bold, cut paper style have a child-like, endearing quality that enhances the meaning of each short line of text. In this book, the audience gets a sense of how we all are an important part of one fascinating, interconnected universe. No matter how busy or complex a place you inhabit, or what state of being you may now be experiencing – You Matter. The message is affirming, validating, and comforting. Children have lots of opportunities to engage with you about this story by explaining what transpires in the illustrations. The book earned the Best Book of the Year award from several organizations and publications such as Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal.

The story opens to an image of a small child peering through the lens of a microscope. Forms and shapes representing the microscopic world are illustrated on the opposite page, along with words “The small stuff too small to see.”

Book Talk:. .

Before the read-aloud, talk about the book’s unique cover. Extend the front and back covers so that both parts are visible at the same time . See that the canopy of the umbrella/parachute is held out at each of its points by various children. Each child is joining in, doing their important part in opening out the covering. Each child matters. Ask children why it matters that each child has a part in holding on to the straps of the canopy. Could one child alone extend the covering? Could just two children do it? Or is it that each child has a part to play?

Open to the inside cover and see if your audience can find a similar image of children around an extended colorful canopy. Ask children to describe the image.

Read aloud the dedication on the next page. It is written above the stars that form across the double page spread. It reads: For anyone who isn’t sure if they matter. You do.

Turn to the first page to find a child curiously peering into a microscope. Then focus on the image on the opposite page and read aloud the text, “The small stuff too small to see.” What do the shapes and forms represent in the round circle on that page? (e.g., What does the girl see in the microscope?) Notice that there doesn’t appear to be anything on the stage (specimen area) of her microscope. Why might she want to see a tiny speck enlarged with so much detail? (To discover that there is more beyond that which one can be seen with one’s eye? To see the “stuff too small to see?) What is that “stuff” called? (E.g., cells, microbes, organisms, etc.)

If you are reading to early language learners, encourage two-and three-word utterances by modeling the desired response from the words of the text (i.e., “Small stuff,” or “See small stuff”). You can also scaffold with additional words for an expanded utterance. For example, add to the child’s wording with a present tense structure (i.e., The girl sees small stuff, or The girl sees tiny things.)and encourage repetition. It is validating for children to hear their words spoken aloud in expanded forms and helps them develop fuller sentence constructions

On the next pages, you can introduce new vocabulary as you define a microscopic creature, called a microbe, and give an example with a word such as plankton. Reinforce the story’s message with talk that adds meaning to the pictures. Point out the microbes of the sea floating about together in the tide (or wave). On the opposite page see one tiny creature, seemingly going against the tide, in the opposite direction. Ask children whether one little creature who does not “swim with the tide” matters. Talk about how tiny creatures, so small we can hardly see them, like plankton, look very beautiful and colorful under the microscope.

Continue to add meaning to each page of the story with talk about the illustration. Ask thoughtful questions and take time to extend or expand the child’s response. You can also recast the response to provide new wording. If the child does not respond, ask a yes/no question, such as, “Do you think….?” Offer your view. Don’t be afraid to supply an answer. Encourage the child to repeat a portion of your modeled sentence if possible.

Pause at the page that pictures a stinging mosquito. Consider the opportunities for children to express causal effects and make the connection to the part-whole relationship that completes on the next page. In the first image, see the mosquito in action on an unidentifiable brown patch. On the next page, see a dinosaur grimacing at the sore spot at the end of its tail. Where was the mosquito in the first picture? What part of the dinosaur was it on? What caused the dinosaur to feel so uncomfortable?

Perspective taking is important skill a child’s overall development. It can be addressed from the standpoint of one’s senses (e.g., a visual perspective) and from a conceptual standpoint (i.e., understanding another’s thoughts and feelings). On the last page, ask the children from what perspective the boy in the story sees the scenes out the window. Where might he be when viewing the bridge over the bay, freeways, and skyscrapers? With a world so vast, do you think the boy believes what the text says, “You matter.”? What makes you think so?

With all the opportunities for book talk inside this book, it is one to read again and again. It will become one of the children’s favorites. You’ll find new avenues to create a meaningful exchange and new skills to target with the continued use of techniques that help build the language-and-literacy connection.

Special Note: Find more books on the concept of self-esteem and others that cover the topic of Perspective-taking in the Topic Explorations index of Books Are for Talking, Too! (4th Ed.). You’ll also find another fascinating book by Christian Robinson titled Another, in the Grades 1-5 Catalog of Picture Books. You’ll see the entry is similar to this page,

More information: Learn more about Christian Robinson and his popular books on his website: www.theartoffun.com

Here are a few of the book’s features:

Every page of the open book is placed in a two-page spread layout. This means you can linger on the expanded illustrations for more Book Talk.
The art looms large, in exaggerated, sometimes off-kilter perspectives to reflect the imaginative aspect of the story.
The text is brief. Each double-page spread has a sentence or two on one side about what would transpire if the one reflecting on this fantasy were a horse.
The repetition and pattern of syntax are consistent, which enables children to form their own sentences using the text as a model.
The illustrations provide for more language opportunities than the text.
Children can readily relate to the book’s theme about the longed-for freedoms in childhood. When children connect with the story, it holds their attention, and enjoyable learning can take place.

So, this is what I call a Powerhouse Picture Book. But one caution. For strict grammarians, the title may give reason for pause. While the subjunctive mood usually would be written, If I were, for reasons I’m not yet sure, in this story it is written, If I was …

A quick online search reveals that the subjunctive mood is slowing vanishing. In informal contexts that express imagined or hypothetical situations, the sentence now takes on the same form as other tenses.

In the case of a children’s book, the regular structures I was, and you were, certainly make matters less complicated. So, I guess I just have to let go of this one.

Now, before you begin your read-aloud, I’ll share a few tips:

Tip No. 1: The purpose of Book Talk is to engage with a child in the meaningful language of the story. This typically involves a questioning strategy to get things rolling. However, there are times when questions, or too many expected responses, may not be the best strategy. A child who stutters and is required to answer questions repeatedly is one example. A child who is reluctant to speak because of uncertainty about his or her performance in front of peers is another. A child who is tired and just wants to listen and enjoy the story is yet another. So, I always advise being sensitive to these factors.

In these cases, don’t be afraid to ask a yes/no question. As well, consider that it’s ok to provide the answer to your own question. Modeling a response is not the same as giving away the answer on a final exam. The most important thing is that you create an enjoyable experience with the child, the story, and you.

Tip No. 2: As you read through this extensive treatment plan, consider first finding the skills you’re looking to target. Then scan the rest of the skill areas and learn other possibilities for Book Talk. Once you begin, you may think of more!

What’s for sure is that pausing at each double-page spread rendered by this multiple award-winning artist will provide you with many ways to support a child’s speech, language, and literacy with thoughtful Book Talk.

SO, LET’S GO!

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; graved and painted by Christopher Bing
New York: Handprint Books, 2001

Suggested Grade and Interest Level: 3 through 5 – and beyond to adulthood

Reviews and Awards: ALA Notable Children’s Book; School Library Journal Best Book of the Year; Publisher’s Weekly: “an impressive volume”; Booklist: “a remarkable visual interpretation of Longfellow’s classic poem”.

Topics for Thematic Units: American Poets; History, American Revolutionary War, U.S. Colonial era; Horses; Maps; Perspective-taking

Skills to Develop: Vocabulary: Attributes, Similes and metaphors, Associations, Prepositions; Grammar and syntax: Tenses, Complex sentence constructions; Literate discourse (i.e., language used to relate and discuss a story): Storytelling, Cause-and-effect relationships, Drawing inferences, Answering Why questions, Discussion; Pragmatics (i.e., social language); Articulation, (especially R)

Summary: On April 18, 1775, Boston merchant John Larkin loaned his “brown beauty” of a horse to fellow patriot Paul Revere, a silversmith by trade. Revere’s task was to ride the “steed” at top speed to warn patriots in the countryside of the oncoming British troops. But where would the redcoats set boots on the ground? The patriots must know their tactical course if Revere was to forge ahead of them with a warning. Would ships in the harbor ferry them across Charles River? Or would the regiment come by land, marching along the mouth of the river? Either course meant a different starting point.

To find out, Revere’s friend, Robert Newman, climbed into the bell tower of Old North Church that night. From his aerial view he watched for the way of the regiment, sent a signal to Revere on the opposite side of the river, and ushered in one of the most exciting moments in American history.

A period map of the planned British route, the “Secret Expedition” is shown on the first pages. Revere’s warning (given to two other riders not mentioned in the poem) gave patriots the advantage they needed and led to their victory in ensuing battles.

Thus began the American Revolutionary War. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow immortalized the night over 100 years afterthe event in his narrative poem. The Harvard scholar memorialized many American legends through his verse. In this one, the narrator is an innkeeper who recalls the legendary night.

While Longfellow took a few liberties in recording this story, history has judged him on the merits of his brilliant poetic effects.

The events of the night coalesce through depictions of characters, scenes, objects, and wax-sealed documents that fold out from the pages. Bing’s uniquely drawn perspectives add meaning to the story.

Illustrations depict red-coated British soldiers, the Green Dragon Tavern, and items from the tavern (i.e., playing cards, leather pouches, and gold and silver coins). Most elegant are the tall ships in the harbor, moored on a shimmering bay, their intricate rigging silhouetted in the moonlight. Add to this the horse and rider racing across a wooden bridge, and you have memorably created the drama of this fantastic story.

Before the read-aloud: Given all the components to this book, consider planning book talk over several sessions, selecting one or two features at a time.

Pictures of recreated artifacts are a great place to start in laying the historical background. These setting components also teach students the first element of good storytelling.

As you show the cover and introduce the story, it might go something like this:

“This is one of the most exciting stories ever told about the forming of a nation. So crucial was this moment to the outcome of American independence that Harvard scholar Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wanted to immortalize it in a narrative poem – nearly 100 years later. Its opening lines, “Listen my children and you shall hear……” (words to imply oral storytelling to younger generations, not necessarily all youngsters) are recognized almost everywhere.”

Build anticipation for one of the most famous rides ever to have taken place on horseback. Set the stage by helping your audience relate to the time period. It might go something like this:

“Imagine a rider on horseback in the middle of a moonlit night shouting out a message, waking up households to warn them of an impending military march through their town. There are no phones or internet to transmit urgent messages. There are no automobiles to drive at top speed so that a messenger could tell them to prepare. No drone satellites could track the British route. But – there are horses! One such horse, and a rider who had never ridden her, struck out fearlessly, and, as the poet says, the fate of a nation was riding that night.”

Turn to the inside cover.

Discover the articles and writing implements of the day, spectacles, quill pen, wax, stamp, and seal that lay on top of the period documents. Explain how one’s handwritten communications necessitated this type of formality during the era.
Point out the finished product, the official stamp affixed to the document on the opposite page.
Pull out from the attached envelope a replica of the British general’s orders to his troops recorded in period writing.

Grammar and Syntax

On the next page, explore the British map of colonial Massachusetts, the intended route of the redcoats, and handwritten notations. Describe locations as you model tense structures and use prepositional phrases for complex sentence structures.

Prepositions may include: across, through, after, along, around, beyond, beside, toward, and behind. Some examples:

Show where the British ships were moored out in the Boston Harbor. Point out the tall masts and flags flying above the ships.
Point out the locations of Boston and Charlestown situated on land, along the shore of the harbor.
Explain how they were positioned across from each other on the Charles River. (The location of the church and spot where Paul Revere would pick up the horse he would ride through the countryside.)
Follow the expected course of the British troops marching through the countryside to the destinations of Lexington and Concord.
Show that Paul Revere needed to race ahead of the British to warn the villagers.
On the route that travels toward Lexington, show the handwritten note with intentions to “arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams.”
Point out that beyond Lexington, in Concord, the note on the map shows intentions to “seize and destroy all the artillery, ammunition provisions, tents, small arms, and all military stores” that belonged to the colonists.

Vocabulary

At the publication page, pause to work on vocabulary as you discuss the details in the image. Look at the closeup of the saddle, stirrups, and a tricorn hat, symbols that embody the time and theme of the story.

How do those images help you know when the story took place?
What do they indicate?
What sense do they give you?
From whose viewpoint do you think the story will be told?
What other items go with a saddle and stirrups? (e.g., boots, reigns, bridle, bit, blanket, etc.)

Pause at the opposite page to read the book’s title, displayed between two lanterns ablaze in the night. Build anticipation by indicating that the lanterns will be the lynchpin of the story. Tell your audience to get ready to learn how a plan was devised using these two objects as a signal. They will find out what actions were set into motion by how they were placed in the belfry a church tower.

If parts of the story are familiar to your audience, this is a great time to encourage them to relate what they know about this event.

During the read-aloud: As you read the verse, emphasize the rhythm and rhyme. (See more about the poetry’s rhythm described as anapestic tetrameter below.) Each portion of the poem written on one page is reflected in images that surround the page, illuminating the meaning of the words.

Drawing inferences

Pause for questions that help children draw inferences in the story, such as –

Who might be telling the story?
When was this story told? The night of the event, or years later?
Who is the storyteller talking about when the verse reads, “He said to his friend, ‘If the British march by land or sea from the town tonight, hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch…’”?

Look for answers in the illustration and describe the story unfolding of the men inside the historic Green Dragon Tavern. Ask questions such as –

Which gentlemen do we see playing cards, the British or the colonists?
Where might the colonists have heard about what the British intended to do?
What led the patriots to conceive of a plan to notify the villagers ahead of the British troops’ arrival?
What would the villagers do as a result of being warned?

Perspective-taking

Talk about the use of perspectives in the story by asking,

From whose perspective do we see this scene?
From what perspective do we see this scene?
Why did the artist illustrate this event through a window, looking from the outside in?
How does this perspective help us understand how this night will unfold?

More Vocabulary, Grammar and Syntax

Continue to work on tense structures as you encourage descriptions of the action taking place in the town.

The photographs of articles superimposed on engraved and painted images of street scenes add another layer to comprehending the story’s time and place. Tangibles are good conversation starters for the more concrete language learner.

Include vocabulary that is specific to the story. These images also provide good opportunities to target tense structures:

playing cards,
British coins (Massachusetts currency, poker money),
leather pouch,
church with tall steeple at the end of the alleyway, and
masts of the British tall ships behind the church, moored in Boston Harbor

This is the first image we see of the church and its steeple. It shows its beauty and height, and helps in understanding the context of the story about a light in the belfry. Reread the verse,

And I on the opposite shore will be

Ready to ride and spread the alarm.

Talk about how it was possible that the one- or two-lantern signal could be seen “on the opposite shore” of Charles River, where Revere is waiting on horseback.

As the poem continues, the next image of tall ships in the harbor adds meaning to the words

The Somerset, British man-of-war;

A phantom ship, with each mast and spar

Across the moon like a prison bar,

And a huge black hulk, that was magnified

By its own reflection in the tide.

Give definitions for uncommon words that provide more background for the story. Talk about how ships are given names and discuss the meanings of words such as –

man-of-war, a British naval sailing ship (i.e., armed with canons),

phantom ship (i.e., no crew on board),

mast (i.e., long upright pole supporting the sails), and

spar (i.e., rigging for the sails).

Use the words in target sentence structures and in the context of the beautifully rendered silhouettes of ships against the light of the moon.

Similes and Metaphors

Discuss the simile used to describe the silhouette of the rigging against the full moon, like of a prison bar. Ask questions such as –

Why did the poet choose those words to describe the image?
How did his words make you feel about the ship? Its purpose in the harbor?
How did his words make you feel about the presence of the British?

The text on the next page describes the stealthy aspect of the night.

Meanwhile, his friend, through alley and street

Wanders and watches, with eager ears,

Till in the silence around him he hears

The muster of men at the barrack door,

The sound of arms, the tramp of feet,

And the measured tread of the grenadiers,

Marching down to their boats on the shore.

Describe the scene of the patriot hiding behind the wall in the shadows, listening for clues, watching the direction of the marching British troops. Talk about the poet’s use of metaphor, as in –

What are eager ears?
What other metaphors could be used for ears?
Why was it important for Revere’s friend to note the direction of the soldiers “marching down to their boats on the shore?”

Even More Vocabulary

Define words in their context by first asking children their thoughts, encouraging them to make guesses. Then elaborate, as in –

What is a muster of men? (a group of men)
What is a measured tread? (stepping in formation to the same beat)
What are grenadiers? (a special regiment of soldiers that carry and throw grenades)

Note: The word grenadiers also refers to the strongest, most imposing men in the troops who were used to intimidate the enemy.

More Perspective-taking

Talk about perspective in the image by asking,

From whose perspective does the viewer see the grenadiers?
How would the perspective have been different if it had been the patriots in the tavern?
Was it likely that they would have been noticed by the men in the tavern? Why or why not?

More Drawing Inferences

Continue the pattern, reading the verse with the urgency depicted in its rhythm and drawing out details as shown through the illustrations. Ask thoughtful questions, especially when describing the friend who spied on the British, who then waits in the dark atop the bell tower to see them advance.

“A line of black that bends and floats/On the rising tide, like a bridge of boats.”

What was the “line of black”?
What did that indicate about how the British were advancing?
What did that mean he had to do next?

Shape verbal responses by scaffolding with language to make meaning clearer.

Also discuss the artist’s use of shadows throughout his illustrations. How do the shadows help to heighten the meaning to the events in this story?

After the read-aloud: Continue to help children infer meaning from the words of the verse, which can be challenging for various learners. Lead them into finding clues in the context of the situation.

Associations

Connecting the places, people, and things in the story also helps to infer meaning from the story. Ask questions such as –

A red coat, musket, and black boots all belong to _______.
What other items did the “redcoats” have?
Why were British soldiers called redcoats?
Why were they in Boston?
How did they get there?

In this story, a lot went on in the Green Dragon Tavern.

Who went to the tavern?
Name some things that happened there.
What kinds of conversations do you think people had in the tavern?
What items could be seen in the tavern by looking in the window from the outside?
What kinds of items were needed to play their game of cards?

In this story, there were ships in the harbor in Boston.

What kinds of ships were in the harbor?
What other things were seen in the city of Boston at that time?
Where did this story take place?
What other cities were part of the story?
Where were all these cities and towns located on the map?

and so on.

Discussions

Hold a Discussion on a topic related to the story that is of interest to your audience. During the ongoing discussion, shape tense structures and target language literacy skills such as expressing cause-and-effect relationships, drawing inferences, and the social aspects of contributing to the conversation and listening to others’ points of view. Here are a few suggestions:

The Horse: Longfellow’s poem is the story of Paul Revere’s ride – on a magnificent horse. We can shine a light on this incredible animal as a reminder that there would be no excitement – or good outcome – without her. She is part of our visual image of Paul Revere and what transpired that night.

There are enough historical facts about her that can lead to interesting book talk and create more ways to connect your audience to the story. Records indicate the mare (not a he, as the poem states) was a steed, an old word meaning a fast horse used for riding rather than pulling. While it is doubtful she had a name, since horses weren’t given names during the colonial period, her owner, John Larkin, described her as a “brown beauty.” In some material written about her today, she is nonetheless given the name, Brown Beauty. Today, she is honored with an impressive bronze statue in the square of Paul Revere Mall in Boston, Massachusetts.

What also makes for interesting conversation is that the horse was loaned to Paul Revere, who presumably had never ridden her.

Pause for a moment to imagine it: a colonist who has never ridden the chosen horse, agrees to pick her up across a wide river patrolled by a British ship at night. After he is rowed stealthily across the water in the dark with the help of two other men, evading discovery by the HMS Somerset, he secretly receives the horse from another patriot at the agreed location. Then he watches and waits for a clear signal given by his friend who, with two lanterns, had climbed into a church steeple where large bells were housed – off in the distance, miles away. Once he is sure of his friend’s message, he jumps onto the horse and races off into the countryside – in the dark – for 10 miles – at top speed – delivering an urgent message – one he must keep shouting out in the darkness to wake up the people in the town.

He must convince the villagers of the impending danger and rouse them to take up arms – quickly before the British troops arrive. Paul Revere must have been an excellent rider. But also consider what a remarkable horse to have raced across difficult ground never before trod on at the direction of his unfamiliar rider.

Her breed was Narragansett, a colonial-era horse now extinct. The breed was fairly tall (15.1 hands, or about 5 feet), with a 4-beat gait. This is significant to the poem. The pace and rhythm of this horse is smooth, much different from the 2-beat trot of a carriage horse bred for labor, which is described as “jarring.” In a 4-beat gait, the horse’s front and back legs on one side come up at the same time, and land at slightly different times. One of Bing’s illustrations shows precisely this.

Longfellow’s poem is written in rhythm suggestive of the horse’s gait. It is called anapestic tetrameter, for the most part sounding like this:

da-da-DUM, da-da-DUM, da-da-DUM.

Now, with this new information on the horse and rider, go back to the illustration of Paul Revere with “Brown Beauty” in the foreground, the steeple with two tiny lights in the distance, and the surveilling HMS Somerset in the bay between them. Describe the scene. Connect your audience with the horse, watchful ship, and distant signal for a better understanding of the intense moment, as Paul Revere confirms from the belfry of Old North Church what must determine his ride.

And lo! as he looks, on the belfy’s height

A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!

He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,

But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight

A second lamp in the belfy burns.

The Green Dragon Tavern was indeed the name of the meeting place of the Sons of Liberty. It played a major role in their efforts to resist British rule. It is considered historical fact that this is where the patriots secretly learned that “redcoats” were planning to seize their munitions and capture patriots at Lexington and Concord. They wanted to know more about the British plans. So, they met in the basement of the Green Dragon Tavern, developed strategies of resistance, held debates, and organized an eavesdropping operation.

In fact, they met there so often that the Green Dragon Tavern came to be called the “Headquarters of the American Revolution.” The Boston Tea Party also was planned within those walls. Today, while it has been relocated, it still remains close to its original location. It is known as the oldest pub of the Revolutionary period and one of the ten oldest in the world!

Ask questions about what happened in the tavern, such as –

Once they heard the British plans to seize their ammunitions and capture patriots, how do you think they felt about it?
Would they all have thought the same way about what to do about it?
Might the patriots have had different solutions to the problem?
How might they have come up with one plan and gotten everyone to agree?
What ways might they have spied on the redcoats to learn more about their plan?

The Belfry. Pause at the illustration inside of the belfry. It was here that the placement of lanterns in the image-evoking scene of a secret signal (“one, if by land, and two, if by sea”) identified the tactical course of the British.

Talk about the meaning of belfry (part of the timber work or structure of a church steeple that holds and/or encloses a bell). Ask thoughtful question such as,

Why would pigeons have been in the belfry?
Was this a place that anyone visited regularly?
How would Robert Newman, Revere’s friend, have gotten up into the belfry?
Do you think this was easy carrying two lanterns?
What must it have been like to be in that belfry at dark?

The artist’s research included retracing the steps of Longfellow as he climbed into the steeple of Old North Church in order to gain the perspective of the poet. Talk about the poet himself and why he did that before writing this poem.

The artist’s perspective on the belfry from above, looking down on patriot Robert Newman, lends meaning to the verse that reads,

“…startled the pigeons from their perch,”

pulling the viewer into the event through a sense of stealth and urgency to the night.

Ask questions to build skills in tense structures, literate language skills of cause-and-effect relationships, inferencing, as well as creating interesting discussions. Some suggestions –

Why were the feathers flying about in the scene?
What was Robert Newman looking up at in this scene?
How do you think he got two lanterns up in that small space?
What are some things he had to be careful of?

Paul Revere’s Waiting Place. Point out the location of Charlestown on the map at the back of the book. Point out the location of the HMS Somerset, Discuss how Revere arrived at his waiting place under dangerous conditions, and what it must have felt like to wait with the horse until he was sure of the signal. The text by Christopher Bing on the last pages gives us more details.

All ferries and other vessels transporting citizens across the river that night had been seized by the British ship, HMS Somerset. Paul Revere made it across and escaped being seen, heard, and captured by officers on that ship. Two of his friends, considered expert boatmen, snuck him quietly across without detection. To do this, they covered the oars with soft clothing, so the oars didn’t make noise as they struck the water. Had their rowboat been detected and captured as other vessels were, the famous event may never have taken place.

What qualities did Paul Revere’s friends have that would make them want to carry out this risky plan?
Why do you think they would risk their lives for this plan? What was the greater goal?
How did Paul Revere already know the intent of the British to march on land that night?
Why was the appearance of a second lamp so important? Do you think there was a better plan?
How carefully did they have to plan this event?
What attributes do you think these men had to come up with ideas and offer to help?
What attributes do you think Paul Revere had that would have helped him execute this plan?
What effect would they have on Revere, both in waiting to make sure he accurately got its message and in starting out his ride?

Then re-read the poem as it emphasizes the outset of his ride. Ask listeners to imagine listening to the accentuated, sudden sounds of the speeding horse and what this meant as you read,

A hurry of hoofs in a village street,

A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,

And beneath, from the pebbles,

In passing, a spark

Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet:

That was all! And yet,

through the gloom and the light,

The fate of a nation was riding that night;

And the spark struck out

by that steed, in his flight,

Kindled the land into flame with its heat.

Speech Production

To work on articulation skills, consider all the opportunities to work on R phoneme varieties in the context of talking about the story. While individuals working to generalize new production of any particular phoneme can use book talk to practice this, the frequency of R phoneme allophone varieties in this story make it ideal to zero in on those targets, no matter what level you are working on.

Here are possible target words just from the first few pages:

Prevocalic R, initial: Revere, remembers, reflection, read, ride, rose
Vocalic R unstressed: lantern, muster, remembers
Vocalic R stressed: hear, year, horse, shore, north, march, farm
Consonant blends: friend, British, children, April, belfry, street

Note: Another excellent interpretation of Longfellow’s poem is the picture book titled Paul Revere’s Ride, illustrated by Ted Rand, published by Dutton Children’s Books, 1996. It is a very worthwhile book, equally notable in its awards and reviews. It also highlights the horse and rider in shadowy midnight images. In this book, the horse stops at the water trough, which she surely would have needed to do having raced that distance, and Revere is shown interacting with the colonists outside their homes.

Both books include maps showing the route of the other riders that night, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott. Both provide a page of text at the back giving other details, such as Robert Newman’s climb up to the belfry to signal Revere and others about the route of the British. The book is also suitable for older children.

Additional Note: See a book treatment of Christopher Bing’s Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888, a Caldecott Honor book (with marvelous illustrations to accompany the famous ode to the baseball game) in the Catalogs of Books Are for Talking, Too! (4th Ed.). Find it on Amazon at:

https://a.co/d/efcKFw6

Additional Note: Short educational videos about Paul Revere’s Ride are available on YouTube. These videos can build interest in the story for the more visual, concrete learners. See one such re-enactment at:

https://youtu.be/Q1El-guPeEo

More information on Paul Revere’s midnight ride, the famous horse, and the book’s illustrator, award-winning Christopher Bing, can be found on the following links:

https://www.paulreverehouse.org

https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/archives/great-horses-in-history-brown-beauty-49363

https://www.christopherbing.com/art-work/books-illustrations/midnight-ride-of-paul-revere

The Snowman

The Snowman
by Raymond Briggs
New York: Random House, Inc., 1978

Suggested Grade and Interest Level: Pre-3

Topics to Explore: Friendship; Snow; Winter season

Skills to Target: Vocabulary (Beginning Concepts: Time, Color, Size, and Shape; and Prepositions); Morphosyntactic structures (Noun-verb agreement; Singular and plural nouns; Possessive forms of Nouns and pronouns; Present and Past tenses); Language literacy (Sequencing events, Cause-effect relationships, Drawing inferences, Storytelling, and Discussion); Social Pragmatics; and Articulation (carryover for any identified phoneme production).

Synopsis: A classic of the first proportion, this wordless story is illustrated with the softness of colored pencil drawings. A boy wakes up one magical winter morning to see snow outside his window. He bounds out of bed and goes outside. Follow the boy as he creates the snowman, goes to bed that night, and dreams it comes to life. See how each shows the other the manners, objects, customs, and places of their world. See their fantastic journey unfold while you share in the joy of creating the narrative together.

Methods: Before the read-aloud: Talk about and describe the snowman on the book’s cover. Talk about how you make a snowman. What steps are involved? Help the child describe the sequence,

rolling snow into a ball, then
putting one ball on top of another, then
putting eyes and a nose on his head, and then a scarf and hat to keep him warm.

Use the book’s cover to point out the parts of the snowman.

Encourage the child to relate his or her experiences with snowmen.

When did the child see one? Build one?
Where was the snowman?
Who built it?
What did they use for its eyes, nose, etc. (i.e., stones, twigs, scarves, carrots, etc.).

During the shared reading, begin by helping the child focus on each frame, one at a time, to support the sequence the events. Point to the frame and begin the story segment with your own words. Then ask the child to share in telling the story and scaffold (support) the child’s utterances according to the skills you want to target and specified goals.

To work on Beginning Concepts:

Time: Talk about how time goes by as the boy builds his snowman. When he gets up to see the snow it is morning. When the snowman is built, and he goes inside and brushes his teeth it is evening.

How much time did it take to build a snowman?
Did it take a long time or a short time?
What makes you think so?

Color: Point out the colors to show that it is, for instance, warm inside the house, hot by the fire, cold in the snow, and so on. Name the colors as you talk about the story’s meaning.

Size and Shape: Include in your descriptions the size and shape of the snow the boy shapes. For example, the first ball in his hands is small. As he rolls it, we see it get big and round. Later, when he carries it to the top of the mound, it has grown bigger between his hands. If possible, relate the story to an experience the child has had playing in the snow.

To work on Prepositions, pause to discuss the movement of the action taking place, or the position of the subjects. Include prepositional phrases where possible. Some suggestions:

The boy looks through the window (at the snowman).
The boy runs out of the house.
The boy puts the snowball on top of the mound.
The snowman walks toward the boy.
They walk inside the house.
They kneel in front of the fire.
The boy follows behind the snowman.
They fly up in the sky.
They fly over the city.
They land safely down in the snow.
The snowman’s arm goes around the boy.
The boy sleeps under the covers.

To work on Categories, pause to name items that belong to a certain set that are featured on a page. For example, on the first page of illustrations, the boy wakes up to see a snowy day. After describing the action sequence, pause to name all the winter clothing needed to wear outside (e.g., shirt, pants, boots, hat, and mittens). Are there any more that would fit into this category but not shown in the story? What are they all called? (Winter clothes)

In another example, when the boy and snowman make dinner together, name all the kitchen items shown (e.g., paper towels, canisters, jars, dishes, ice cube tray, soap, etc.). Then ask what else might have been on the kitchen counter at the boy’s house. (E.g., silverware, glasses, carton of milk, sponge, wastebasket, etc.)

To Expand Utterances: For young children developing two-and-three-word utterances, focus on the action in the frame. State what’s happening simply. If the child does not attempt to verbalize, model a simpler construction. Saying words in a slight rhythm, like a song, can be helpful. If the child does not at first respond, continue to the next frame.

Where possible, draw similarities to the boy’s and child’s experiences. For example,
Adult: The boy rolls the snow [into a ball].
Adult [models]: Roll the snow.

Tip: Make hand gestures for the child to imitate as you say the words. Some examples:

Adult: He rolls the snow in a ball.
Adult [models with gestures]: Rolls the snow.
Adult {models with gestures]: Rolls a ball

Adult: The boy ties a napkin on the snowman.
Adult [models with gestures with the child]: Ties the napkin.

Adult: The snowman shakes hands with the boy.
Adult [models and imitates with child]: Shake hands.

You can also support the child’s utterances by scaffolding with meaningful words, to help expand the utterance. Some examples:

Child: boots
Adult [responds]: That’s right. The boy puts on his boots [to go outside in the snow].
Adult [models]: Put on boots.
Child: Put on boots.

Child: inside
Adult: That’s right! The snowman comes inside the house.
Child: inside house
Model: Yes! He comes inside the warm house.

Child: Snowman walk
Adult: Yes. The snowman walks to the boy.
Child: Walk to boy
Adult: Yes! The snowman walks over to the boy.

To develop Morphosyntactic structures (i.e., word order, sentence structure, grammar, and sentence complexity)

Noun + Verb Agreement: When illustrations show both the boy and snowman performing the same activities, describe the action of one, then the other, then both. Like this:

Point to the boy and describe the action.
Point to the snowman and describe the action.
Point to encompass both and use they to describe the action, as in

He [the boy] walks upstairs.
He [the snowman] walks upstairs .
They walk upstairs.

He [the boy] hits the balloons.
He [the snowman] hits the balloons.
They hit the balloons.

Present Tense Structures. You can easily begin modeling present tense structures as you describe each frame of the story. Reinforce a child’s emerging use of tense structures by encouraging a description of. This can be stated in simple present tense or present progressive tense, such as those with the auxiliary (helping) verb, like is.

The Snowman is an ideal picture book to interpret the feelings and emotions of the characters. The snowman’s expressions of interest, curiosity, mystery (to him), and even awe, can prompt some interesting sentences.

So, after describing the character’s action, create a follow-up sentence describing the character’s response.

Note: this is also a good strategy for teaching storytelling skills.

For example, when the snowman sees the lamp with the light turned on, he looks both curious and delighted. You can model sentences such as:

The snowman sees the lamp.
The snowman wonders about it.
The snowman likes the lamp.

Model in both simple present and present progressive tense (-ing), as in

See it glow.
The lamp glows.
The lamp is glowing.
The snowman is wondering how it glows.

The boy turns off the lamp.
The snowman looks sad.
The snowman is turning the lamp on.
Now the snowman is looking happy again.

You can repeat this method for the frames showing action and response, as in

discovering running water in the sink
getting ice cubes from the tray
trying out the boy’s skateboard

flying into the sky
waking up the next morning
seeing the melted snowman

Plural forms of nouns. Look for multiple items in the story such as

Snowflakes
Toothbrushes
Snow tracks
Ice cubes
Balloons
Dish and dishes
Lights
Trees
Buildings

Possessive forms of nouns. Look for items that belong to the character and model a sentence, as in

The boy’s toys _____ (skateboard, punching bag, balloons, etc.).
The snowman’s _______ (hat, scarf, eyes, nose, and so on).
The dad’s ______ (tie, hat, suspenders, pants (and so on).

Negation sentences. Look for actions to express what the snowman doesn’t like, such as

He doesn’t like the fire in the fireplace,
He doesn’t like the heat on the stove, and
He doesn’t like getting hit by the punching bag.

Or what the boy can’t do or doesn’t think is such a good idea, such as

He can’t go to sleep,
He shouldn’t pull the roll of paper towels off the roll, and
It’s not a good idea to make noise going up the stairs.

Create Compound Sentences with the characters and their actions, as in

The snowman tries out the skateboard, but he falls off.
The snowman waves goodbye, and the boy walks inside the house.
The boy goes to bed, yet he can’t sleep.

Create Complex Sentences by connecting two simple sentences with a who, that, or which, such as

The boy showed his skateboard to the snowman, who wanted to try it out.
The boy showed the snowman the fireplace, which wasn’t a good idea.
The boy showed the snowman the car that was in the garage.

Language Literacy (sometimes referred to as Text Structures)

To work on expressing a Sequence of Events, an important skill for narrative abilities, use connecting words while linking each frame. Model and scaffold with words first, then, next, and finally to connect the story parts.

For example, when the boy runs out the door to play in the newly fallen snow, describe the action in one frame, then use a connecting word to begin the next frame, as in

First, he rolled the snow in a ball with his hands.
Then he rolled the ball in the snow to make it bigger
Next, he got a shovel and shoveled more snow onto the ball.
Finally, he came inside to have breakfast with Mom.

To work on expressing Cause and Effect Relationships, explain what caused the actions to occur in the story. What was the event or that caused the next action? What was the connection? Scaffold with words such as so and because and caused. For example,

The boy got out of bed because he couldn’t sleep.
The boy got a tangerine so he could make a nose for the snowman.
The hot fire caused the snowman to lean backward.

To stimulate the sentence structure, consider asking a question that enables an explanation. Support using the words of the question in the response, as in

Question: Why is the snowman on the floor?
Answer: The snowman is on the floor because he fell off the skateboard.

Question: Why did the boy motion to the door?
Answer: He motioned to the door so that snowman would enter.

Question: What made holes in the snow as the snowman walked over to the boy?
Answer: The snowman’s footsteps caused tracks to be made in the snow.

To work on Drawing Inferences, a good place to start is when the snowman enters the boy’s house. Having worked on cause-effect relationships in the previous section, as well as interpreting the character’s feelings and reactions, the child will have had practice in developing this skill.

Note: Part of the endearing quality of this story is seeing how each character introduces the other to his world. The snowman is introduced to items in the boy’s world that are foreign to a snowman. So, understanding each other’s backgrounds is essential to the story.

For example, look at the frame that shows the boy motioning toward the fireplace. His arm is outstretched and the warm colors behind him indicate the source emanating heat.

What do you think the boy is saying to the snowman?
What does he want to show him?
Look at the snowman leaning backward.
He dropped his hat, and he’s using his arm as a shield.
What do you think the snowman is thinking right now?
What might he be feeling?
Why would he feel scared and think he should move away?
What might he be saying to the boy?

In another example, see the frame that shows the boy motioning toward the chair at the end of the dinner table. He ties the napkin around the snowman’s neck. Then he puts a plate and silverware in front of him. Look at the snowman’s expression. His head is down as if studying the plate. You might first make comments such as,

Look at how the snowman is looking at the plate.

Then ask,

What might he be thinking?

If the child cannot interpret the meaning, ask yes/no or leading questions about a snowman’s experiences. Using background information comes into play. For example,

Do you think he’s ever seen a plate before? Or used a plate?
I wonder what he thinks the plate is for.

Drawing inferences about what has occurred between the frames is also important. For example, when the boy is first building his snowman, we see him in the next frame back inside the house with his mother. In the following frame, the boy is running outside again with a scarf and a hat in his hands. You might say,

Look at the boy with his mother pointing outside the window.
Now look at the next picture when he goes back outside.
What do you think the boy is saying to his mother?
What makes you think so?

After the shared read-aloud, review selected pages and ask for the favorite parts. As you review the action and character responses of a favorite segment, reinforce specific skills you want to enhance, such as past tense structures, sequencing story parts and creating cause-effect statements. Once the story is told, it’s also a great time to go back over certain segments to build pragmatic language skills.

To work on Pragmatic, Social Language,

As you review the pages, share in stating the dialog that would likely accompany the story. Ask the child to keep in mind the kind of language that is good to use between friends, as the relationship between the boy and snowman is forming.

Social language in the story can involve the following:

Speech acts, such as greeting, labeling, requesting, and answering,
Turn-taking, with built-in expectation that the other will respond,
Topic initiation and switching, and
Message repair

For example, in the frame where the snowman walks over to the boy and they shake hands, take turns stating how each might have greeted the other. Make the conversation come alive as you give them names and state their greetings.

As the boy signals before the door with his finger to his lips, ask the child to supply the dialog. Why would he want to be quiet? Then take the part of the snowman in his response.

When the boy shows the snowman the light in the kitchen and turns it on, ask:

What does he say?
Why would he say he’s turning on the light?
Does he expect the snowman to respond?
What does the snowman say when he responds?

Each time the boy shows the snowman something new, ask:

How might he initiate the conversation?
Would he use a segue?
What words would he use to signal he’s changing the subject?
Would he expect the snowman to respond?
How might the snowman respond?
How might the boy respond?

To work on holding Discussions, consider the topic of dreams. Ask thoughtful questions such as,

If you made a snowman you made and it came to life, what kinds of adventures would you have?
Why are dreams of fantasy and adventure a good thing to have?
How does expressing our creativity make us feel?

Also talk about one of the book’s theme of friendship.

What are some ways the boy showed kindness to the snowman?

In what ways did he encourage friendship? (Sharing toys, showing how to perform learned activities, sharing a meal, and so forth.)

To work on generalizing Articulation skills:

If you’re also using the book as an opportunity to generalize a newly acquired speech sound (or more than one phoneme, or another speech production skill), share the story and ask the child to identify in the illustration the word that has the target sound(s). Then discuss the illustration using the word in a description that talks about the story. Remember to encourage production at the level in which the child has acquired.

__________

Note: Another version of this book is available by the title, The Snowman Storybook with words by Raymond Briggs, published in 1990. Other styles of The Snowman include a popup and board book.

Additional Note: Look for the animated version of The Snowman made for Chanel 4 that features a Christmas on YouTube. Some links:

https://youtu.be/5A3THighARU?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/VbC8sOqSRKY?feature=shared

For the BBC’s article on the 100 greatest children’s books:

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230522-the-100-greatest-childrens-books-of-all-time

Special Note: Find literally hundreds of picture books ideally suited for building the skills addressed here in Book Talk in the Skills Index of Books Are for Talking, Too! (Fourth Edition). Then find them cross-referenced in three age-related catalogs along with methods for targeting the specific skills you want to address.

PLUS: You can find even more books on this topic in Books Are for Talking, Too! (Fourth Edition). Look in the Topic Explorations section under: Seasons, Winter. Then see books cross-referenced in the catalogs with methods for building communication and early literacy skills.

Buy it on Amazon

Wordy Birdy

by Tammi Sauer

New York: Random House Children’s Books, 2018

Suggested Grade and Interest Level: Pre through 1st

Topics to Explore: Animals; Birds; Friendship; Humor; Manners and etiquette; Sounds and listening

Skills to Target: Concepts of Print; Phonological Awareness; Vocabulary (Attributes, Prepositions); Grammar and Syntax (Question, Negation, and Tense structures, Suffixes, Reflexive Pronouns); Literate Language (Predicting and Sequencing events, Problem solving); and Pragmatic Language.

Synopsis: Wordy Birdy is a colorful character, in more ways than one. She has incredible plumage, and as the title suggests, uses lots of words. She has so much to say that she doesn’t listen to anyone else! Rabbit’s, Squirrel’s, and Raccoon’s expressions are priceless and clearly show their exasperation – ideal elements for Book Talk. Despite their frustrations, they come to her rescue after she doesn’t heed their warnings about something ominous in the forest. Only after a big scare does Wordy Birdy learn that listening pays off. She thanks her friends by having them to her treehouse for cake and lemonade. Now they all happily hold a conversation.

Before the read-aloud, read the title and show the book’s cover of a bird pictured sideways with her long head feathers standing straight out her head. Rotate the book to show the bird right-side up. As you read the title, run your finger beneath the words to show the direction in which they are read.

Then ask children to take a closer look at the cover. What is in the background? See if they can identify that words are faded into the background color as you work to develop Concepts of Print. Point them out and read a few, such as

I’m upside down.

Oh, and I look really good…

…..enjoy this book…

Make predictions about what kind of character Wordy Birdy is likely to be.

During the read-aloud, continue to teach Concepts of Print. Point out the dialogue balloons on the inside cover. This is a great place to explain that Wordy Birdy, as well as Rabbit, Squirrel, and Raccoon, have things to say. Show that their talk is written down so we can read what they say.

Point to indicate the character as it is speaking. This can help children follow along with the story, since there is a changing sequence of narrative and dialogue throughout the story on which to keep focused.

As you enter the first page, continue to work on Concepts of Print. Show the differences in the text. In the part that tells the story, the text is in smaller letters. In the part that shows what they say (their talk), the text is in bigger letters. In this way, you help increase the focus as children understand the way in which this story is designed to be told.

Experimenting with different character voices other than the one you use to read the narrative can also help with print concepts and story comprehension.

Combine work on Tense Structures with Reflexive Pronouns. As the story begins, Wordy Birdy steps outside her house onto the branch of a tree. She greets the beautiful colors of the sunrise and says,

“Hello. Oh! Hello, gorgeous.”

Pause to ask who Birdy is saying Hello to. Encourage or model the word, herself, in giving the explanation, such as —

She is looking at herself.

Reinforce the learning with other sentences about Wordy Birdy using present tense with the target word, such as —

She talks to herself.

She is talking to herself.

She likes to hear herself talk.

Then introduce the word reflection, and model a sentence for repetition, such as —

She sees a reflection of herself.

Grammar and Syntax

Target Present Tense Verbs by verbalizing the actions of Wordy Birdy. Model sentences for repetition or shape child responses to produce target structures like,

She stands on one leg [like an acrobat].

She looks in the mirror.

She spreads out her wings.

She tumbles upside down.

She walks off tree branches.

She carries fruit in her wings.

and so on.

Then demonstrate how Suffixes can be added to the verbs to make Present Progressive and Past Tense Sentence Structures.

For example,

Demonstrate: She looks in the mirror.

Identify: If you add [the suffix] -ing to look, what word do you get? (Looking)

Identify: Which part did we add? (-ing)

Ask: How would the sentence change? (She is looking in the mirror)

Feedback: That’s right! “She looks in the mirror,” changes to “She is looking in the mirror.”

Next, target Regular Past Tense Structures with suffix –ed to make, She looked. Follow the same pattern. Demonstrate, identify, and give feedback comparing the two verb forms in each sentence. Some examples:

walk, walked

ask, asked

stop, stopped

listen, listened

tumble, tumbled

and so on.

Then, target Irregular Past Tense Structures by explaining that there are exceptions to the “Suffix rule”. Follow the same pattern. Demonstrate, identify, and give feedback comparing the two forms (or correct and incorrect forms) such as —

fly, flew

stand, stood

spread, spread

leave, left

and so on.

To work on Prepositions, add to the simple present tense sentence words that tell the movement of the action taking place. Use the sentences provided above. Some suggestions:

She struts across the branch of the tree.

She walks through the forest.

Rabbit points toward the sign.

She rests her elbows on the table.

and so on.

To work on Negation Structure, pause at the page that shows Wordy Birdy upside down with the text that reads —

“Sometimes she talks about what she doesn’t like.”

Then read inside the speech bubble to learn what it is she doesn’t like.

“I don’t like tall grass or turtlenecks or long lines or tuna salad

or losing my balloons…”

Present the start of a sentence for the child to close – or fill in – with the last word(s), as in —

Wordy (Birdy) does not like _______. (tuna salad, etc.)

Then repeat the sentence.

Wordy (Birdy) does not like tuna salad.

Then encourage the child to say the whole sentence along with you.

Finally, ask the question, “What doesn’t she like?” Start the answer for the child to complete with the negative structure, as in,

“She ________________ (doesn’t like tuna salad).”

Now ask the child to take the part of Wordy Birdy and tell what she does not like. For example,

Adult: Wordy Birdy, what don’t you like?

Child: I don’t like long lines!

Work on Question structures, by pausing at the next page that reads,

“Sometimes she just asks questions.”

Then read the text inside the speech bubble to hear the kinds of questions she asks, such as —-

“Why do zebras have stripes?

Is Bigfoot real?

Are we there yet?”

Notice each question Wordy Birdy begins uses a different “question” word. Select one and begin modeling other questions Wordy Birdy might ask. For example, take the Why question and use the illustration as a visual stimulus, as in —

Why is Birdy upside down?

Why is Birdy smiling?

Why is Birdy talking so much?

Now use another word to initiate the question and play Question-Answer. For example,

Is Birdy right side up? (No, she’s right side up.)

is Birdy a quiet bird? (No, she’s a talkative bird.)

Is Birdy a happy bird? (Yes, she’s a happy bird.)

Ask the child to ask you the question so that you can respond. Model the structure if necessary.

Note: If question structures are a target objective, consider using this format on more of the pages in a playful way.

Vocabulary

To work on Attributes, ask children whether their predictions about Wordy Birdy from the cover illustration were correct. A bird with these stand-out characteristics can make naming Attributes and Adjectives a lot of fun.

For instance, Wordy Birdy not only has lots to say while her yellow beak stays open all the time, but her plumage is extraordinary. Take turns naming all the colors of the feathers in her wings, body, tail, and headpiece. Some suggestions for other attributes (at certain times in the story) include —

colorful

talkative

scattered

energetic

careless

happy

fun

kind

thoughtful (later on)

and other descriptions you and the children have.

After the read-aloud, ask why Wordy Birdy didn’t listen to her friends. Encourage children to express the meaning of the story. Also ask,

What lesson did Wordy Birdy learn about speaking and listening to others?

Once she learned to listen, was she able to communicate with her friends?

What happened because of that?

Language Literacy

(Sometimes called Literate Discourse or Text Structures)

Sequence story events by going back over the pages leading up to the encounter with the bear. Encourage children to relate the events, connecting them with words such as first, then, next, and finally. It might go something like this:

First, Wordy Birdy stepped outside her tree house.

Then she started talking.

Then she looked at herself in the mirror and kept on talking.

Next, her friends say she never stops talking.

Then Wordy Birdy took a walk through the forest.

And then she still didn’t listen when her friends tried to warn her.

Then her friends had to pull her away from the bear.

Finally, Wordy Birdy learns it’s better to listen and let her friends talk, too!

To work on Problem Solving, ask children to state the problem in the story. Then connect it with the solution. Encourage expression of the events with words such as because, since, and so. Paraphrasing for repetition may be necessary. It might go something like this:

Q: What was the problem in the story?

A: The problem was that Wordy Birdy talked too much.

Q: What made Wordy Birdy’s incessant talking a problem?

A: Since she didn’t listen to anybody, she didn’t converse with them.

Q: What happened because of her problem?

A: Her friends weren’t happy.

A: They were frustrated with Wordy Birdy because she wouldn’t listen.

Q: What else?

A: She almost got eaten by a bear because she wasn’t listening.

A: What was the solution?

A: She was going to run into a big bear so her friends warned her.

Q: How did her friends help solve the problem?

A: They made a lot of noise to scare the bear so Wordy Birdy could get away.

Q: When Wordy Birdy realized her friends helped her, what did she do?

A: She thanked them because they helped her.

Q: What else did she do?

A: She had her friends over for cake and lemonade so she could thank them.

Now identify the problem and connect it to the solution using so and because.

Q: How did Wordy Birdy solve her problem of always talking?

A: She listens to her friends since it’s important for them to talk, too!

Pragmatic Language Skills

To work on Greetings, go back over the story from the beginning and talk about how Wordy Birdy greeted the day using the word Hello. Then ask,

Did Wordy Birdy greet her friends in the same way when she saw them?

Or did she just keep walking and talking to herself on the tree branch?

Was this expected or unexpected in terms of how her friends experienced it?

Would it be good for Wordy Birdy to engage with her friends?

How could she engage with Rabbit, Squirrel, and Raccoon in her own way that would be considered expected behavior?

Then ask, “If she had greeted her friends, do you think she would she have been a better listener? Why do you think so?”

Why is it a good idea to greet someone when you first see them?

How does it make the other person feel when you say Hello or Hi?

How does it make you feel when they say Hi back?

To work on Staying on Topic and Turn-Taking:

Drawing attention to everything Wordy Birdy says in one speech balloon is a good way to teach about talking to a topic. Go back over one of the pages and read her dialog again. Did she change topics? Ask the child to count how many separate topics she talked about. Her dialogue balloon says,

“This one time I totally went swimming with a narwhal.

Do you think there’s an award for Bird of the Year?

My third cousin Barb is a penguin. Really!

FACT! People used to think the world was flat and you could fall right off the end.”

Ask how it might sound to the other characters when she changes topics.

Would you be able to easily engage with her? Encourage children’s responses about how they might react if they heard Wordy Birdy talk for real.

Talk about the purpose of the talk. Ask,

When she stated a fact, was she informing them of something? Or just talking to hear herself talk?

How did things change when Rabbit, Raccoon, and Squirrel came for cake and lemonade with Wordy Birdy?

Look at Wordy Birdy’s “body language” on the last page. What is different about her now? Do you think she likes engaging with her friends?

Hold a Discussion on listening. What does it mean to listen? Are there different kinds of listening? The book says Wordy Birdy “never listens to anybody.”

The text asks,

“Does Wordy Birdy ever listen?”

Ask,

Why didn’t Wordy Birdy listen?

Could Wordy hear sounds in her environment?

Could she have listened to someone talk?

Play a game of listening to environmental sounds. Then ask,

What can you hear when you stop to listen to sounds?

Now what does it mean when we talk about listening to another?

Do we listen just to the sounds they make? Or the words they say?

What is the difference?

Phonological Awareness

Play Phonological Awareness (PA) games at the beginning levels of rhyming and syllable awareness with selected words in the story. While the full spectrum of awareness levels is not within the scope of this book treatment, opportunities to play sound games with the title and compound words in the text make this book ideal for work at these levels.

You’ll find PA activities covered in depth with activities for the entire spectrum PA using select picture books in Books Are for Talking, Too! (Fourth Edition).

Note: PA levels are hierarchical, so some children may easily participate in these activities, others may continue to work at higher levels, and some may need to begin work further down the hierarchy to achieve success with the tasks. The activities that follow can be fun word play:

Rhyming Awareness Level:

Do-They-Rhyme? Children identify whether word pairs rhyme. You can use the rhyming pairs that follow, and intersperse more non-rhyming words if needed:

Wordy – Birdy (yes)

Wordy – Talky ( no )

tree – me (yes)

tree – leaf (no)

leaf – beef (yes)

not – dot ( Yes)

run – ton (yes)

listen – glisten (yes)

rabbit – raccoon (no)

rabbit – habit ( yes)

darker – marker (yes)

Which-One-Rhymes? Children select a rhyming word from a word string that matches the target word. Use the words provided in Do-They-Rhyme? Give initial phoneme or cluster cues if needed. For example, say

Wordy.

Which word rhymes with Wordy?

talky, silly, birdie?

That’s right! Birdie rhymes with Wordy.

Tree.

Which word rhymes with tree?

leaf, free, bird

That’s right! Free rhymes with tree.

and so on.

Make-A-Rhyme. Present following words for the child to rhyme. Accept any nonsense word.

Wordy, _______ (Birdy)

Talk, _______ (walk, sock, lock, etc.)

Talking, ______(walking, rocking, stocking, etc.)

Tree, _______ (me, see, knee, etc.)

Bear, ______ (hair, wear, flare, etc)

cake, ______ (take, make, wake, etc.)

Sky, _______ (tie, my, buy, etc.)

Feather, ______ (weather, heather, leather, etc.)

Syllable Awareness Level:

What’s-the-Word? Children synthesize syllables into words. Present the syllables with a clear pause between them. Two- and three- syllable words from the story include:

Word-y

Bird-y

sun – rise

sun – set

nar – whal

some – times

hoo – ray

ra – bbit

ra – co on

ba – loon

pen – guin

pine – cone

cir – cle

li – brar- y

tur – tle- neck

u – ni – corn

straw – berr- y

to- ma – toes

tri – an – gle

Find-the-Little-Words. Children analyze the word to hear each element of a compound or two- or three- syllable word to create a new, smaller word. Note that It often helps to give an example of the identified word’s meaning.

sunrise (sun, rise)

sunset (sun, set)

narwhal (wall)

sometimes (some, times)

library (lie)

turtleneck (turtle, neck)

unicorn (you, corn)

Bigfoot (big, foot)

hooray (who, ray)

unbearable (bear)

penguin (pen)

pinecone (pine, cone)

trespassing (pass, passing)

strawberry (straw, berry)

tomatoes (may, toes)

circle (sir)

triangle (angle)

rabbit (bit)

Leave-It-Out. Children say a compound word, then leave out the beginning or final part to create a smaller word. For example, say

Sunrise. Say sunrise, but don’t say sun. (rise)

Say sunrise but don’t say rise. (sun)

Continue with the rest of the word list:

Sunset

Sometimes

Pinecone

Bigfoot

Strawberry

Turtleneck

Triangle

Add-It-On. Children add two syllables or two little words together to make a compound or bigger word. For example,

Say sun.

Now say sun and add rise.

What new word can you make?

That’s right. Sun. Rise. Sunrise.

Continue with the list provided in Leave-It-Out.

Turn-It-Around. Children reverse the parts of the compound or two-syllable word that they have previously synthesized and analyzed. For example, say:

Put the word rise at the beginning of sun.

What made-up word do you have? (risesun)

What was it before you turned it around? (sunrise)

Continue with the list provided in Find-the-Little-Words and Leave-It-Out.

___________________________________________________________

NOTICE: All rights reserved. The material herein is copyrighted under Books Are for Talking, Too! (Fourth Edition), 2023 by the publisher and presented by the author for educational purposes only. Duplication of this material for commercial use is prohibited.

Special Note: Find literally hundreds of quality picture books ideally suited for building the skills addressed here in Book Talk – and a whole lot more – in the Skills index of Books Are for Talking, Too (Fourth Edition). Then find them cross-referenced in three age-related Catalogs along with methods for targeting the specific skills you want to address.

Plus! You can find even more books on these topics in Books Are for Talking, Too (Fourth Edition). Look in the Topic Exploration index under the topics listed here, such as Friendship; Manners and etiquette; Sounds and listening, and lots more. Then see books cross-referenced in the Catalogs with methods for building literacy and communication skills – for a lifetime of success!

Books Are For Talking, Too!

~ Now in its 4th Edition ~

Find it on Amazon

http://a.co/d/efcKFw6

Cozy in Love

Cozy in Love

by Jan Brett

New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2022

Suggested Grade and Interest Level: Pre through 2nd

Topics to Explore: Animals (musk ox, puffin, beluga whale); Friendship; Kindness and empathy; Winter season; Geography, Ice regions.

Skills to Target: Vocabulary (attributes, adjectives, synonyms, prepositions); Grammar and syntax (i.e., present, past, and future tenses, regular and irregular plural forms of nouns); Language literacy (sometimes called Text Structures): Predicting, Sequencing events, Cause-effect relationships, Problem-solving, Drawing inferences, Answering Why-questions); Articulation (especially K, F, and L), and more.

Synopsis: Cozy, the musk ox, who has just been in a duel of strength to win the heart of lovely Lofti, lays low in the snow after his defeat. When his friend, Puffin, swoops by with an urgent message, he soon forgets his troubles and rushes to try and save Bella. The young beluga whale didn’t heed her mother’s warning to leave Teardrop Inlet. The freezing ice has now trapped her inside the inlet, with no way out. Cozy devises a way to help her out of the icy barricade with his strength and big heart. He not only saves Bella but wins the heart of Lofti in a far better way to reveal one’s true self.

Before the read-aloud, set the stage for the story about to unfold by talking about the setting. For those who aren’t familiar with arctic environments, there is a lot to understand. For example,

Talk about the region of Alaska, the U.S.’s 49th state, and the wildlife there, especially the animals that will appear in the story (puffins, whales, fish, and mammals with lots of fur to keep them warm). If the child is familiar with the predecessor book, Cozy, recall that Cozy is so wooly and kindhearted that he keeps many other Arctic animals warm, nestled underneath his coat.

Show where Alaska is situated, on the Bearing Sea (named so in the story). Describe how ice forms along the edge of the sea, on land, as well as in the water, just as it is shown on the cover. Talk about what a glacier is and explain how they can contain large pieces of soil and vegetation, called tundra, and rock. They can move and slide across the land as well as on water due to factors of their weight, temperature, and gravity.

Read the title and author of the story and talk about the two musk oxen in relation to one another on the cover. Describe them, pointing out their long, wooly hair and curved horns. Their heads are so close together. Ask questions such as

How do you think they are feeling toward each other?
What do their expressions tell you about how they are feeling?

Point out the other characters, the whale, and puffins, and suggest that they may have something to do with the story. Build anticipation with words such as, “Let’s find out!”

During the read-aloud, encourage Predictions and story explanations based especially on the added details of Jan Brett’s signature border illustrations.

For example, on the first page, the text and main illustration tell the story of two musk oxen in a traditional battle of horns to win a sweetheart. Inside the border we can see there is more to the story.

A group of oxen with their shaggy coats stand together, presumably watching the challenge.
A puffin flies overhead in front of an ice cliff with three fish in its mouth.
Around the border are fragments of the sea, such as coral, seaweed, starfish, and heart-shaped rocks.

Invite the child to tell more about what is happening in this scene based on the pictures along the borders.

Pointing out these features is a great way to involve young children in the story. It also sets the stage for more to come involving the characters in the story.

On turning the page, the border pictures again add to the story with the puffins standing at the water’s edge looking on, and other with fish in its mouth.

Ask Prediction questions, such as, “What do you think the puffins are looking at?”

In this way, you are teaching the child what thoughtful readers do when reading a story, even though they may not have all the pieces together yet. You are also teaching the child to look for clues as the story presents them.

To build Vocabulary, synonyms, and word-networking skills, look for opportunities to pause for better understanding. (It’s good to be ready with the answers!) Words include:

Massive (huge)
Flukes (parts of a whale’s tail)
Perches (resting places)
Heave (to lift and throw with one’s might)
Boulders (massive rocks)
Glacier (a large body of ice that moves slowly on the surface of the land)
Tussocks (icy, grassy plateaus or flat surfaces in the ice)
Pod (a school, or group of animals clustered together)
Horn boss (the large hard base across the head of the musk ox from which the horns project)
Qiviut (the wool of the musk ox’s undercoat)
Muzzle (the projecting part of the animal’s face, including the nose and mouth)

To work on Attributes, use the strong features of the animals as well as their characters as you think of words to describe them. For example, Cozy is:

Massive
Hairy
Furry
Soft
Strong
Gentle
Loving
Kind

The puffins are:

Colorful
Good swimmers
Hungry
Concerned
Caring
Helpful

Bella is:

Humorous
Joyful
Fun loving
Distractible

To work on Adjectives, use the words you brainstormed as attributes and create sentences to describe the characters.

To work on Prepositions, talk about the story in terms of the movement of the action that takes place. Books about animals on the shore and in the water make ideal material for targeting prepositions. Include prepositional phrases if appropriate for the developmental level of the child. Some suggestions:

The musk ox run acrossthe snow.
Cozy lays downin the snow.
The puffin flies overCozy’s head.
Bella plays with seaweed on topof her head.
Bella and her mother swim underthe ocean.
They swim over the seashells.
Cozy stands abovethe inlet.
Cozy looks downat the inlet.
The boulder splashed intothe water.
Bella dances inthe sea.

To work on Grammar and Syntax, use your conversation about the story to structure present, past and future tenses.

Cozy is lying in the snow.
The puffin droppedthe fish.
The mama whale toldBella not to stay long.
The ice will

And so on.

The illustrations offer further opportunities to structure Regular and Irregular Forms of Nouns. Discuss how some forms of plurals end in different suffixes, and some end with no suffix at all, like fish. Some examples from the story, like:

one puffin, two puffins
one whale, two whales
one ox, two oxen
one fish, two fish

Then use the words in sentences about what’s happening in the story to further the context.

To continue supporting the development of Language Literacy skills, help the child explain the Cause-and-Effect relationships that occur throughout the story. Ask thoughtful questions that require explanation of the occurrence.

For example, when the puffin flew over Cozy, the big musk ox didn’t hear it. Then a fish landed on his nose. Ask,

What made that happen?” (The puffin dropped it. The puffin had to plea for help! He had to use his beak to speak!)

Encourage use of the words because and so that in giving full descriptions.

The puffin dropped the fish on Cozy so thathe would look up at him.
The puffin dropped the fish becausehe wanted Cozy to wake up.

In another example, the story says the puffins laughed “when [Bella] paraded by with seaweed on her head.” Point out the border illustrations that show the puffins enjoying the sight and Bella loving to play.

What made the puffins laugh?
How did Bella get seaweed on her head?
Why did the puffins “topple off their perches”?

Help children Draw Inferences in expressing the meaning of the text. Often the more concrete language learners face challenges in making those second steps in processing that are necessary to understand the text. Pictures can be helpful, along with a guided set of explanations.

For example, when Cozy sees a chunk of glacial ice break off and splash into the inlet, the text says she

“….thought the wave might be big enough to help push Bella to freedom.”

Ask thoughtful questions in logical order to help create the meaning. Be ready to give the answers yourself. Questions might go something like this:

What made the big wave? (Big chunk of ice dropped into the sea)
What would happen in the water if a big chunk of ice splashed into the sea? (It would push the displaced water to make the level of the rest of the water higher)
If it caused the water around it to increase, how could Bella get out of the inlet? (The higher water would cover the ice trapping her in and she could swim over it).
What does it mean to “push Bella to freedom”? (Once she is out of the inlet she is no longer trapped. She is free to swim away and be with her family on the other side)

Other places to pause and infer meaning from the story occur at the text, such as

“Puffin landed on one of the nearby boulders carried down by the glacier.”

Ask questions such as

How did the boulder move?
Where was the boulder?
Can you imagine how big the glacier was that carried the boulder across the land?

After the read-aloud, discuss the story to continue enhancing Language Literacy skills.

To work on Sequencing events, go back over the story by doing a “picture walk.” Sequence the story events shown in the illustrations using connecting words such as first, next, then, and finally.

To express Cause-Effect Relationships, structure sentences about what happened in terms of what caused it to happen. Using a repetitive structure makes the learning easier. For example,

When the puffin dropped a fish on Cozy’s nose, it caused _______ (him to look up).
When Bella didn’t get out of the inlet, it caused _______ (her to be trapped by ice).
When Cozy pushed big chunks of ice into the inlet, it caused _________ (a big wave).
When the sea made a big wave, it caused _____________ (water to rise higher).

Work on Problem-Solution strategies that help build storytelling skills. For example, ask

What was the problem in the story?
How did Cozy try to solve the problem?
Did all her first attempts work?
What did she do then?
How did the animals feel after Cozy helped Bella escape the ice that enclosed her?

To work on Answering Why Questions, ask questions to which answers may be found in the illustrations.

For example, as Cozy pushes the rock off the cliff, point to Bella encircled by the ice that is trapping her and ask,

Why can’t Bella escape over the ice?
Why does Cozy think pushing rocks off the cliff will save Bella?
Why did Cozy keep pushing so many boulders into the inlet?

And when you conclude the story ask,

Do you feel good about how the story ends? Why is that?

To work on Articulation skills, consider all the opportunities to work on words with K, F, and L phonemes.

K words: Cozy, musk, ox, sparkle, catching, heartbreaking, aching, coat, caring, Alaskan, cold, qiviut, and squeaked.

F words: Lofti, fall, freeze, freezes, freezing, froze, puffin, frantic, starfish, safe, freedom, friend, and soft.

L words: love, lovely, Lofti, bellowed, Bella, inlet, whale, leaped, bells, playing, splashed, flukes, beluga, laughter, waterfall, level, boulders, and rolling.

– – – –

Learn more about Jan Brett with a visit to her website. See what other places her love of writing for children has taken her to for inspiration.

https://www.janbrett.com/biography.htm

Find more picture books by Jan Brett and book treatments such as these, including her first published book as author/illustrator, Fritz and the Beautiful Horses, in Books Are for Talking, Too! (Fourth Edition).

Available now on Amazon

https://a.co/d/efcKFw6

The Green Piano

The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music
by Roberta Flack, Tonya Bolden
New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2023

Suggested Grade and Interest Level: Pre through 3

Topics to Explore: Community, Family relationships; Music and musical instruments

Target Skills: Vocabulary: Metaphors, Homonyms, Attributes, Prepositions; Grammar and syntax: Past tense structures, Complex structures; Language literacy: Predicting events; Sequencing events; Cause-and-effect relationships; Drawing inferences; Verbal expression; Compare and contrast; Discussion; Articulation (especially P, R, and R-blends)

Summary: A young child growing up in a segregated Blue Ridge Mountain town tells her story of how dreams, inspiration, family devotion, and hard work led her to musical fame. “I didn’t have fancy-fine clothes, high-priced toys or other rich-rich things,” she writes. But what she did have were loving parents, a community of support, and a love of music. School Library Journal writes, “A warm, soulful picture book autobiography about a living legend.”

Book Talk

Before the read-aloud, introduce the book by showing the cover. Read the title, and for younger children, point to the words in the direction in which they are read. Point out the activity going on and what is unusual about the illustration. Ask thoughtful questions that encourage children to look for the answers, as they will soon be revealed in the story. Some suggestions:

What is she playing?
What is unusual about the child at the piano?
Do her feet touch the pedals? What does that tell us about her?
What is different about the piano?
Have you ever seen a piano that is green?
Does someone you know play the piano? If so, tell something about that.
What do you like about a piano? Or another instrument, perhaps?

During the read-aloud, pause before turning the page and invite children to describe what takes place. Despite the child’s ability level, what constructions is the child able to produce independently? Then expand on the child’s response, using his or her own words plus your words in an extension of the thought.

For example, in the first pages, the reader sees the child’s neighborhood, environment and her playmates. When asking,

“What do you think this child likes doing?”

the child may respond ungrammatically (e.g., “she play”), in a one-word response (e.g., “play” or “playing”), or in a few words (e.g., “she jumping rope”).

Note: Even if the engagement is done simply by asking a yes/no question, you can always expand on a “yes” with additional words, so the child makes the connection. In that way, you are modeling a response. For example,

Adult: Does she look happy?
Child: Yes.
Adult: Yes, she looks happy jumping rope, or
Adult: Yes, she’s happy playing outside

Pausing for book talk doesn’t always have to be done in a question format, implying that the child must respond every time. Consider making a comment about the story before turning the page.

Restate the text and what the picture content is adding to the story. Help children connect these features, such as,

The girl’s mom and dad loved music.
They each played their own instrument.
That means little Roberta grew up hearing them make music in her home.
I can imagine that made them all feel joyful.

Point out the metaphors in the text and discuss their meanings. The book is filled with them! Then have children use them (or words that are similar) in their own meaningful sentences. For example, the text states

When I first saw my piano
I saw a miracle.

Ask children to explain what the author was saying. You may need to shape responses, such as if the child says something like,

“It was a miracle the piano.”

Shape and restate the response, as in

“Getting her own piano was a miracle.”

Another metaphor from the text:

Soon my fingers,
Longer, stronger,
Graceful,
Were sliding into songs,

What is a metaphor?
Can fingers “slide into songs?”
When we use words this way, how do they make your message more meaningful to your listener?

In another example, the child describes her family gatherings as musical times, when they were

singing love right into our living room.

In yet another example, Roberta describes her music as “my treasure, my gold.”

Why are those good word choices for her?
What do they say about how she felt about her music?

Metaphors are great ways to encourage children’s literate discourse. By asking children to give their own definitions for them and then relate the meaning to something in their own lives, they use language that that goes beyond that of their conversational discourse. In this way, they develop their ability to use decontextualized language, the kind of language used in school.

To work on homonyms, point out words that have multiple meanings in the text, such as:

tickled (e.g., “Mother and Daddy were so tickled by that – ”),
keys (i.e., piano keys and keys to lock/unlock doors, and
notes (i.e., musical representations of a tone or pitch, and a record of something written down).

Use the words in sentences so their meanings are understood in context. Then have children use the words in sentences relevant to their own lives.

Pause to clarify and draw inferences from what is implied in the story. Oftentimes when reading aloud, adults assume children have background knowledge from which to draw on when applying meaning. But words may be combined in ways that rely on knowledge the child does yet not have. As well, it may require an understanding that the words are not used in their literal sense.

If this is the case, children may have a difficult time connecting with the story. Anticipating these events and helping the child draw inferences about the story can be helpful, especially for the more concrete language learners.

For example, when the author describes playing the piano at age 3 or 4, she writes,

I’d use my elbows on the ebonies
because my fingers were too short.

Break down the elements so children can infer the meaning. For example,

First describe “ebonies.”
What makes the shorter, black keys create sounds on a piano?
Could Roberta reach those keys with her fingers when she was 4 years old?
What did she figure out on her own to make those keys produce sound?

Pause to encourage skills of predicting events. It’s a great way to engage children in the story and develop language literacy. Children can make predictions based on the knowledge they’ve gained so far in the story.

For example, when Daddy saw an old, ratty, stinky piano in a junkyard, before turning the page, ask

What do you think will happen next?

Shape sentence constructions if necessary. If the expressive formations are beyond the child’s present ability level, prepare a sentence for the child to finish using his or her own words.

After the read aloud, conclude with facts about the singer from the Author’s Note at the back of the book. What kind of girl was Roberta? What did she go on to accomplish in her life?

For older children, ask what current day female musician has accomplished this much and even more! Yes, Rihanna. Rihanna has won nine Grammy Awards, along with many other awards, and has had fourteen No. 1 songs on Billboard’s Hot 100 list. In this way, children are able to understand the significance of the story in relation to what they know about life today.

To work on sequencing skills, go back over the pages and discuss events in the singer’s life. Ask thoughtful questions such as,

What led to her become a world-renowned singer?
What things contributed to this in her early life?
How did she “get there?”

Construct a sequence together, such as,

First, she played with the keys of the church piano when she was very young.
Then she dreamed of having her own piano.
She told her parents what she wanted.
After that, her dad found one in a junkyard.
Then her dad restored it and mom helped,
After she got the piano, she practiced with songs she heard on the radio,
Then she took music lessons,
When she grew up, she was always grateful for the gift of her green piano.

To work on cause-effect relationships, show the connections in the sequence of events. What made what happen? How did Roberta manifest her dream?

Having music in her home caused her to __________.
When she played at the keys of the church piano, it made her __________.
Seeing her love of music caused her parents to __________.
Receiving a piano fixed up especially for her caused Roberta to __________.
As an adult, remembering her green piano resulted in her ___________.

To work on naming attributes, sentence structure, verbal expression, and skills to compare and contrast, first describe the piano as Laron saw it passing by the junkyard. The book says it was,

old, ratty, beat-up, stained, weather-worn, stained, faded, even stinky!

Then describe the piano after Laron restored it. Go back over the illustrations at the junkyard to compare it to the new, green piano. Add some of your own descriptors, such as

clean, painted, “grassy” green, pretty, attractive, restored, like-new, different, interesting, and so forth

Next, put the descriptions into sentences. Model and set it up with a “cloze” sentence, as in:

When father found the piano it was __________ .
After he restored the piano it was ____________.

For older children, work on complex sentence structure by connecting the two conditions of the piano to form one sentence. Recall the previous cause-effect relationships to form a structure, as in,

When father found the piano, it was [beat-up, broken, a mess, stinky], but he restored it to a beautiful, shiny green piano.

After father cleaned and painted the old piano, it was a beautiful green piano.

Consider holding a discussion on one of the themes in the book. For example, talk about the word practice. Give an example from the book. For example,

“Practice is what the girl did to become better at what she loved doing.”

Read the text,

I practiced for hours and hours.
Teaching myself to play songs
from the radio,
like “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”

Ask thoughtful questions about how a 9-year-old learned to play her piano so well.

What does practice mean? What made her want to practice?
How did she select the songs she practiced?
What do you think happened because of her practice?

Then ask children if they want to be able to do well. These are the ways Roberta Flack got better at playing and singing.. She found ways to do it on her own.

What do you do that you would like to become better at?
Share what you like to practice.
What ways can you practice outside the typical ways that might be expected?

To reinforce articulation of specific phonemes P and R (vocalic, intervocalic, and R-blends), consider the following:

Use the title word Piano and its repetition throughout the story (both in text and in the illustrations) as opportunities for practice in lip closure and production of plosive phoneme P. Other words (in order of appearance) are: play (-ed, -ing), proud, tap-tap-tapped, helping, paint, painted, practice, top, and wrapped.

Use the title word Green and its repetition throughout the story (both in text and illustrations) as opportunities for various phonemic contexts in R phoneme practice. Other words (in order of appearance) are: Ridge, circle, ‘richy-rich” treasure, Father, Laron, waiter, builder, harmonica, Mother, Irene, church, organ, four, fingers, short, congregation, heard, radio, dream (-ed; -ing), sister, Star, older, started, Hightower, start (-ed), heard, Roberta, there, upright, weather-worn, ivories, treasure, replied, miracle, ratty, grassy, green, dry, fingers, hours, radio, LaRene (sister’s name), longer, stronger, graceful, another, wrapped, year, and wonder.

Additional Note: See early Roberta Flack performances on YouTube at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8_fLu2yrP4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjrcAGX-eMk

Special Note: See other books on themes of Community, Family relationships; Music and musical instruments, and a whole lot more in the Topic Exploration Index of Books Are for Talking, Too! (Fourth Edition).

Still This Love Goes On

Still This Love Goes On

by Buffy Sainte-Marie

Vancouver/Berkeley/London: Greystone Books, 2022

Suggested Grade and Interest level: Pre through 2nd

Topics to Explore: Community; Culture and History, Native American; Family Relationships; People of the World; Perspective-taking; Music, Musicians, and Musical Instruments; Seasons of the Year

Skills to Target: Vocabulary: metaphors; Grammar and syntax: Two-and-three-word utterances, Present and past tense; Language literacy: Discussion, Point of view, Relating personal experiences, Verbal expression; Articulation: Phoneme L

Synopsis: Beautiful scenes in this splendid book interpret the lyrics of singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie’s song of the same title. Rendered in pastels and pencil, the accompanying images portray the great Alberta landscape, one of the Canadian provinces that is home to the Cree people. An indigenous woman is pictured with her child, cherishing the sights and customs of her people and place of origin to which she has returned. Each phrase of the song is printed across a sweeping scene. The gentle images convey the theme of the enduring quality of love.

The sheet music for the song is printed on two pages at the back of the book. If you are fortunate to be musically talented, you can take advantage of this to play the accompaniment on an instrument as you all sing the words of the song.

Also on the last page is a note from each of the artists (musician and illustrator) that shares the story of how the book came to be, creating yet another story for Book Talk. For anyone who loves the sights that take place in nature and the greatness of the wilderness, this is a book you will cherish.

Before the read-aloud: Present the book and its cover, introducing it by its title. Provide some background information by saying that the mother and child who appear on the cover are Native Americans. They are native in the sense that their peoples inhabited the Americans before those from other cultures and lands far away migrated to their homeland. We are fortunate in that today they have retained so many of their natural customs.

Use the feature of the feather in the woman’s hair to share that people from these tribes feel a oneness with the land and all the creatures that inhabit it.

Point out the two doves overhead, one white, the other in earth tones. Talk about what doves symbolize – peace, beauty, and love. In this way you prepare the child for the theme that runs throughout the story.

Consider reading aloud the author’s dedication on the publication page. She writes, “….for all of us who are adopted, and those who left space in their hearts to adopt us back into indigenous communities…..”. This may take some explaining, but a good place to start is with talk about indigenous peoples. For anyone who must leave their homeland, sometimes under harsh or insensitive circumstances, there can be a longing to return to their place of origin and be accepted by, or belong to, the community that was once their own. In this joyful story, there is no doubt the characters are accepted and “adopted back” with open arms.

During the read-aloud: The book opens with a woman and child looking out on the winter wilderness. A family of beavers is building its home. The text reads,

Sat beside a beaver dam and watched the winter grow.

It’s a great place to pause to add meaning to the story. Describe the scene, add new information, and then build sentence structures around your talk. Point out the branches and timber from trees that the beavers have strategically placed at just the right depth in the water. This allows for an underground entrance during the icy winter. You might also add that beavers carry other material, like rocks and mud to build these types of homes. In this way they are protected against predators like cayotes, wolves, and bears. Because of their ability to build these structures, they are considered a keystone species. This means that they help maintain the structure of the ecosystem. They set in place a chain of events that supports other animals as well as plants, just like the starfish in the ocean and some other creatures in different environments.

Help the early language learner use one or two new words of the text to describe the illustration. Use scaffolding to support the child’s utterances by adding more words to make it a more complete thought.

For example, encourage the child to comment on the beavers walking across the frozen land. Then expand that utterance and link it to the pile of wood in the foreground. So, you might expand:

“Beavers.”

to

“Beavers carry the wood (in their teeth).”

“The beavers are building a dam.”

“The beavers are bringing wood to build their new home.”

You might also interpret the story’s event as the songwriter would have. Reflect on how beavers build their homes in unique places just as people of all cultures across all lands build their homes in different places and different ways.

After reading the next page:

Ice was hard with little tracks appearing in the snow.

Point out the faint tracks in the snow. Rephrase the text to express what is transpiring on the page.

“Look at the tiny tracks….

Pause here in anticipation that the child will fill in with the last words of the text,

“….in the snow.”

Then link those parts so the child hears the sentence you’ve both created by putting those elements together:

“The beavers left tiny tracks in the snow.”

Then turn the page to see another scene of the characters in and outside the teepee looking out over the nighttime. You read:

Fog is in the valley now and all the geese have gone.

Describe the scene. Use other words than those of the text, but with the same meaning. For example, ask where the geese have gone. Responses may include:

“Fly away

“Home to bed”

“To the trees”

Then link the child’s words with words that describe other facets of the story to construct sentences such as:

The mist comes in the nighttime.

Then the geese disappeared

The birds flew home to the trees.

Point out the faint outline of a bird in the night sky. Is it in the same shape as the birds on the cover of the book? Talk about the symbol of a dove and its meaning of peace, freedom, and love. How does it make you feel about the scene? How do you think the characters feel?

Metaphors are language constructs important to teach the more concrete language learners. To work on understanding the meanings of metaphors, pause at each page on which they appear and reflect on why the author chose the words.

What do the words convey?

What would be the ordinary or typical way to express the image?

How does expressing the scene with these words make you feel?

Does the metaphor make you think more about what the author is saying?

Do you enjoy listening to words expressed this way or the more typical way to express the thought?

Consider how using metaphors also helps us understand the author’s perspective. Some metaphors from the story to discuss:

Once I saw the summer flowers turn the fields to sun.

The fields are muffled in white and snow is in the dawn.

Morning comes on shivering wings and….

And in my heart, always hear the drum.

After the read-aloud: Enable a better understanding of point of view and perspective-taking. Discuss how the story is about a young woman coming back to the place where she was born. She remembers how her people lived, their closeness and reverence for the natural world, the trees, animals, and spirit to which they belong. She loves it dearly. She sings, Still this love goes on.

Read the author’s words on the last page. The songwriter states, “In Cree, kisâkihitin means ‘I love you.’ I hope the words and music inspire you to think about the people and places you love most in your own life.”

Talk about how the songwriter must have felt coming back to her place of birth.

How do you think it felt to be accepted back with open arms?

How might she still feel about those people today?

How might they still feel about her?

If appropriate, have the child talk about people whom they love and are no longer with them. When such people leave, whether because they are traveling back to a place far away or have passed away from the earth, our love for them can still go on.

Go back through the pages that show how the woman with her child recalling her childhood. Engage the child in thinking about the story by taking the perspective of the songwriter as she looks out over the land on the reserve.

What does the woman see that is special to her? (e.g., winter scenes, special people, singing, drums, jingle dancers, painted ponies, and sweetgrass)

How did it make her feel when she revisited the customs of her people?

If you were the woman in the story returning to the place where you once lived, how might you feel? Why do you think so?

When the author writes that her love for “the people and our Cree ways….” start a discussion about how all people’s cultures and “ways” can be embraced, especially those of our own backgrounds. Pause to reflect on the author’s wish to have the audience think about the people and places they love the most.

Ask the child to share an experience of a place he or she loves to visit. Encourage the child to relate an experience that occurred in that place. Help to fill in additional words as scaffolding to help the child structure the sentences. You might ask, “What makes it special?”

Also talk about how love is continuous and that after someone goes away or passes, the person can continue to live on in your heart.

Topic to Explore: The music and musical instruments of the Native American indigenous peoples is a fascinating topic. As you discuss the musical customs written in the words of the text, revisit the pages to see how they are pictured in the story. Talk about how the drum is an essential instrument to the indigenous peoples. Explain how the sound (tone and pitch) of a drum depends on the rawhide from which it is made and the drumstick “beater” that taps out the rhythm. The heavier the wood of the “beater” the lower the sound. Beaters are made in all sizes and often are covered at the tip with buckskin. It is believed that the sound of the drum connects its listeners to the heartbeat of Mother Earth.

Show the jingle dancers depicted on the pages of the book. Look closely at the objects sewn in rows on the girl’s dress, dangling from threads. Talk about how the jingle sound is made. While we might assume they are “bells,” they are actually tiny cones made of tin can lids. The shaped causes the ‘jingle” sound as they come together with the movement of the dancer. Imagine the sound that the jingle dancers made when moving to the rhythm of the drum. Some ideas to start a discussion:

What does jingle mean?

What kinds of things jingles? (bells, coins, a tambourine)

What makes the objects on the girl’s dress jingle?

How might a lot of those objects coming together sound on the outside of a dancers clothing?

How might they sound if the dancer moved in certain ways, with the rhythm of the drum?

Jingle dancers also hold fans made of eagle feathers. Their dance movements are skilled and made in repetitive patterns. Footwork maneuvers are close to the ground, and always made without crossing over or moving backward.

To reinforce articulation of the L phoneme, use the words of the text at the level where the child has already achieved. For example, if the child is transitioning to the L phoneme in spontaneous speech, pause to encourage repetition of the text, or use the words in the text during your Book Talk. Remember to gear the activity to the level at which the sound has already been acquired.

For example, if the child already can produce the phoneme L in words, encourage the use of the L word. If the child can produce the L with other connecting words, encourage the child to repeat a phrase or answer a question in which you emphasize the target word. In addition to the repetitive phrase, Still this love goes on, other phrases with the target phoneme include:

Summer flowers

Turn the fields to sun

Fields are muffled

Smell the sweetgrass

See the jingle dancers

Fell in love

Turn your life around

Then talk about the story using some of the words of the text and encourage correct production of the phoneme in the child’s spontaneous speech as you share in Book Talk.

Additional Note: Learn more about Native American drums at www.tachinidrums.com

Note: Find lots of picture books ideally suited to build the skills addressed here, and many more, in the Skills Index of Books Are for Talking, Too! (Fourth Edition).

PLUS: See more books on the topics of: Culture and History of the Native Americans, Native America, Folklore, Native American, People of the World, Music, Musicians, and Musical Instruments – and many, many more – all in the Topic Exploration section of Books Are for Talking, Too! (Fourth Edition).

Interrupting Chicken and the Elephant of Surprise

by Ezra Jack Stein

Boston: Candlewick Press: 2018

Topics: Chickens; Fairy tales; Humor

Suggested Grade and Interest Level: K through 3

Target Skills: Concepts of Print; Phonological Awareness; Vocabulary (idioms); Language Literacy (Predicting events, Drawing inferences, Critical thinking, Verbal expression); Pragmatic Language; and Articulation of Ch

Summary: In this sequel book, Papa tries to explain to his little red chicken that her teacher didn’t really mean that every good book has an elephant of surprise. She meant that all good stories have an element of surprise. But little chicken is having none of it. Her teacher told her, and her concept has been formed. So, when papa goes to prove his point by reading her a familiar fairy tale with no elephants in it at all, she interrupts him with her own version of an unexpected elephant to complete the story. Young children often need to be guided into their understanding of this story-within-a-story concept, and meaning of the real idiom.

BOOK TALK:

Before the read-aloud describe Papa and his little red chicken on the book’s cover. They are about to read a story aloud and are in conversation with each other. It looks like Book Talk! Point out their words printed in handwriting inside the speech balloons. Based on the title of the story, predict what will happen given the habits of the little chicken. What does it mean to interrupt? How does the person who is being interrupted feel about this?

Read the dialog balloon where papa says aloud, “…there are no elephants in this book”. Then point out the blue elephant in the corner and the dialog balloon that says, “Hee, hee.” Make predictions about what this means and encourage children to be on the lookout for an elephant in the story, even if Papa says there are none.

To develop pragmatic language skills, read the book’s title and ask what an interrupting chicken is likely to do during this story. Talk about the context of reading aloud and whether it is a good idea to break in with something you want to say while a reader is reading the story. What is the difference between interrupting Papa while he is reading and waiting until Papa pauses to share talk about the story?

During the read-aloud, Bring out the subtleties within the illustrations that make this story irresistible. For example, on the first title page, pause to ask children to infer the circumstances of the day. Describe the little chicken looking out of the window.

What color is the frame around the window?
Where might she be?
How do we know it’s raining outside?

Then turn the page to see the title on a full-page spread. Discuss the cozy living room and red front door. Ask children what things in the room tell you that it’s a rainy day (e.g., rain boots, umbrellas, and bucket). Expand children’s utterances so they hear how you can connect more words of the story to make their sentences fuller.

As you explore the interior of the house, point out part of a familiar yellow object outside the window. Make predictions about what it could be. Draw a connection between the little chicken in the previous page (looking out the yellow framed window) and the yellow object just outside the window on this page.

Where might the little chicken have been?
What might drive by outside on the street that is yellow with windows?
Could little chicken have been inside a school bus that dropped her off in front of the house?

Ask children if they have ever ridden in something that is yellow and had windows that they look could look out from.

Encourage more predictions as you point out the red front door of the living room. Connect the little red chicken in the school bus to the inside of the house. Ask who might arrive home and come through the red door.

To work on grammar and syntax constructions, use the pictures to describe the actions taking place in the story. Draw connections between what the characters are doing and the words on the page. For example, on the first page the text reads, “It was after school for the little red chicken.” Describe what Papa is doing (e.g., taking off her rain boots.) You might structure your sentences as follows:

It’s after school for little chicken and Papa is helping her.

He is taking off her rain boots.

Continue to point out on each page what is being shown in the pictures that supports the printed words on the page.

To help younger children develop concepts of print, show how talk can be written down. For example, talk about how little red chicken draws pictures to the story that Papa reads. Explain that she also prints the words of his story with her crayon, with letters that say Papa’s Story, by Papa. As you read each word aloud, run your finger along the little red chicken’s printed letters that show Papa’s words.

Explain that the little chicken can write the words, like the title of the book, and that the story papa reads, The Little Mermaid, is also written in words. Talk about the story within a story and ask children to draw inferences about the meaning of Papa’s attempts and those of his little red chicken.

For example, as Papa reads aloud The Ugly Duckling, point to the illustration of the swans on the lake. Ask children if they think there will be any elephants in the fairy tale Papa is reading. Why not? What is Papa trying to demonstrate, or teach?

Turn the page and see the little blue elephant inserted on the pages of the fairy tale. Show and read aloud the dialog balloons. Ask children who is saying, “Surprise! I’m an elephant!” How did the elephant get into the scene? Clarify, if necessary, that the little chicken interrupted Papa with her own version in order to complete the story with an elephant of surprise.

Why did Papa read the fairy tale to the little chicken?
Did Papa’s story really have an elephant in it?
How did the elephant get into the story?

Repeat the process to clarify the character’s intent with each new fairy tale Papa reads. Was there an “element of surprise” in the story?

To work on articulation, there are a number of speech sounds that could be practiced during the read-aloud, especially if you’re working to generalize the correct sound production in conversation. My favorite in this series is the Ch, found in the word chicken used repetitively in the text and title. Once correct placement has been achieved, listening to the steady airstream on production of Ch can be reinforcing.

If the child has acquired the accurate sound and able to use it in words, reinforce the learning at his or her ability level with scripted and unscripted responses. For example, have the child take the part of Papa. Ask, “What does Papa like to say?” (Answer: “Chicken! There are no elephants in this story!”) Make the practice fun!

After the read-aloud, discuss the meaning of the idiom, element of surprise. Show the back cover and read the words inside the dialog balloon “Whoa! I didn’t know That was going to happen!” Ask children to explain what the speaker (little chicken?) was referring to.

Did something happen that wasn’t expected?
Was it a surprise?
Was it an element of surprise in the story?

Then ask how it was that the little chicken got mixed up. What sounds in the words element and elephant got mixed up?

Sound it out. El- e – ment. El – e – phant.
How did that affect the meaning?
What is an element of surprise?

Help develop phonological awareness with the frequently used (and misused) words of the story, elephant and element. Begin by asking children if this might be an easy word to get mixed up. Start with syllables as you distinguish them. For example, ask

How many syllables does the word elephant have? (Three)
How many syllables does the word element have (Three)
What are the first syllables in elephant? with (el-e)
What are the first syllables in element? (el-e)
What is the last syllable in elephant? ( -phant)
What is the last syllable in element? ( -ment)
What sounds did the little chicken get mixed up? (f and m)

Use other words from the story in which to identify all the parts (syllables).Start with chicken. For example, ask, “How many parts does the word have? Chi – cken.” (2) Continue with other words found in the text, drawing out each part of the word as you say it:

Surprise (2)
Teacher (2)
Ridiculous (4)
Another (3)
Mermaid (2)
School (1)
Story (2)
Silly (2)
Ludicrous (3)
Rapunzel (3)
Enchanted (3)
Refrigerator (5)

Depending on what level the child is at in the hierarchy of PA skills, use the featured, one-syllable words from the text (i.e., red, bus, boot) to continue developing initial, final, and middle sound awareness, then synthesizing with onset-rime, and so on.

Note: See other books suitable for the full range of phonological awareness (PA) skills in Books Are for Talking, Too! (4^th ed.) along with tables showing the hierarchy in the development of PA, and a whole range of games with instructions for addressing each level with the selected books.

Additional Note: See the first book in this series, Interrupting Chicken, in the Preschool – Kindergarten Catalog of Books Are for Taking, Too! (4th ed.). It lists other topics to explore, skills to target, and a host of methods for bringing about other elements of the language-and-literacy connection.

Hot Dog

by Doug Salati
New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2022

Suggested Grade and Interest Level: Preschool through 2

Topics: Animals, Dogs; Emotions and Feelings; Sea and Seashore

Skills to Build: Vocabulary (homonyms, idioms, prepositions); Auditory Awareness; Grammar and syntax (present tense structures); Language literacy (Predicting, Sequencing events, Cause-and-effect relationships,vRelating personal experiences Verbal expression)

Summary: This award-winning story is told with choice few words in rhyming text that captures the essence of the all too familiar conditions of summer in the city, when sweltering streets become too much, even for a city dog,

A dachshund, tethered to its lady owner on its leash, must endure all the commotion of a big city on the hot summer day. This includes energetic young skateboarders, cars skidding into crosswalks, noisy construction zones, and fluttering pigeons alighting everywhere around you on the sidewalk. It’s easy to see how the little dog gets exasperated. Events turn 180 degrees (perhaps almost literally) when its owner takes it on a trip to the seashore. No leash for the little dog means it can discover many pleasures on its own. The little dog now runs in and out of the waves, rolls over in the sand, tunnels into the sand, and barks at a big sea lion. When the sun begins to set and the shadows grow long across the shore, it’s time to take down the beach umbrella and head for home – then fall asleep with pleasant dreams of all the encounters of the day.

Book Talk

Before the read-aloud, present the cover with the happy little dog at the seashore. You might begin your book talk with the feeling state of the little dog as it is depicted on the cover. Then connect it to the setting. For example, you might ask,

Where is the dog?
What might be some reasons it looks so happy?
What kind of a day is it?”

Work on encouraging explanations and connecting the causal relationships as you ask thoughtful questions that can lead to predictions. More examples include,

How do we know it’s a breezy day?
What is [or might be fun about being at the beach?
What might the dog have in its mouth?

Help children express their responses by scaffolding and elaborating with words such as because, since, and so that to encourage expression with causal relationships. For example, “The dog has a seashell [in its mouth] since he just got back from playing in the ocean.”

Then turn the page to see the dog in another setting. How has the setting changed? Describe the dog now, with its hind legs on the bed covers and his front paws on the windowsill. What is the usual situation when you see a dog standing in a window? Explain the old-style air conditioner in the window. Ask what it could mean. Why might the dog have its tongue out? Invite children to share personal experiences about their own dog that may be similar.

During the read-aloud, pause for talk about the events taking shape. Use the action in the illustrations to structure grammar and syntax skills with descriptive words in your descriptions. Pause for book talk especially at the wordless pages that show the dog in a sequence of events. Have children describe the actions using prepositions such as along, between, besides, beneath, and around. Connect the descriptions with feeling states. For example, pause at the wordless page showing the little dog encountering a big sea lion on the beach. Use various verbs that connect to the dog’s feeling states, such as, …approaches it because he’s curious, ….barks at the big blob when he doesn’t know what it is and feels confident. … jumps, gasps when he is surprised, shocked that it’s a big creature, ….turns around, runs away when he’s scared, and so on.

After the read-aloud, ask children to relate the events of the story and encourage expression of the causal connections. What happened after the little dog got fed up with the heat in the city? What made the dog feel so exasperated? Describe the scenes in the city. How do you think the people felt that day? What caused them to look so frazzled? Ask what their expressions tell us about how they feel and why.

Also describe the kinds of adventures the little dog had at the beach. Review the wordless pages that show a sequence of events, ideal for describing. What makes you think the dog was happy there?

Special Note: See more books that cover the topics of Dogs, Sea and Seashore, and Emotions and Feelings in the Topic Explorations index of Books Are for Talking, Too! (4^th edition). Look through the Skills Index to learn about other great books that are ideal choices for building skills such as homonyms, prepositions, idioms, present tense structures, relating personal experiences, and many, many more.

Room on the Broom

Room on the Broom
by Julia Donaldson
New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2001

Suggested Grade and Interest Level: Pre through 1

Topics to Explore: Friendships; Holidays: Halloween; Kindness and empathy

Target Skills: Vocabulary; Multiple meaning words, Attributes, Prepositions; Grammar and syntax: Past tense structures; Language literacy: Predicting events; Sequencing events; Cause-and-effect relationships; Drawing inferences; Verbal Expression; Discussion

Summary: A kindly witch who has a bit of trouble holding on to her belongings when flying on her broomstick encounters a series of events, sending a good message through her actions. To all those inquisitive creatures that have fetched her lost belongings and want a ride on her broom (and who wouldn’t?) she cries, “Yes!” and welcomes them on. She makes “room” – or space – for sharing her broom with characters of all sorts and sizes. Oops! The broom snaps in two. Her friends tumble off and the next thing you know, the witch flies straight into a big ol’ dragon midair. The dragon wants a delicious witch to go with its French fries. But where are her friends? Will they rescue her? Of course they do, and very cleverly at that. The rhyming verse tells a complete narrative, a delightful one that can be read time and again.

Book Talk:

Before the read-aloud, introduce the book by showing the cover. Read the title, pointing to the direction in which the words are read. Point out the activity going on and the items shown in the illustration. Talk about the characters on the broom (the witch and her cat). Describe the witch.

What is she holding?
What kind of witch does she look like?
Why do you think so?

Then ask what it means to make room for something or someone. Give an example that is relevant. For example, can you make room for one more at your dinner table? Can you make room for a new classmate to join a game that you play outside? Help children begin some thoughts about the concept of making room. Does it appear that there is room – or space – on the witch’s broom for something else?

During the read-aloud, it is better to accentuate the rhythm and flow of the words as they are said all together on the line of text rather than enunciating each word separately. Try to tap out the consistent beat of the rhythm of the verse so it stays in your memory. The rhythm of verses goes like this:

da-DUM, da-da-DUM, da-da-DUM, da-da-DUM;
da-DUM, da-da-DUM, da-da-DUM, da-da-DUM.

The text is full of prepositions on nearly every page, as in

Braid down her back
Sat on their broomstick
Flew through the wind
Out of the bushes
In his jaws
Over the fields

Into a cloud
The dragon drew back
Spread out his wings

To emphasize the prepositions, you can use your hand to accompany the text as part of your storytelling technique, pointing out the direction of the action taking place. Motions such as these can be very effective when reading rhythmic text.

To work on past tense structures, consider that it is often easier to repeat the last line of rhyming verse than to recall earlier words of the text. These are the immediately memorable words, and the rhyming aspect helps with this. Pause at the end of the page and ask the child to repeat the last line of the text, i.e., (reading aloud):

But how the witch wailed
and how the cat spat
When the wind blew so wildly
it blew off the hat.

Ask, “What did the wind do?” for a response that repeats (or nearly so) the lines of the text, i.e., “It blew off her hat.”

If the child is unable to repeat the entire words of the text, scaffold with as much help as needed, such as, “It blew off her ____.”

This modeling technique can be used to set up the next response when you ask the next question, and the child responds using a past tense construction.

Note: Pausing for Book Talk at the end of the page creates less story interruption, too!

To increase verbal expression, you may also find opportunities to pause at the end of a page and ask the child about what just happened in the story. For example, when the green bird asks, “Is there room on the broom for a bird like me?” and the witch says, “Yes!”, finish reading to the end of the page. Then point to the picture of the bird flying toward the witch with a bow in its beak and ask, “What just happened here?”

Help the child express in words that the bird found the witch’s bow and was returning it. Scaffold with needed words to let the child fill in the rest. This also allows children to use newly learned vocabulary.

You can also use this method to help the child express the action taking place in the story. Fill in with nouns and verbs if necessary. You may start off saying something like, “The green bird has the witch’s bow in its mouth and _____.”

Point out the other animals in the page before turning to the next page.

After the read aloud, pause to consider the kind of witch the main character is. You and the child can name attributes that describe her. If naming attributes is still a little difficult for the child to initiate independently, give two choices to select from. For example, was the witch

Kind or mean?
Friendly or unfriendly?
Grateful or unpleasant?
Happy or sad?
Fun or serious?
Caring or selfish?

As the child names the witch’s attributes with you, use the word in a sentence to connect the word with the witch. You can even expand the sentence that demonstrates in what way the witch was fun, or kind, and so forth. For example, “The witch was kind when she let the frog get on for a ride,” or “The witch was fun because she let all kinds of creatures on her broom.”

To teach a child to sequence events in the order of occurrence, go back over the pages and review how there came to be so many friends on the witch’s broom that it broke in two. For example, looking back through the pictures you can see that, “First, she lost her hat and the dog that found it got on the broom. Then she lost her bow. The bird that found it asked to get on. You might ask, “And then what happened?” Then she lost her wand. What happened? The frog that found it asked to get on the broom, and so forth.

To work on cause-and-effect relationships, go back through the illustrations and ask questions to enable the expression of meaningful connections in the story. For example, when the witch loses her hat, ask

What caused the witch to lose her hat?
What caused the witch to drop her wand?

Shape responses that express the relationship in a complete sentence, connecting the essential parts, as in

The witch lost her hat because ______ (the wind blew it away).
The witch dropped her wand because _________ (she wanted to hold on to her bow); or (she clutched her bow so it didn’t fall off), and so on.

To work on drawing inferences from the stated text, ask questions that require telling about the additional steps often omitted from the text story. For example, you might say

The story says a horrible beast rose up from the ditch. How was it that the beast had four heads? (A: The cat, dog, bird, and frog merged together to look like one big beast.)
Is that really one beast? What do you think the cat, dog, bird and frog did when they fell off the broom and saw the witch with the dragon? (A: They got together and came up with a plan; they decided that they could make it look like they were one big beast.)
How did the witch get down to the ground when she was in the air? Why did the broom land on the ground when the witch said, “Down!”? (A: It was a magic broomstick).
How do you think they came up with that plan? (A: They might have all fallen into a ditch and got muddy. Maybe they hardly recognized each other. Maybe they all talked about the best way to scare the dragon away. )

Hold a discussion on the story’s meaning and how it can apply to the child’s own life situations. Ask about why it was kind of the animals to return the witch’s belongings. What is the outcome? How do others feel when we help them out?

Ask the child if he or she might have wanted a ride on the witch’s broom. Would you have asked if you were the dog, green bird, or frog? Why would you have asked?

Why was it kind of the witch to say yes?
What did she have to do because of this? (i.e., make room on the broom.)
Why is it a good thing to include your friends in your fun activities?
How does it make others feel?
How does it make you feel?

For work on speech articulation, use the words of the text to practice phoneme placement techniques and in target structures at the child’s acquired level. There are lots of opportunities for practice production with all kinds of phonemes, especially words with phonemes B, C, and F.

B words: back, bow, bowl, beak, bent, bird, beyond, bog, bounded, be, but, begin, beast, buzz, and bone
B-Blends: braid, black, blew, broom, broomstick, and breathing
C: cat, back, black, croak, keen, can, beak, cloak, can, clean, cloud, speak, shriek, shake, and squelched
F: Forests, for, four, found, fields, fold, fell, feather(ed), fur(red), feast, and fill(ed)
F-Blends: flew, fly, from, flapped, frog, French fries, fluttered, and frightful

Note: See lots of additional methods and techniques for The Gruffalo by the same author listed in the Pre-K Catalog of Books Are for Talking, Too! (Fourth Edition).

Additional Note: See other books on the themes of Halloween, Seasons, (Autumn), Friendships and more in the Topic Exploration Index of Books Are for Talking, Too! (Fourth Edition).

They All Saw a Cat

by Brendan Wenzel
San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2016

Suggested Grade and Interest Level : Pre through K

Topics to Explore: Animals, Cats; Perspective-taking

Skills to Target: Concepts of print; Vocabulary, including Beginning concepts (color, size), and Attributes; Grammar and syntax, including Two-and three-word utterances and Tenses, present and past; Literature discourse, including Causal relationships and Verbal expression; Phonological awareness

Critique: This is a great example of a book that tells the story with a minimal, repetitive text. With each accompanying illustration the story unfolds and there is something more to talk about. A cat goes for a walk “through the world.” As each creature sees it pass, the cat takes on different characteristics, depending on the viewer’s perspective. Are you a hungry fox? A rabble-rousing dog? A bored goldfish? A bat in the night? To each it appears differently, yet it is still a cat, “with its whiskers, ears, and paws.” What causes this to be so? The reason might depend on the character’s physical location, size, appetite, need, intent, eyesight, disposition, and so on. As we come to realize each creature’s characteristics or circumstances, we can understand their point of view, and thus the changing appearance of the cat. That’s what makes it so fun to talk about!Book Talk Before the read-aloud, show the cover and begin by asking several children what they see. When they all say, “A cat,” read the title, stating, They All Saw a Cat. Set the stage for future discussions. Elicit descriptions of the cat by asking

What color is it?
What is it doing?
What is it wearing?
What are the black lines coming from its face called?
What else does a cat have? (e.g., a tale, paws, pointy ears, a scratchy tongue, and so on.)

Then pose a thoughtful question about whether it could be seen differently – depending on someone’s “point of view.”

To increase print awareness, point to the title on the cover. Move your finger across the words as you read them aloud. Then,

Point to letter A and identify its letter name.
Point to the word CAT and spell the letters.
Then say the sound of each letter as you blend them together to say CAT.
Indicate that the first A is also found in the next word, CAT.
Ask children to say it along with you as your finger traces the word.
Link the written word with the picture of the cat.

Explain that this word will appear on some of the pages as you read aloud. Ask the children to watch for the word. Whether it is printed in larger print or a little differently than it is on the cover, it will still say cat. Them you can all say the word together.

During the read-aloud, develop the vocabulary skills for naming attributes. Pause at the page that begins “and the child saw A CAT.” Ask children to describe what they see, just as they did with the book’s cover. What is the boy doing? Describe the cat, giving attributes (i.e., it has eyes, a tail, whiskers, ears, it’s striped, and a collar with a bell.) After you turn the page and read, “and the dog saw A CAT. Ask children to describe the cat now. Does the cat still have eyes, a tail, whiskers, a collar with a bell, stripes? Then what changed? Why did it change?

Work on other skills, such as grammar and syntax, as you encourage verbal expression about the changing attributes of the cat. For example, after you turn the page and read, “and the dog saw A CAT”, ask children to describe the cat now. Does the cat still have eyes, a tail, whiskers, a collar with a bell, stripes? But it looks totally different. What has changed? Why did it change?

After the read-aloud, go back over the pages to talk about how and why the cat changed, developing skills in perspective-taking. What might the cat look like to the fox who chases it? What might it look like to a dog? To a bat in the night? Encourage children to verbalize how it was the cat changed as you scaffold their descriptions with words such as so and because to express the causal relationships. For example, “The cat looks big and scary to the mouse because it is showing its sharp teeth and claws.”

For phonological awareness (PA), make a list of the names of animals found in the story. (A list can be found on the last page.) It will include a child, dog, fox, fish, mouse, bee, bird, flea, fish, snake, skunk, worm, and bat. All one-syllable words, and many have a consonant-vowel-consonant (C-V-C) sequence. Some have the same beginning sound (e.g., bee, bird, bat). These make great words to group according to their phonological features that can be used for PA activities. For instance,

Take the C-V-C words and slowly blend the phonemes aloud for children to identify the word. Then say the whole word, slowly if needed, and ask children to identify all the sounds in the word.
Make a word string with 3 words (i.e., bee, bird, dog) and have children identify words having the same beginning sound.
Ask children to rhyme one of the words (e.g., fox and box; mouse and house, fish and wish; bat and cat, and so on). If that’s a little difficult, provide a 3-word string with 2 words that rhyme and ask children which words rhymes.

With so many opportunities to explore the topic of perspective-taking and develop speech, language and early literacy skills, this will be a book you’ll return to time and time again, especially because children love it.

Special Note: See more ideal picture books for teaching phonological awareness(PA) in Books Are for Talking, Too! (4th Ed.). Section 2 is devoted to PA, with catalogs of books in two parts, one for beginning levels and one for advanced. Each book entry provides games to play with lists of stimulus words from the text – at each stage of development. Tables in the introduction show the progression of skills at each level. The activities make your book selection suitable for use with a group of children at various levels of awareness.

Additional Note: Also explore the Topic Explorations Index in Books Are for Talking, Too! (4th Ed.) to find more books on the topic of perspective taking, and the Skills Index to see lots of books listed to address Concepts of Print, Beginning concepts, Naming attributes and more.

More information: Don’t miss the opportunity to click on the author’s website to see his great work and learn more about his awards and other great books at: www.brendanwenzel.info.

Journey

by Aaron Becker
Somerville, Mass: Candlewick Press, 2013

Suggested Interest Level: Pre-K through 5

Topics to Explore: Creativity; Fantasy; Journeys

Skills to Target: Vocabulary; Grammar and syntax; Literate discourse (including Sequencing events, Causal relationships, Storytelling, Point of view, and Discussion)

Summary: A wordless picture book begins with a familiar predicament for most children. A girl finds herself at home, feeling bored. She tries to engage her mother, father, and older sibling, but they are too engrossed in their own activities to make time for her. Alone in her room, she draws on her imagination to solve her problem. Watch what unfolds as she takes her red marker and creates a door on the wall, inventing a passage. As her imagination takes flight, she passes the threshold of her door and embarks on a fantastic journey.

What is it about castles, boats, and flying creatures that intrigues us ? The artistry captivates with scenes from ancient cultures, influenced by the artist’s travels. Viewers are mesmerized, then relieved as her journey brings her back home and she finds her friend on the sidewalk. Together they create inventive ways to take off on a new adventure, joined by the strange bird-creature that protected her on her last journey. Where could they go next? A Caldecott Honor Book.

Book Talk

Before the book sharing, explore the cover and ask children to make predictions about what the story will be about. Engage children at their developmental level, as it is a story for a wide age range. Ask children what is unique about the castle. Identify some of its fantastic features, such as a moat, dome, tower, turret, minaret, flags, rampart, fortress, weathervane, and ornament. Reflect on the girl in the red boat and ask how she might feel on seeing this amazing site. Prompt with words such as awe, awestruck, wonder, surprise, and disbelief, to name a few. Prepare children for the adventure of telling the story through pictures and explain that there may be many ways to interpret them.

You might also begin by taking the perspective of the girl in the boat. Ask your audience to put themselves in her place. How might you feel if you entered such a place? Have you ever been somewhere that was amazing, so much so that you were in awe?

Another way to initiate the story is by talking about the word journey. What is it? What is another word for journey? Is there only one kind of journey? Can the word be used describe travel in the physical sense, from one place to another, and in a metaphorical sense, as in one’s experiences through a passage of time? Give an example of each.

During the book sharing, consider beginning each page with your own descriptions of scenes so that children don’t feel put on the spot. As they quietly connect with the story, perhaps they have more to add that you might have left out.

Delve further into the story by asking what the girl might be thinking and feeling. For example, once she is on the other side of her red door, see her in a magical forest at night, where lanterns in treetops highlight a stream wending its way to something in the distance. Ask what it could be. (E.g., “How do you think she’s feeling and what might she be thinking in this magical forest?’)

Turn the page to discover that the girl has wandered through the forest and reached the spot in the distance, a dock extending into the water. See her at the end of the dock, head bent down. She looks into the water, holding her red marker. You might ask, “What do you think she wants to do now?” Or “What would you do if you were the character in the story?”

On the opposite page, see the girl with her red marker reach into the water, draw a boat, and climb in. The illustrations are ideal for a child to explain the sequence of events.

Once the rhythm of shared book talk is established, follow up on the child’s response by extending it with a descriptive or a connective word. Create dialog for the story. Even though the girl is alone, she can talk out loud to herself, exclaim how she is feeling, what she is thinking and planning to do. In this way, you are connecting the story elements. You can interpret the characters’ actions in different ways. Bringing characters to life with dialogue is especially good for developing perspective-taking.

A word about book talk: Remember that your talking can be an example. Children can learn when you answer your own questions and show ways to put thoughts into words, called modeling. When children join in, use scaffolding to build on their utterances. Add more detail and draw connections to the story using their words plus yours. Once they are engaged and participating, hand the storytelling over to the children. Add your comments to their interpretations. Transcribe their story and read it back to them while they show the illustrations and perhaps add to the story even more.

After the book sharing, ask children to tell their favorite part of the story and turn to the page of their descriptions. Help children sequence story parts by scaffolding with words like and then, and finally, or at last. Encourage the expression of causal relationships by describing events that caused other events to happen, scaffolding with words such as because, since, and so that.

For example, see the girl travel around the ancient fortress in her boat, along the waterway high overhead. Oops! The aqueduct abruptly ends. Just as she is about to go over the precipice into the cascading water, we see her solution on the opposite page. She separates from her boat, midair, and tumbles through the sky. Children can describe the sequence of actions as shown. What could she be drawing in the sky with her red marker? What is the shape? Make predictions and see on the next page that she has drawn a magic balloon that carries her safely over the city. Scaffold their descriptions with connective words, as in, “She drew a red balloon [because she got tossed out of her boat] [since she was about to crash] [so that she could continue on her journey].”

Another way to sequence story parts is to recall the vehicles the girl used on her journey. First, she rode in a boat, then in a hot air balloon, and then on a magic carpet. Expand the sequence with a prepositional phrase using words that are relational to one another (e.g., “Then she rode [through the sky] on a magic carpet [over a desert] [above the domes and minarets of ancient cities].”).

To focus on storytelling, explain that stories have a logical order of elements, or a system, for how they are told. They begin with a setting, (e.g., time and place), characters, and something that starts the story. Was there a problem? How did the [girl] respond? What plan did [she] devise? Were there obstacles along the way? Was the goal accomplished? How was this done? How did [her] problem get resolved? And, importantly, what was the outcome? How did [she] feel at the end of the story?

At first, you can provide scaffolding in the form of story “grammar” questions. After telling several stories in this way, the structure will be easier to recall through their connections, and children will begin to tell cohesive stories on their own.

This is a book that can be used over and over again. With so many layers of meaning, each time you pick it up there will be something new to see, describe, and connect with to make book talk .

Special Note: Find other great wordless picture books in the catalogs of Books Are for Talking, Too! (4th Ed.). You’ll learn ways to use them for developing many more communication skills important for literate discourse.

Also: See more books covering the topics of Journeys, Creativity, and Cultures listed in the Topic Explorations index of Books Are for Talking, Too! (4th Ed.).

Animal

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Book selection for June

I love reading aloud a repetitive text because it makes for immediately memorable language. On each page, the child hears the same rhythmic beats to the sounds that make up the words, accompanied by different illustrations. They are ideal books for teaching early language learners how to combine more words in their utterances, advance in their syntactic structures, and learn new vocabulary.

Another great feature of a child’s book is when one or two words stand out on the cover, differentiated from the rest. Pointing this out with a few simple techniques is a great way to develop print awareness at story time, a foundational skill essential for building early literacy skills.

A simple, repetitive text that builds to introduce more words can create opportunities for phonological awareness (PA) games. Familiar words in the text are often more recognizable to children than words with no immediate context. If the words are suitable for the developmental level of thechild, create lists of them to play in gamesthat teach the awareness of speech sounds, or phonemes., another foundational skill for reading success.

Of course, the theme of this clever book, that of different perspectives on the same subject, will be the main catalyst for Book Talk. It’s a fun read that kids never seem to tire of. And what better way is there to learn?

Book selection for May

I can’t think of a time when it isn’t important to address the needs of the whole child. Our sensitivities to their issues, especially children with special needs, are paramount in laying a foundation for learning that is solid and secure. Whether you are a caregiver or educator, this book is a wonderful place to start in opening up about feelings through the reinforcement of the author’s message. It is also an especially good book to use in helping children draw connections between the story’s events and their own personal experiences.

The ideal feature of this book is the minimaltext. Words accompanied by pictures that illustrate the meaning of the story are ideal for book talk. As children talk about what they see unfolding in the pictures, the adult can scaffold a child’s spoken language in ways that build stronger communication skills. With just a few techniques to accompany a carefully selected picture book, the adult can build speech, language, and literate discourse skills while enriching the meaning of the story. And in this story, there are opportunities to do even more.

Book selection for April

From time to time I am asked, “How can I present a picture book to my older school-age children withoutgetting “that look”– or outright objection- that this is too childish.My answer: Youjust need the right book.When you know the elements of a good picture book, you’ll find the right ones to capture theinterest of your audience – and get thatbook talk going.And there are plenty!

The problemis not that older kids don’t like books with pictures. Today’s reading material has pictures galore.Consider magazines at supermarket checkout stands, orpicture books found in the adult genre ofcoffee table books (likerecent best seller, The Space Shuttle, the story of NASA’s shuttle program in magnificent photographs). At the heart of older children’s disinterestis that the picturesappear juvenile, intended for younger audiences, and withoutintrigue. Older kids need illustrations they can connect with, ones that draw attention to aspects of a storythat haven’t been considered. Those are the features that become talking points, amplify the words on the page, and create the kind of book talk that makes the experience come alive.

One such book is The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, a magnificent depictionof Longfellow’s poem immortalizing the famous American’s ride on horseback from Boston to Lexington (and Concord, being his intended destination) to warn colonists of the British troops’ advancement.The well-knownPaul Revere’s Ride is the text, set on the pages asanold document printed on parchment.Christopher Bing’s illustrations of pen and ink on scratchboard, the engraving style of the period, create intrigue and tell a story by themselves,giving a heightened sense of this historical moment. And there’s nothing juvenile about them.

Books Are for Talking, Too

Book Talk

Each year, a dizzying array of picture books enters a billion-dollar global children’s book industry. Books for children ages 4 through 8 make up a huge percentage of that market. It is easy to see why, given their creativity and entertainment value. Since its first publication in 1990, Books Are for Talking, Too! has shined a spotlight on special books for storybook read-aloud interactions. These are the books I find ideally suited to target a whole gamut of speech, language, and early literacy skills. Each book entered in the catalogs lists skills to target, ways to promote them during shared book reading, and much more!

With so many impressive books on the shelves, I wish I had room to fill the pages with every book I’d love to share. As new books come onto the market, I find even more I’d like to present.

By showcasing a few here in Book Talk, some that are not in the resource, you’ll have an idea of how the books in the catalogs of Books Are for Talking, Too! (Fourth Edition) are featured. I can share my ideas with you on how other great books can be used to engage children in book talk – to build all sorts of communication and early literacy skills. It may get you thinking about even more! That’s great!

Here in Book Talk, I’m featuring one book per month. Along with publication information, there is a critique of the book that includes some of its interesting features, such as the author, artist, topic, or related topics. Also included are suggestions for ways to use the book to develop certain skills, all through the speech-language and literacy connection.

The elements I look for in these special books are these: illustrations, illustrations, and illustrations. Pictures that support a minimal text and tell a story in themselves (one the audience can connect with) capture the interest of young (and not so young) individuals – and you – the person who can bring the book alive – the presenter.

Special Note: I have tried to select books that are readily available through school and local libraries, which means many are award-winners or notables to the extent they are widely recognized.

Presentation skills

Normal speakers often can experience vocal fatigue during oral presentations. Whether making presentations by phone, videoconference, or directly with others, your voice should be self-sustaining throughout your delivery. It should sound natural and comfortable, regardless of the size of your audience. The degree to which this is achieved has to do with various facets of your speaking voice, such as rate, pitch, volume, prosody, and resonance. How do you draw attention to words you want to emphasize? How do you control your rate of speech, or land at the end of your sentences? What is the tone you want to impart? Learn to use your voice with a plan designed especially for you. When you are Sounding Your Best in your natural voice, you’ll learn to convey your message sounding decisive, confident, trustworthy, and likeable.

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Sounding More Professional

Developing a more clearly understood and pleasant-sounding voice can make a big difference in the way you connect with others. Communication is at the heart of personal relationships and almost any business. Enhancing the qualities of your natural voice can have enormous, long-term results. With some training and practice, you CAN learn to use your optimum voice, one that is sustaining, pleasant to hear, and supports your image without distraction. Learn ways to Sound Your Best and send your message in the way you want others to hear it.

Accent Modification and Reduction

If you have a cultural accent and miss opportunities to connect with others or find it frustrating to be understood, there are methods that can help. Improving your communication style is really a matter of increasing your focus on how you make sound, and the rhythm and stress on of the sounds you make in ongoing speech. You don’t have to completely erase your cultural accent to be understood more clearly. You CAN learn to modify aspects of your speech to move toward Standard American Dialect – and Sound Your Best.

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Articulation Therapy

Sounding Your Best sometimes means needing to change articulation patterns. Correct tongue placement for certain speech sounds can be achieved through specific exercises designed especially for you. You CAN change the speech sound you’ve been wanting to change that will enable you to communicate more clearly and effortlessly with others.

Stuttering Therapy

Stuttering often starts early in life, but not all the time. People who stutter often have worked on techniques in the past they may or may not find useful. If you believe more fluency is needed in your speech, but have been shy or reluctant to address it, please know that there are effective methods to help you gain more fluent speech and Sound Your Best.

Voice Therapy

A chronically hoarse, raspy voice very often needs to be treated by a qualified, licensed speech-language professional. Always check with your physician first if your hoarseness is chronic. You can improve your vocal quality and the health of your vocal cords with a therapeutic treatment plan designed especially for you.

Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy:

This type of therapy addresses incorrect swallowing patterns that result in thrusting the tongue against or between the teeth. The condition is often called Tongue Thrust, or Reverse Swallow. The term orofacial myofunctional disorder more accurately encompasses swallowing and chewing patterns of the tongue and facial muscles, as well as habitual tongue placement.
These conditions can affect dental occlusion (bite), post orthodontia, articulation and more. A dentist or orthodontist usually makes the referral. A specific therapeutic program is designed by the speech pathologist based on an evaluation of that person’s needs.

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