Book Talk

Lost and Found
by Oliver Jeffers
New York: The Penguin Group, 2005.

Suggested Grade and Interest Level: Pre-K through 2

Other languages: Spanish (perdido y encontrado); French: (perdu retrouve); Catalan, Chinese, Danish, Finnish, Gaelic, Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Turkish, and Vietnamese

Awards: Nestlé Smarties Book Prize Gold Award, Blue Peter Book of the Year

Other media: Lost and Found, the animated film produced for TV, narrated by Jim Broadbent, Winner of BAFTA award (British Academy Films Award) along with over 40 international awards, available on Amazon Prime; book is also available in ebook and Kindle editions.

Topics to Explore: Birds, Penguins; Feelings; Friendship; Geography, South Pole; Imagination; Kindness and Empathy; Perspective-taking; Shadows and reflections

Skills to Build:
Concepts of print
Vocabulary: Synonyms, Antonyms, Adjectives, Similes, Prepositions
Beginning concepts: Sizes, colors, and shapes; Part-Whole relationships
Grammar and syntax: Early utterances, Noun-verb agreement, Present progressive and past tenses, Negative structures, Advanced syntactic structures
Language literacy (a.k.a. Language discourse): Predicting, Problem Solving, Sequencing events, Cause-and-effect relationships, Storytelling, Drawing inferences, Point of View, Verbal expression, Giving explanations, Discussion, Answering Why-questions
Social pragmatics: Being a friend, Conversational skills, Non-verbal communication
Executive functioning: Planning and organizing, Flexibility
Articulation – P, B, and L
Fluency

Summary: When a penguin shows up at a boy’s doorstep in a charming little seaside town, the bewildered boy must think of what to do. The sad looking penguin follows him everywhere, and the kindhearted boy believes it to be lost. But the Lost and Found Office doesn’t know what do to, and his feathered friends at the park and bathtub ducky don’t know either. Then he discovers by reading his big red book that penguins come from the South Pole. So, he makes his little rowboat seaworthy and rows the penguin across the high seas back to its faraway home. On their journey they experience each other’s companionship. Then, after the boy drops it off and rows away, he has second thoughts. Oh no! A mistake! The penguin wasn’t lost! It was lonely! He turns the boat around and just misses the penguin behind an iceberg, as it has already left the South Pole. All ends well as they eventually reunite, and their sweet embrace will warm your heart.

Methods: Before the read-aloud, as you introduce the book, show the cover with the boy and penguin inside an upside down umbrella floating on the icy waters of a polar region. Encourage children to share what they know about a happy topic – penguins!  Start a discussion with questions such as –

• What makes them interesting? (E.g., they’re black and white, flightless birds, waddle, seen in movies, on so on)
• Where do they come from?

Vocabulary, Beginning Concepts

To work on colors, shapes, and sizes, encourage picture descriptions of the cover image. The simple watercolor drawings in vibrant colors make labeling and describing the boy, penguin, water, and “boat” easy and fun.

To work on part-whole relationships, identify what the boy and penguin are riding in. The top part of the umbrella is upside down and submerged in the water, so recognizing the whole object may require some descriptions and naming of features (such as the handle). Some suggestions –

•   Is it right-side up or upside down?
•   What is that object in the center that the boy is holding?
•   When would you usually use this object?

Then set the stage for one of the story’s locations by sharing descriptions of the sea, the iceberg in the distance, and the shape of the stars in the sky.

Concepts of print

To work on print awareness, show the book’s title on the cover, running your finger beneath the words in the direction in which they are read. Ask children to read it with you. Encourage them to be on the lookout for the same words that will appear again in the story.

On a page turn, see the title page and ask children to read the title with you, as they’ve just read it on the cover. Build print awareness by saying that the words will appear again in the story and to be on the lookout for them.

Predicting events

Encourage predictions about how the boy and penguin might come to be connected in the story. Build anticipation as you read the title.

Continue to encourage predictions about what might happen in the story based on the cover. Draw connections between the cover images and the words of the title. For example, you might ask –

• What does the boy have in his hand?
• When does someone use a suitcase?
• What does a suitcase and Lost and Found tell us about what might happen in this story?

Vocabulary, Grammar and Syntax

On the title page, re-read the book’s title. Encourage picture descriptions as you support grammar and syntax constructions, from early utterances, to noun+verb agreement, to complex sentence formations.  Some suggestions –

•        Sun sets
•        Long shadows
•        Go for a walk
•        Boy and penguin walk
•        The boy and penguin go for a walk.
•        As the sun reflects on the water, the boy and penguin go for a walk.

Enhance vocabulary development while eliciting target structures by asking questions such as –

• What are the dark shapes called on the path in front of them? (Shadows)
• What is the shining shape on the water beneath the sun called? (Reflection)

Then encourage use of the word within the story’s context as you scaffold ways to connect the new word to other words about the story for contextualized learning. Some suggestions –

• The boy sees his shadow on the ground in front of him.
• The sun is low in the sky. It casts a long shadow in front of the boy.
• The little penguin’s shadow is next to the boy’s.
• The sun’s reflection shimmers on the water.

 

During the read-aloud, continue to involve children in the language of the story by modeling a response, shaping a target structure, or expanding an utterance to connect more words to their meaning.

Problem solving, More Vocabulary, Beginning concepts

On the first two page turns, as the penguin comes to the boy’s door, work on problem solving by asking children to state the problem in the story. For example, you might ask –

• What might the boy be thinking about the penguin that arrived on his doorstep?
• What does the penguin’s expression tell you about how it feels?
• What is the problem the boy wants to solve?

Continue to target vocabulary in talking about the shadows cast on the ground from the two figures.

• Are the shadows short or long?
• Are they longer than when you saw them on the first page?
• Do shadows change shape? Why do you think so?

Work on prepositions in front and behind by using the illustration accompanied by text that states –

The boy didn’t know where it had come from,
but it began to follow him everywhere.

Ask questions such as –

• Where is the penguin? (behind the boy)
• When someone follows someone or something, where are they? (behind, in back of)
• Where is the penguin in this picture?  (behind the boy)

Concepts of Print, Giving explanations

On the next page turn, see the boy trying to solve the penguin’s problem by taking it to the Lost and Found Office.

To continue work on print awareness , point to the writing on the desk that reads Lost and Found. While the font has changed from that of the title, the words remain the same. After reading them, prompt with questions such as –

• Where else have we seen those words?

To encourage verbal explanations about why the Lost and Found Office might not apply to a penguin being lost, consider asking questions such as –

• If the penguin were lost, would you try to find its home by going to the Lost and Found?
• Why not?
• What do you usually find at the Lost and Found?

Pragmatic language

To work on nonverbal communication skills, point out the boy’s expression and body language as he tries to explain to the man at the Lost and Found desk about the penguin at his side. Then read the man’s expression. Prompts might include –

• What does the boy’s outstretched hand indicate he might be saying?
• How would he likely ask a question of the man at the desk?
• What does the man’s expression tell us about his response?

More Vocabulary, Synonyms, Grammar and Syntax

On the next few page turns, see the boy still trying to solve the lost penguin’s problem without success. Target grammar and syntax constructions, including negative structures, by modeling a response, shaping a target structure, and/or expanding on an utterance. Some examples include –

• The birds didn’t know (where the penguin came from).
• His bathtub ducky didn’t know (where penguin came from).
• The people on the big ship couldn’t hear him.
• The boy couldn’t sleep.
• He didn’t know how to help (the penguin).

To work on vocabulary, talk about the boy’s efforts to help the sad little penguin, and his response when he can’t seem to solve the problem.

The story reads –

That night, the boy couldn’t sleep for disappointment. He wanted to help the penguin, but he isn’t sure how.

Ask questions such as –

• Why couldn’t the boy sleep that night? (E.g., He was feeling sad, frustrated, disappointed, worried)
• What are some ways to describe how he feels?

Then encourage use of the word disappointed as you scaffold ways to connect it to other words about the story for contextualized learning. Some suggestions –

• The boy was disappointed that he couldn’t help the penguin.
• The boy was disappointed that he couldn’t find a way to get the penguin back to its home.

To work on synonyms, brainstorm other words for disappointed. Some suggestions –

• discouraged
• dismayed
• sad
• let down
• worried
• bewildered

Cause and Effect Relationships

On the next few page turns, the boy decides to take the penguin back to the South Pole, where he believes it wants to return home. See him testing out his boat, packing his suitcase (including the umbrella), and preparing for their adventurous row.

Support children in expressing cause-and-effect relationships with words such as because and so in answers to questions such as –

  Q:  Why did the boy want to row his boat to the South Pole?
A:  He wanted to row the boat (to the South Pole) because ________

• …he read that penguins come from the South Pole.
• …he couldn’t get the big ship to take it there.
• …he thought it was where the penguin wanted to be.

   A: The boy wanted to row his boat to the South Pole so __________

• …he could return the penguin to its home.
• …the penguin wouldn’t feel sad anymore.

and so on.

More Grammar and syntax, Cause-and-effect relationships

On the next few page turns, see the boy and penguin on the high seas. The story says that –

There was lots of time for stories, and the penguin listened to every one, so the boy would always tell another.

To work on grammar and syntax, including complex sentence structures, talk about the boat going over the waves……

• ….while the boy tells stories.
• ….as the penguin listens to the boy’s stories.
• ….during a storm with thunder and lightning.

Express the story in a cause-and-effect relationship, such as –

• The penguin listened to all the boy’s stories, so ____________ (e.g., the boy kept on telling them).

Similes, Synonyms,  Adjectives

To work on similes, synonyms, and adjectives, use the text

 …waves were as big as mountains

to describe the wave pictured during the storm. Talk about how the word mountain is a good choice to describe how huge and tall the waves are. Encourage the use of the simile with adjectives and other words for big, such as –

•        ….as huge as a mountain
•        …as enormous as a mountain

More adjectives include gigantic, monstrous, colossal, and immense.

More Concepts of Print, Vocabulary

On the next page turn, the boy arrives at the South Pole where he helps the penguin out of the boat.

Welcome to the South Pole.

To work on vocabulary, continue to enhance the meanings of previously targeted words, shadows and reflections. Point them out and ask –

• What is the dark shape under the South Pole sign called? (shadow)
• What is the shape on the water beneath the boat called? (shadow)
• What is the light shape beneath the iceberg called? (reflection)

More Grammar and syntax 

Observe how the boy helping the penguin out of the boat as you encourage storytelling from the illustration. Scaffold language constructions as you target specified grammar and syntax objectives, from two- and three-word utterances to more complex formations. Some suggestions –

• Penguin gets out (of boat).
• The boy pushes the penguin (up onto the ice).
• The boy helps the penguin get out (of the boat).
• The umbrella comes out (of the boat).
• The penguin first puts the umbrella on the ice.
• Icebergs float (on the water).

Drawing inferences, Predicting, Point of view

The turning point in the narrative comes on the next three page turns. The text reads –

Then the boy said good-bye…

… and floated away.

As the boy leaves and waves goodbye, he notices the penguin, standing on the ice bank, holding the umbrella he packed for their trip,

…looking sadder than ever.

To draw inferences about meaning from the words of the story, support children in expressing their realization about what the penguin may have wanted all along. Ask questions such as –

• Why do you think the penguin is “looking sadder than ever”?
• Did it like being with the boy in the boat?
• What might it have wanted all along?

Here the story offers an opportunity to address the concept of perspective-taking, both from the standpoint of one’s senses (e.g., visual perspective), and from a conceptual standpoint (i.e., understanding another’s thoughts, feelings, wants, and needs). The illustration shows the boy leaving in his boat from the visual standpoint of the penguin, who is left alone on the shore of the South Pole. Ask questions that help children see the story from the penguin’s perspective, such as

• What does the penguin see?
• What does the boy see?
• When the penguin sees the boy rowing away and waving his hand, how might it be feeling?
• If you were the penguin, how would you feel about the boy rowing away and waving goodbye?

On a page turn, point out the boy thinking through his decision to drop the penguin off at the South Pole and then take off.  Now children see the story from the boy’s point of view. When he realizes this was a mistake, he also realizes that –

The penguin hadn’t been lost. It had just been lonely.

Ask questions about what his behaviors mean when we see the boy….

• scratching his head
• his hand on his chin
• opening his mouth and stretching out his hands

Scaffold answers to questions that enable children to express in their own words the boy’s realization and encourage predictions about what will happen next. Ask questions such as –

• What does the boy realize about his friend the penguin?
• What do you think he will do next?

On the next page turn, see the boy rowing back to the South Pole to get the penguin “as fast as he could”. But the penguin has already left in his “boat” (the upside down umbrella he’d offloaded first on arrival), and was on the other side of the iceberg. This is a great opportunity to work on the story’s point of view and perspective-taking, from both the visual and conceptual standpoints of the characters. Ask what’s happening with thoughtful questions such as  –

• What had the penguin decided to do?
• What made the penguin leave his spot on the South Pole?
• Does the boy know he left? Why not?
• Can they see each other? Why not? (The penguin is on the opposite side of the iceberg from the boy, the boy is on the opposite side of the iceberg from the penguin, the boy can’t see around the iceberg, and so on.)
• Why can’t the boy see the penguin, even in his telescope?

On the next page turn, the boy sadly sets off rowing his boat back home when he spots a tiny spec in the distance.

• Could it be his friend?

As you turn the page to see what the boy saw, encourage children to express in their own words the sight of the penguin inside the umbrella, rowing it in the water to meet the boy.

See the wonderful embrace on the adjacent page. Encourage children to describe in words what happened and what the boy finally realized.

• Why did the boy think all along that the penguin was lost?
• After he took dropped him off and waved goodbye, what did he realize?
• After he turned his boat around to find him, was penguin found?
• What else was found?

Also note the penguin navigating the waters, inside the upside down umbrella, with an oar in hand. Encourage children to identify and describe the “vehicle” as you target multiple speech and language objectives with this heartwarming scene.

At the last page turn, see the boy and his new pal, the penguin, escorted by a pod of whales on their way home in the tiny rowboat, talking together at last.

Articulation

To work on phoneme production throughout the story experience, look for multiple opportunities to work on plosives P and B and the liquid glide L as the words appear in the text and illustrations.

Words containing P in the text: penguin, Pole (South), pushed, pass, point, disappointed, ship, help, sleep
More words in the illustrations: pushed (the penguin out of boat)

Words containing B in the text: boy, birds, big, boat, book, rowboat, bad, good-bye, back
More words in the illustrations: iceberg, umbrella

Words containing L in the text: lost, lonely, looked, help, sleep, pole, small, lots, listen, always, tell, float, until, finally, delighted, suddenly, telling, realized, last, sadly, closer
More words in the illustrations: pictures: whale, umbrella, lightening, land

 

After the read aloud, when children have had time to absorb the story, go back over the pages to review the illustrations and continue working on speech, language, and literacy objectives.

Vocabulary, Synonyms and Antonyms, Grammar and syntax

Review the title, Lost and Found, and provide opportunities for children to express its meaning.

To work on synonyms and antonyms, ask children to put the words lost and found into sentences as you target vocabulary development as well as grammar and syntax constructions, from early utterances to more Complex sentence formations.  For example, ask –

• What’s the opposite of lost?
• What are some ways to use lost in a sentence about the story?

Some suggestions:

• The penguin was lost.
• The boy thought the penguin was lost.
•  The boy lost the penguin after he took it back to the South Pole.
• The penguin thought he had lost the boy after he was dropped off at the South Pole.
• What’s the opposite of found?

Then ask children for ways to use found in a sentence about the story. Some suggestions –

• The boy found the penguin.
• The penguin lost the boy
• The boy lost a friend, but then he found him again.
• The penguin lost the boy, but then he found him again.
• The boy and penguin found each other and became friends.

Pragmatic language

To work on conversational skills as they relate to social pragmatic language, point out that the penguin does not talk throughout the story. Giving it dialogue would remove the mystery surrounding its appearance and the quandary the boy finds himself in. The penguin can’t tell him his needs, nor does the boy expect it.

After the story, however, children can imagine what the penguin and boy might say to each other on their return trip, as the story says –

So the boy and his friend

went home together, talking of

wonderful things all the way.

Consider supporting children in creating a dialogue between these two friends.

• What might the penguin want to tell the boy?
• What might the boy want to know?
• How might the friends reminisce about what they had experienced together?
• What might they tell each other about what they want to do when they arrive home?
• What stories about their prior adventures might they tell each other?

To work on the social pragmatics of being friends, talk about what contributed to the penguin and boy becoming close friends. Consider starting a discussion by asking –

• What things did they do that helped create the bond of friendship?
• In what ways did they enjoy each other’s companionship?
• How did the boy’s wanting to help the penguin create good feelings toward each other?

 Some suggestions –

• The penguin participated in the boy’s plans.
• The penguin helped the boy pack for the trip.
• The penguin helped push the boat out to sea.
• The boy told stories in the boat “to help pass the time.”
• The penguin “listened to everyone.”
• The boy helped the penguin out of the boat.
• The penguin felt that the boy cared.

Discussion, Answering Why-questions

Once the child has a chance to absorb the story, discuss what the title, Lost and Found, has come to mean. Walk through the story’s events and ask questions such as –

• When the penguin arrived at the boy’s house, what did the boy think?
• Why did he think the penguin was lost?
• Why did the boy try to help the penguin find its home?
• When he left the penguin at the South Pole, what did the boy lose?
• When he went back to get the penguin, what did he find?
• When the boy dropped him off, did the penguin lose a friend?
• Did the penguin find the boy? What else did it find? (a friend)

Sequencing events

In reviewing the story, support children in identifying the boy’s attempts to solve the problem in sequential order, using connecting words first, next, then, after that, finally, and so on. For example,

• First he went to the Lost and Found Office.
• Next, he asked the birds in the park.
• Then he asked his bathtub ducky.
• Then he read his book about where penguins come from.
• After that, he tried to get a ship to take it back to the South Pole.
• Finally, he decided to take the penguin back home in his own rowboat.

Problem solving

 Support children in identifying the problem in the story and then discuss the boy’s attempts at solving it.

• What was the problem in the story?
• What did the boy do about the penguin showing up at his door? (e.g., took it to the Lost and Found Office, asked the birds in the park, asked his rubber ducky, etc.)
• How did he feel then? (e.g., discouraged)
• Did his first attempts at solving the problem work? Why not?
• Did the boy’s problem get resolved?
• How did it get resolved?
• How would the story have been different if the boy hadn’t realized the penguin was not lost, but lonely?
• What would you have done if you were the boy?
• When the boy realized the penguin was not lost, did that solve the problem?

Storytelling

This is an ideal book to work on story schema due to the depiction of the characters’ emotions and boy’s attempts to solve what he believes to be the penguin’s problem.

Structure and scaffold children’s narratives that contain the following essential story grammar elements that make up a complete episode. Children should be able to understand and express the boy’s motivation toward his goal and how his feelings motivate his behavior.  Ask questions about…..

• Characters: Who is the story about?
• Setting: Where does the story take place?
• Initiating Event: What happened to start the story off?
• Internal Response: How did the boy feel about this?
• External Attempts: What did the boy do? How did he respond to the situation?
• Consequences: What happened as a result of his attempts?
• Internal Response: When he finally got the penguin to the South Pole, how did he feel?
• External Attempt: What did that motivate him to do then?
• Outcome: How did the boy and penguin each feel about this and how did their relationship change?

Begin with the first few elements. Support children in putting them together in literate discourse style. Continue until a whole episode can be told with few prompts. If helpful, go back and review methods for problem solving to assist in expanding the narrative.

Executive Functioning

Because language drives the neural networking of executive functions, it can be helpful for children to verbalize strategies the characters put in place that lead to the story’s outcome. Working on strengthening these skills has the benefit of enhancing other literate discourse skills as well, including storytelling.

To work on planning, organization, initiation, and persistence, revisit the pages showing the boy’s attempts to help the penguin.

• What were the boy’s first steps in putting a plan in place to help the penguin?
• When none of those strategies worked, how did the boy persist in his goal? (e.g., went to his book for research that might lead to answers, etc.)
• When the boy decided to go to the South Pole, what plans did he put in place? (e.g., prepared the boat for sea, packed a suitcase, remembered an umbrella, and so on)

To work on flexibility, review the pages after he drops the penguin off at the South Pole and sets out to return home. The story reads –

There was no point telling stories now

because there was no one to listen

except the wind and the waves.

Instead, he just thought.

And the more he thought

…the more he realized he made a big mistake.

Talk about the boy’s realization and then re-thinking about what the penguin really wanted. How did he change his perception of the goal? Then ask children what is involved with flexible thinking.  For example  –

• Do you have to be able to change what you’re doing if your perception of the goal changes?
• How did the boy talk his way through realizing what the penguin really wanted?
• Did the boy then change his perception of what needed to be done?
• How might he have talked his way through needing to change direction?

Fluency

The minimal text and easily identifiable illustrations make this book a good resource for working on fluency techniques such as easy start, light contacts, and phonation on a steady breath stream. Throughout the story and afterward, consider having the child retell and sequence of events in a format that is familiar, enabling easier application of the target technique. For example,

• First the boy went to the Lost and Found.
• Then he went to the park to ask other birds.

In addition to fluency techniques, speech-language pathologists treat other aspects of this complex disorder to competently address components such as feelings, beliefs, behaviors, and rationales for change. The story of the penguin that does not speak provides interesting opportunities to work on avoidance, self-acceptance, openness, and self-disclosure as indicated for that unique child. Consider the following suggestions if they apply:

To work on adjusting attitudes and moving away from beliefs such as “I don’t have to change”, “I don’t need to speak” and “I can get others to speak for me”, consider holding a discussion (in an appropriate setting) on avoidance. While we know that penguins and other animals don’t talk, we typically suspend our disbelief in stories where animals do plenty of talking. But in this story, we are asked to realize that penguins really don’t talk (at least not until it is implied at the end that this one can), and we appreciate the boy’s dilemma as he tries to help his unexpected visitor. Possible questions to start a discussion include –

• Why was it hard for the boy to understand the penguin’s problem?
• How would the story have been different if the penguin had said, “I’d like to play with you” when he arrived at the boy’s house?
• Would it have mattered how he said it?
• How is avoiding speaking similar to the penguin’s silence in the story?
• Do others get a sense of why you may feel sad, for instance, when you avoid speaking?
• What is the difference between avoiding speaking and being unable to speak?
• What kinds of things can avoidance lead to?
• Is speaking to someone important, even though you might stutter?

To work on openness, use the events of the story as the boy thinks through how he left the penguin at the South Pole as a segue to self-awareness and problem solving. Talk about how the boy finally realizes what the penguin wanted. Because of his self-awareness and ability to think about his actions and the penguin’s response, he didn’t lose a meaningful friendship. He found friendship!

To be comfortable with one’s stuttering (or any speech disorder) is to develop self-awareness about one’s actions and acknowledge openly the difficulties it can bring to speaking. Encourage a belief that evaluating one’s actions, as the boy did in the story, is beneficial in all aspects of life. Stress that the importance of communicating lies in what you have to say, not how you say it. By avoiding speaking, you can leave others perplexed, like the boy in Lost and Found. But just as the story ends on a happy note with both of them going

…home together, talking of wonderful things all they way

we are reminded that communicating with others is well worth it!

_____  # # _____

NOTE: Find literally hundreds of picture books – including others by Oliver Jeffers –  ideally suited for building the skills like the ones addressed here on Book Talk in the Skills Index of Books Are for Talking, Too! (Fourth Edition). See them cross-referenced to three age-related catalogs where you’ll find book entries that provide you with methods, prompts, word lists, activities, and loads of other ideas! These well-known, classic picture books are easily obtained through school and public libraries, and reasonably priced at online booksellers

PLUS!  For a thematic approach to literature, find other books that cover this book’s topics and many more in the Topic Explorations Index of Books Are for Talking, Too! (4th Edition). Then see book treatments for those books in the catalogs where you’ll find methods, like those here on Book Talk, for building oral communication and early literacy skills.

~ All in One Resource!  ~
Books Are For Talking, Too!  ~ Now in its 4th Edition
~ Engaging children in the language of stories since 1990 ~

Buy it on Amazon

Special Note:  Read about the 2024 news story of a penguin’s surprising arrival on a tourist beach in Australia, the interesting use of mirrors that helped him recover, and his wonderful release back into the ocean just 20 days later at:

https://apnews.com/article/australia-emperor-penguin-released-84319f95da162330da3265232c1fcfc1#:~:text=MELBOURNE%2C%20Australia%20(AP)%20—,tourist%20beach%2C%20officials%20said%20Friday.

Plus Activities! Here is a link for companion activities to Lost and Found. Very reasonably priced on Teachers Pay Teachers!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Lost-and-Found-Oliver-Jeffers-Book-Companion-Activities-3809565

The Christmas Owl: Based on the True Story of a Little Owl Named Rockefeller
by Ellen Kalish and Gideon Sterer
New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2021.

Synopsis: A curious little stowaway inside the branches of a huge Norway spruce survives a three-day journey on a flatbed truck bound for New York City’s Rockefeller Center. Found weak and dehydrated at the time of the tree’s installation, a kindhearted workman arranges for the tiny owl to be taken in at a nearby wildlife rehabilitation center. There she is nursed back to health by Ellen, a wildlife rehabilitation specialist and co-author of the book. All ends well when Rocky (short for her new name, Rockefeller) is released to return to her natural home. But first – a visit back to the city when, upon seeing how the dazzling tree transformed the city and its inhabitants, she learns what had puzzled her from the beginning – that Christmas is about spreading love and joy to all.

Topics to Explore: Animals (Woodland); Cities (New York); Holidays (Christmas); Kindness and Compassion; Perspective-taking; Seasons (Winter), Wildlife Conservation

Skills to Build:
Concepts of print
Vocabulary: Synonyms, Adjectives, Attributes, Prepositions
Morphological markers
Higher level concepts
Grammar and syntax: Noun-verb agreement; Personal, possessive, and reflexive pronouns; Present progressive tense; Past tense, and Advanced syntactic structures
Language literacy (a.k.a. Language discourse): Relating personal experiences; Predicting; Sequencing events; Cause-and-effect relationships; Drawing inferences; Storytelling;  Point of view; Discussion
Pragmatic language (for social communication)
Executive functioning (planning and organizational skills)
Fluency
Articulation – L, S, and R (vocalic, intervocalic, and R-blends)

Before the read-aloud, introduce the book, sharing that it is based a true story about a little owl that got caught in a beautiful, snow-filled evergreen tree at Christmastime. Depending on your audience, you may want to assure young children that after the tree was cut down, the owl was discovered, rescued, and returned to her home in the snowy banks of upper New York State.

Note: It is a fact that the little owl was identified by a veterinarian as a female, so she can accurately be referred to as she throughout talk about the story.

Then set the stage for one of the story’s locations, the Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. Show the back cover of the owl flying over the glittering city at night. Talk about big city skyscrapers and the thousands of people who live, work in, and visit one of the largest cities of the world.

Encourage children to imagine a huge tree full of sparkling lights in the middle of this busy city during the cold of winter. Think about the warmth, comfort, and joy it brings to all those who experience it as the year ends.

Predicting

Show the cover with the little owl in front of a sparkling Christmas tree and the towering skyscrapers behind it. Build anticipation as you read the title and subtitle. Explain that the story is about the most famous Christmas tree in the world and a tiny little owl from the country. Encourage children to make predictions about how the two might come to be connected in the story.

 Concepts of print

To work on print awareness, show the title of the story, running your finger beneath the words in the direction in which they are read. Show how the letter O in owl is in the shape of a circle, just like the big eyes of the owl pictured beneath it. Ask children if they think the O is a good letter for owl to begin with.

On the inside cover, locate the areas on the map of the state of New York where the story will take place. Show that each location is labeled with the name of the city, showing the letters NY, the abbreviation for the state of New York.

Grammar and Syntax

On the inside title page, point out the title and subtitle, then encourage children to describe the wintery scene as you target grammar and syntax constructions, from early utterances to more complex formations.

Point out the owl off to the side, flying toward the action in the scene. Elicit target structures by asking –

• Where is the owl?

Point out the location of the Ravensbeard Wildlife Center. Notice the warmth of the lights coming from the windows of snow-covered structure.

On a page turn, read the title and subtitle, Based on the True Story of a Little Owl named Rockefeller. Point out the big, snow-covered tree and the cleared path in the snow emanating from the little house.

 

During the read-aloud, continue to involve children by modeling a response, shaping a target structure, or expanding on the child’s utterance to connect more words to its meaning.

More Grammar and syntax, Prepositions

On a page turn, discover a winter scene with the animals enjoying the snow. Read the text and encourage children to describe what is taking place in the snow-filled banks of the little town. Name the animals, the rabbit, moose, squirrel, fox, and owl. Model, shape, and expand for N+V agreement, Present and past tense constructions with various verbs, and Prepositional phrases.  Some suggestions  –

• The moose is leaping across the field.
• The rabbit is hopping alongside the moose.
• The fox is running behind the moose..
• The owl is soaring through the air.
• The girl is building a snowman in the distance.

Vocabulary, Morphological markers, Relating personal experiences

On a page turn, see the people of the town getting ready for the season. The story shows Little Owl watching curiously from the tree as –

 the town around her began to transform.

To work on vocabulary, discuss the meaning of transform. It is the theme of this story. First, break up the word into its parts –

   Trans – form

To work on morphology of words, explain that the first part, trans-, means to the other side of, so as to change, as in –

• The town began to trans – form.
• The town began to change in form.
• It began to look different.

Consider demonstrating with other words that begin with trans-, such as –

• Transport
• Transfer
• Transact
• Transmission:
• Transmitters
• Transparent
• Transpire
• Transition

 Then use the word to make a different sentence about the story. Children can also describe the ways the town is transforming, such as –

• Lights are hung on the buildings.
• Street performers play music on the sidewalk.
• Men carry evergreen trees across the road.
• Sparkly trees light up store windows.

Synonyms for transform include  –

•  Change
•  Convert
•  Makeover

Another page turn shows the animal friends watching over the magical, snowy town from their hilltop view (don’t miss Little Owl perched on top of Moose’s antler) as –

 ….the whole town glittered and glowed.

• The Christmas tree in our (house, town) glows at night.
• I like to see the trees with glittering lights in store windows.
• Downtown shopping centers glow with lots of lights at Christmas time.

Perspective-taking

Take the opportunity to work on the concept of perspectives. On these two page turns, we see the town from Little Owl’s perspective.  Talk about how the town can be viewed differently depending on where the viewer is situated.

•   How does the owl’s perspective differ from that of the people on the street?
•   Would they be likely to see the little owl in the tree?
•   Can you imagine the town from each viewer’s perspective?

On a page turn, see the animal friends look down on the town’s glowing lights from their snowbank.

• From whose perspective do we see the town?
• From what perspective would you see it?
• How would the scene be different if you were the one inside a cozy house?
• Could you see the animals and snowman on the snowbank outside?

Note: See more opportunities below to continue working on perspective-taking.

Predicting events, Drawing inferences

On the next page turn, see Owl returning home and discovering people standing around the big tree.  The text reads that one of them says,

It’ll be a perfect Christmas tree.

Little Owl is confused.

A Christmas tree? Little owl wondered. My home is Christmas?

Work on making Predictions and Drawing inferences by directing attention to a clue, the flatbed truck beside the road, and ask –

•   What do you think will happen next?
•   Why are people surrounding the tree?
•   What did they mean when they say it will be perfect for a Christmas tree?

 Cause-and-Effect Relationships

On a page turn, see Little Owl trapped inside a branch as the tree gets bound with rope.  Talk about the accidental state that Little Owl found herself in when she couldn’t fly out of the tree. On another page turn, see the big tree on a long flatbed truck being transported on the highway. Support children in expressing cause-effect relationships with words such as because and so in answers to questions such as –

• What happened to Little Owl?
• How did Little Owl find herself trapped in a tree on a long truck bound for the city?
• Why couldn’t she just fly out of the tree once it was unbound?

On the next two page turns, discover that after remaining inside the tree for three days while it was on the truck, the tree finally got lifted to its new spot in front of the skyscrapers. Continue to ask questions that help explain the cause-and-effect relationship of this mishap. For example,

• Why couldn’t Little Owl just get out of the tree and fly away?
•  Why has Little Owl lost her ability to fly?
•  What was the effect of the owl’s travels without food or water for three days?

Attributes, Adjectives, Synonyms

As you turn the next page, see the workman discover the tiny owl inside the tree. Support children in telling what happens next based on the wordless page of illustrations. Some suggestions –

• The workman places the owl in a cardboard box and puts it inside his car.
• He drives his car on the highway toward the country.
• In the middle of a snowy road, he meets a woman and they exchange the owl in the box.

We know from the true story found in the author’s note on the last page of the book that the workman called his wife, who called Ellen at the Ravensbeard Wildlife Center. Talk about the kind of person the workman was to help the tiny owl.

• What did he do that makes you feel good about his actions?
• What are some words to describe him? (See a list of suggested attributes below.)

On the next  page turns, see Ellen caring for Little Owl. Talk about the warm fire in the fireplace, the cage prepared with food and water, and the name she gives the owl that is printed on her cage.

On the day she releases the owl, the text reads,

•   |“You’re free,” she said, “Welcome home.”
•    For the last time, the friends looked at each other
•  Then Little Owl flapped her wings…….

Now describe Ellen, giving her attributes in the same way they were given to the workman who found Rocky. Ideas for attributes, adjectives and synonyms include –

• Good
• Kind
• Caring
• Loving
• Thoughtful
• Humane
• Sympathetic
• Goodhearted
• Compassionate
• Tender
• Warmhearted

Personal, Possessive, and Reflexive Pronouns

Use talk about the story and the characters, the workman, Ellen, and Rocky, to structure sentences with target forms of pronouns. Some suggestions –

• When the workman found the owl, he put her in a box to keep her safe.
• He drove his car to meet Ellen on the road.
• Little owl thought to herself, Ellen is helping.

More Grammar and syntax, Complex sentence constructions

On the next page turns, see curious Rocky return to the magnificent tree she was rescued from in the big city. See it now standing immensely tall, aglow with lights and shimmering ornaments in the midst of brightly lit buildings. The people on the streets who first were seen to “stomp and scowl” now appear happy, smiling, holding hands, and skating on an ice rink.  The text reads,

All, it seemed, were eager to love.

Is this Christmas?

Yes, Little Owl thought, it must be!

Support children in relating what Little Owl discovered using conjunctive phases and complex sentence structures.  Some suggestions include –

• Rocky retuned to the big city and ——————.
• Still full of curiosity, Little Owl flew ___________.
• When Little Owl returned to the city, she ___________.
• Little Owl sat in her familiar spot in the tree while _____________.
• When Little Owl looked down at the people, she ____________.
• After seeing the people happy and loving one another, she ___________.

On the last page, Rocky arrives home and reunites with her friends. See her in her favorite position, perched on Moose’s left antler. Read the text that describes how happy the friends are to see her.

The story says that Rocky is going to tell her friends all about her adventures and what she has learned.  The text reads –

“Actually, I may have learned something about it,” said little Owl as they all nuzzled close.

“Could you tell us?”

“Of course!” said Little Owl, knowing full well that this was Christmas, too!

As you wrap up the story and its meaning, build anticipation for the story Rocky will tell her friends. Indicate that the children can take turns telling it as Rocky would have told it on that wonderful day of her return.

 

After the read-aloud, revisit the pages to target more skills, including –

Discussion, More Perspective-taking

 Hold a discussion on how Rocky’s understanding of Christmas changed at the end of the story. What did she learn from her adventure?

To continue work on perspective-taking, pause at one of the beginning illustrations showing Little Owl sitting on Moose’s antler, along with her other friends Rabbit, Skunk, and Squirrel.  The text reads –

 ….the whole town glittered and glowed.

Ask –

• From what perspective are they seeing the town?

Encourage language that expresses how the characters see the town transform from the snowbank, and how the characters perceive what’s going on from their point of view.

• How is their perspective, or viewpoint, different than that of the people in the town?
• What would the people in the town be seeing?
• What do you think this all means to them as they’re watching it?

Then review the pages that show Little Owl on the tree’s arrival, when its branches spread out, and she first sees the big city.  The text reads –

Where am I?

Ask children to describe what the scene must have looked like to Little Owl.  Then ask questions such as –

• What did she notice about the mood of the people in the city?
• What did she notice about the effect of all the cars on the streets?
• How did she feel about all of this?

Next, review the pages where she is taken into the center and interacts with the other birds. Ask questions such as –

• What did she learn about why the birds were there?
• How did she feel about Ellen giving her food and water?
• What did she begin to think about Christmas at that point?

And finally, review the pages where she flies back to the Rockefeller Center. Ask questions such as –

•  How did the people change?
• What was the reason?
• What does she think about the meaning of Christmas now?

Pragmatic Language

Look for opportunities to address pragmatic language as the story’s animals appear in conversation with one another.

To work on turn-taking, pause at the illustration of Little Owl on Moose’s antler talking with her friends. Review how the conversation proceeds as the animals look out over the town.

“Christmas! said Moose.

“And what is that?” Little Owl said.

“Not sure,” said Rabbit.

“No idea,” said Skunk.

“No one knows,” said Squirrel, “but it happens every year!”

Point out how each character takes turns responding to the other as each contributes to the conversation. Then ask children to make up the dialogue themselves.  Consider asking –

• If all the animals are curious, what would they say to start a conversation?
• How would they share with their friends what they were thinking about?

Some ideas to start you off –

• I wonder what’s going on.
• I wonder why the houses are lit up.
• I wonder why the people made everything glitter and glow.

Have children offer the dialogue showing how the friends would respond to one another.

To continue work on turn-taking, topic initiation, and making friends, revisit the pages where Rocky is at the Wildlife Center talking with Hawk and Falcon. Point out the conversation that demonstrates how they get to know each other. You might ask,

• How do they initiate a conversation?
• What is the way that they get to know each other?

Look for similar opportunities on the last page of the story where Rocky and her friends are reunited and talk with each other on the snowbank. 

Executive Functions, Drawing Inferences, Expanding sentences, Compare and Contrast

We know that Little Owl’s recovery is a true story. But the success of flying off to freedom took real-life planning and effort. Wildlife sanctuaries must be run efficiently for nature’s creatures to recover.

To support children in developing executive functioning skills, such as making judgments, planning, and initiation, consider the following suggestions:

Return to the page showing Ellen looking at Owl inside the cardboard box in front of Ravensbeard Wildlife Center. Point out the delighted expression on her face, her wide eyes and open smile, upon first seeing her. Ask questions to begin a line of thinking, such as –

• Do you think Ellen started thinking about her plan to help Owl right then and there?
• Do you think she may have gotten things in place before Owl’s arrival?
• What might she have done to prepare for Little Owl?

As language drives the neural networking of executive functions, it can be helpful for children to verbalize the strategies and methods that led to the story’s happy outcome.

On the next few page turns, see that the rehabilitation center, decorated for Christmas, is already set to receive the tiny bird. Show how Ellen prepared ahead of time with a warm fire, cage, bowls of food and water, and a sign printed with her new name.  Then re-read, discuss, and draw inferences about how she likely planned for Rocky’s arrival.

The text reads,

Over the next days, Little Owl gulped down water and gobbled thawed mice.

She was given an X-ray, and every day Ellen checked her feathers, eyes, and ears.

Because the little bird was starving and dehydrated, we can assume that Ellen’s plan called for good judgement, resources, and a schedule.

Ask children how they would tend to the little bird. List the resources needed. As they are named, shape and expand sentences that link the item to its function and target other communication skills. Some ideas include –

• Cage (to house her)
• Sign (to identify her)
• Water (for her to drink)
• Food (special diet of mice, what she would eat in the wild)
• Tools (for feeding the tiny owl)
• Bowls (for food and water)
• Chart (for progress notes)
• Gloves (to protect in handling)

Return briefly to the first pages where Little Owl is flying over the snowy land.  When she arrives at the Wildlife Center, the story says she is not able to fly. Compare and contrast her situation then with her present condition at the rescue center.

Continue questions that support the planning aspects of executive functioning. Point out that after Ellen gathers her resources, she would likely need to plan a daily schedule. Recalling from the text, the schedule might include –

• A call to the vet
• Arrangements for an X-ray (any broken bones that would prevent her from flying?)
• Making a chart with items needed to be done every day.

Discuss what items would be on the chart to check off daily, such as –

• Feeding. How often?
• Cage clean. How often?
• Health check (How often?)
• Progress check. (How often ?)
• Notes on observations of how much she ate and drank?

Then discuss what might have happened if those resources and plans had not been carried out. Because they were, they were able to give life back to little Rocky.

Fluency

The story of the little owl who discovers the love and joy that Christmas brings provides opportunities to work on self-advocacy and self-acceptance. This is especially applicable to stutter-affirming approaches to therapy.

Children who stutter often withhold participation in groups or avoid speaking in certain situations. Use the story to open up feelings around the experience of stuttering.

Hold a conversation about avoidance and self-advocacy. Talk about the little owl who inadvertently got caught inside the tree branches. When she found herself in a Wildlife Center with other birds, she bravely asks them why they are there. Each one shares its injury.

Talk about the importance of being straightforward with others. Letting others know about you, that you stutter, and what you need in communicating is important.

For example, the child may want to let others know they don’t need them to finish their sentences for them. In these instances, as in all instances, the message is   –

• It’s important to say something even though you might stutter.
• However you speak, it’s what you say that is important.

The story also may be used to practice fluency-shaping techniques. In revisiting the pages, pause where illustrations are unaccompanied by text so that the child can relate the events while putting the techniques into practice.

For example, after the workman finds the owl and arrangements are made for her, he places her safely in a cardboard box. He then drives toward the country on a snowy road. The workman and Ellen meet halfway and exchange the box with the Little Owl inside.

Encourage the child to tell the story from the pictures and express the feelings of the characters. Continue to apply stutter-affirming approaches as the child learns the specified fluency techniques in the context of talking about the events of the story.

Practicing techniques helps to establish use of the tools so that over time, the child more readily and easily uses them in life’s daily interactions.

Articulation

For a low text picture book such as this one, there are a surprising number of opportunities to work on oral production of the following phonemes.

Phoneme L: From the very first page, and on almost every page thereafter, the words Little Owl appear. Since owl has a more difficult phonemic context to master, working on words with the initial L such as the repetition of Little (little town, Little front yard, Little owl) can offer a great place to start, depending on the child’s acquired ability level.,

Phoneme L words to work with include:

lights, listened, lonely, last, lifted, looked, alive, below, hello, place, clogged, Ellen, glittered, glowed, fly, flying, flew, sleep, flapped, closing, people, beautiful, pulled, rumbled, cold, jostled, scowled, oddly, gulped, gobbled, helping, miracle, almost,, welcome, settled, brilliant, merrily, smiling, whole, held, squealed, nuzzled, jingled, filled, and full well.

Phoneme S and S-blends words to work with include:

streams, splashing, skunk, squirrel, standing, string, spinning, swaying, streets, strange, scraped, sky, strong, say, stomped, scowled, stop, smiled, smiling, skating, seemed, Christmas, listened, next, thirsty, last, inside, x-ray, dusk, last, just, disappeared, must, jostled, once, curious, forests, lights, darkness, moose, box, face, house, place, looks, mice, and close.

Phoneme R (vocalic and  intervocalic) and R-blend words to work with include:

Christmas, front year, branches, tree, curious, wonder, friends, feather, feathers, merrily, winter, transform, decorated, string, darkness, glittered, sure, squirrel, rabbit, morning, trunk, around, perfect, another, worker, wires, ropes, branches, her, trapped, heard, roar, lowered, truck, rumbled, hours, drove, rushed, friends, far, thirsty, drink, tried, hundreds, strange, scraped,

……………………………………##…………………………………………….

Historical Note: In 1931, in the midst of the Great Depression, a group of workmen were employed to dig the foundation for what would become the Rockefeller Center. Grateful for jobs at a time when most had none, they pooled their money to buy a Christmas tree for the center as a thank-you, decorating it with cranberry strings and tin cans for ornaments.   Every year since, the Rockefeller Center has honored the tradition with a now world-renowned, spectacular tree in midtown Manhattan to usher in the season.

Learn more about the Christmas tree and history of the Rockefeller Center at: http://www.rockefellercenter.com.

Special Note: A fictionalized story with lengthier text titled The Carpenter’s Gift: A Christmas Tale about the Rockefeller Tree by David Rubel is also recommended, and appropriate for older children as well. A boy shivers in the cold in upstate New York during the Depression era. When the family cannot afford coal to heat their home, the boy’s father cuts down nearby trees to sell in the city during Christmastime to earn money to survive. One of the trees is purchased by a workman at the Rockefeller Center. Later, workmen arrive at the family’s home donating extra lumber for a new home for the boy and his family. The touching story pays tribute to the Rockefeller Center workmen who began the tradition of the tree. Today, after the tree is uninstalled, it is milled into lumber and donated to Habitat for Humanity, providing homes for families in need.

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 book titles cross-referenced in three age-related Catalogs and discover easy book treatments that provide you with methods, prompts, word lists, activities, and loads of ideas!

You’ll also find tips for reading picture books to support speech, language, and literacy in Section 1, “Books Are for Talking with Children in Preschool and Kindergarten”, and Section 3, “Books Are for Talking with Children in Grades 1 through 5 and Beyond.”

Plus!  Find more books to work on thematic units!  Look under the headings in the Topic Exploration index to discover titles under Animals; Cities (New York); Holidays (Christmas); Kindness and Compassion; Perspective-taking; Seasons, (Winter), Wildlife Conservation, and many more! Then find the books featured in the Catalogs with loads of methods for supporting literacy and communication skills – for a lifetime of success!

Books Are For Talking, Too!  ~ Now in its 4th Edition
~ Engaging children in the language of stories since 1990 ~

Available on Amazon at: https://a.co/d/efcKFw6

We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga
by Traci Sorell
Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge Press, 2018.

Suggested Grade and Interest Level:  Preschool through 3rd – and beyond*

Awards and Reviews: Junior Library Guild selection; Winner, Reading the West Book Award; Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Award; Robert F. Sibert Informational Honor Book; Kirkus Reviews and School Library Journal’s Best Books of 2018; ALA Notable Children’s Books Selection

Other languages:  Spanish: Estamos agradecidos: Otsaliheliga

Topics: Culture and history, Native American (Cherokee); Family and family relationships; Holidays, Thanksgiving; People of the world; Seasons of the year; Speaking and communicating

Skills to Build:
Concepts of print
Vocabulary (Synonyms, Antonyms, Prepositions)
Morphological units
Higher level concepts
Grammar and syntax: Noun-Verb agreement,  Personal, possessive, and reflexive pronouns, Present progressive, Past tense, and Advanced syntactic structures
Language literacy (a.k.a. Language discourse): Relating personal experiences, Cause-and-effect relationships, Drawing inferences, Verbal expression, Discussion
Pragmatics (Social communication)
Articulation – Sh, Ch, and J
Phonological awareness
Fluency

Summary: The multiple award-winning story about the present-day Cherokee Nation is written by a member of the tribal family. Its story schema is a sequence of four Cherokee seasons throughout which the recurring theme of gratitude is expressed in their customs, celebrations, and activities. The Cherokee translation for we are grateful is given in pronunciation symbols as well as Cherokee syllabary, making the story unique in its ability to focus audiences on the phonological aspects of language. People of the Cherokee Nation still read and write in both systems today. Definitions and the syllabary are provided on the back pages.

Before the read-aloud, begin a discussion about gratitude. Ask children what they are grateful for. Understanding and using words of the story beforehand help children gain background knowledge from which to connect the story’s meaning. Share what you are grateful for in your own life, such as family, pets, home, and the children with whom you work.

Vocabulary, Morphological units

Show how words gratitude and grateful are similar and mean the same things. Each has a different ending, or suffix, so as to be used differently in sentences. In this instance, they are pronounced differently. But both words have the same root word (Latin grātus, meaning pleasing) and can also combine with other suffixes to make new words (i.e., gratefully, gratefulness, gratification, gratify, gratified, gratifying, and gratuity).

Give examples so children get opportunities to hear the target word connected to other words in meaningful ways. Brainstorm words for grateful and use them in sentences. Some suggestions –

• thankful
• appreciative
• pleased

Also discuss the word struggles. Should we be grateful for them? We know that everyone experiences them in their lifetime. Some people find it easier to do certain things than others. Some people work hard to achieve their goals despite their struggles and setbacks.  Being grateful for struggles indicates they can result in newfound strengths, successes, and an appreciation for what is now.

Brainstorm other words for struggles such as –

• hardships
• problems
• challenges
• hassles

Then present the book, building anticipation by saying that in this story, people show gratitude for many things, even their struggles. Point out various family members of the Cherokee Nation on the cover in their colorful clothing, some walking around a fire pit in a celebration, others seated and observing.

Concepts of print (a.k.a. Print awareness)

Run your finger under the words of the title, We Are Grateful, showing the direction in which the words are read. Show that the title is also printed in Cherokee (called Tsalagi, an Iroquoian language) as you sound out the word from the pronunciation key, “oh – jah – LEE – hay – lee – gah”.  (It may take a few rehearsals beforehand it becomes familiar!)

Next, point out and explain the symbols printed beside the Cherokee translation. Explain that Cherokee symbols do not represent the sounds of letters, like an alphabet, but rather the syllables of words. The Cherokee words, we are grateful, can be read using the symbols.

All Cherokee words can be written down and read using syllables, and a system for using them, called a Syllabary, is printed at the back of the book.

Demonstrate the difference between a sound and a syllable using the Cherokee word. Show that the pronunciation symbols, “oh – jah – LEE – hay – lee – gah”, are already divided into syllables. Each of the pronunciation units (syllables) can be written in a Cherokee character, as shown on the cover.

Also share that people of the Cherokee Nation can read and write both English and their native language.

Relating personal experiences

Pause at the inside title page and point out the characters in the pumpkin patch and corn field behind it. Share talk about and draw parallels to the November season where you live. Ask children to share their experiences seeing (if this is so where you live) pumpkins, corn, gourds and squash, both in the fields where they are harvested and at stores and supermarkets.

During the read-aloud, pause at the first page that begins with the autumn season. See that the tree is painted to reflect how it appears at each stage of the four seasons, orange leaves of fall, leafless branches of winter, flowering of springtime, and green leaves of summer.

Sound awareness, More Vocabulary

Point out the woodpecker against the side of the tree in the distance (that will reappear throughout the pages). Talk about what happens when its beak pecks repeatedly on the bark of the tree as it looks for food. Discuss the meanings of the two words beak and bark (especially in this instance). Imagine the sound the woodpecker’s beak makes against the bark of a tree, which is actually quite loud, especially in the quietness of its surroundings.

Grammar and Syntax, Prepositions, More Vocabulary

Continue on this page as you share talk about the family of five. Structure and support target formations in talk about the clouds drifting in the sky and the little dog that runs happily ahead of them.

Then, on a page turn, see them joyfully engaging in fall activities that offer more opportunities to work on present tense constructions with action sequences such as –

• pushing a stroller,
• riding a bicycle,
• picking flowers,
• raking leaves,
• jumping in a pile of leaves
• holding a stick (their little dog)

To target Noun + Verb agreement, consider constructions with possibilities to expand with prepositions, such as  –

• Children play (in the leaves).
• The boy plays (in the fallen leaves).
• The parents walk (along the path).
• The dad pushes (the baby in the carriage).
• A boy rides (his bike along the path).

Continue to work on vocabulary development with the concept of gratitude. The story says they are a grateful family. Think of things the family may be grateful for. Suggestions –

• …each other,
• …being healthy,
• …the ability to laugh and have fun,
• …their challenges in life that make them stronger.

Don’t forget the woodpecker!  Hmmmm. I wonder where it could be. Encourage the use words that describe what it is doing, why, and the effect of its sounds in the environment.

More Vocabulary

On a page turn, see the people of the Cherokee Nation in their ceremonial dance.  Talk about those dancing around the fire in their colorful dress and the seated onlookers.

Define the word ceremony as it describes –

• a ritual,
• a prescribed, formal way of doing something,
• to observe something of importance.

Then use the word in other sentences and contexts, as in –

•   A bride and groom get married in a ceremony.
•   When someone wins an award, there is usually a ceremony.
•   There will be a ceremony when you graduate from school.

Define shell shakers, as described on the Definitions page at the back of the book. Discuss how they are made (dried turtle shells drawn on a string), where they are placed (wrapped around the dancers’ ankles and calves), and what they do (amplify the sound of the dancers as they stomp their feet in rhythm).

Semantics, Synonyms, Higher level concepts, Verbal expression

The story says that the people –

 forget old quarrels to welcome the Cherokee New Year.

Ask –

•  What does “forget old quarrels” mean?
•  What are other words for quarrel?

Some suggestions-

• argument
• squabble
• disagreement
• fight
• bicker

Continue to explore the meaning and impact of the words.

•   What does it mean if quarrels are “old”?
•   What does it mean to “forget” them?
•   What does it mean to forgive those with whom you quarrel?

Talk about how people in families and communities can love one another despite their differing points of view.

•   Why is “forgetting old quarrels” a good thing to do?
•   How does this make for a better day of celebration?
•   How does forgiveness help us to “forget old quarrels”?

  Grammar and Syntax, Verbal Expression, Relating personal experiences

Another page turn finds a transition to the fall season, with plenty of action on a full page spread. Describing what takes place enhances the meaning of the story and offers good opportunities to model and support target objectives.

While they say otsaliheliga to express their gratitude for nature’s supply of materials to make their baskets, they also say it  –

to remember our ancestors who suffered hardship and loss on the Trail of Tears.

Depending on the comprehension age of your audience, consider defining this event in US history when the Cherokee and 4 other tribes were displaced from their homes to an Indian reserve in what later became the state of Oklahoma. Help children understand the time frame by explaining that there was no automation to transport them. Tragically, their displacement caused sickness and death along the 800 mile route they had no other choice but to walk in the bitter cold. Those who survived appropriately named it the Trail of Tears.

Find more on this subject on the Definitions page at the end of the book and the links below.

More Prepositions, Grammar and syntax, Prepositions, Pronouns, Vocabulary

On a new page turn, see the transition to winter. Describe the scene with the characters involved in fun winter activities. The story reads –

As bears sleep deep and snow blankets the ground, we say otsaliheliga.

Work on prepositions as you describe the action in the scene. Some examples –

• …building a snowman (with sticks)
• …throwing snowballs (through the air, at each other)
• …bears sleeping (under the snow)
• …the boy pulling the sled (across the snow)
• …the dog riding (on the sled)
• …the woodpecker pecking (against the tree)

Include personal, possessive, and reflexive pronouns in sentences, such as –

• She is throwing a snowball at him.
• He is throwing a snowball at her.
• She saved her carrots for the snowman.
• He is making snowballs by himself.
• He is pulling his sled (through the snow with their dog on top)
• They are walking with their baby
• The bears (they) are hibernating off by themselves.

Work on vocabulary as you discuss the bears asleep under the ice. Talk about their need to survive in winter. Discuss the word hibernate, and brainstorm synonyms. Then use the brainstormed words in sentences. Some suggestions –

• dormant
• winter sleep
• deep sleep
• long nap

Don’t forget the woodpecker!  Hmmmm. I wonder where it could be. I wonder what it’s up to.

More Higher level concepts, More Grammar and syntax

On a page turn, see the family indoors sharing food at the dinner table. On the adjacent page, children play traditional games and make music with self-made instruments in the warmth of their living room. Meanwhile, outside the window, other children are feeding their animals and “bird friends” in the snow. The text says they say otsaliheliga –

as older children teach the younger ones how to make corn-husk dolls and play cane flutes.

Work on the higher level concept of time and advanced syntactic structures by involving children’s participation in expressing the two separate stories taking place simultaneously. One child can talk about what’s happening inside on the rug as children are taught to make dolls from corn husks and play musical instruments, while another child can tell of events transpiring outside in the snow.  For example,

•      Inside the children make dolls and play their flutes.
•      Outside, kids feed their animals in the snow.

Then help children connect the events with sentences using the word while, or meanwhile. For example –

•    The children play games inside while other kids feed their animals outside in the snow.
•    The kids feed their animals outside when it’s winter. Meanwhile, other kids stay inside and play their flutes on the rug.

 

Language literacy (a.k.a. Language discourse)

On the next page turn, see the family at a grave site. The story says they say otsaliheliga –

 . …while we gather to remember an uncle who has passed on.

Ask questions and model and shape responses that draw inferences, encourage verbal expression, and express cause-and-effect relationships. Some suggestions –

• What did the family come to do outside in the snow at a cemetery?
• What might have happened when the family went to the tombstone?
• How did the two feathers and fresh flowers get laid by the tombstone?

The story structure again allows for creating complex sentence structures with phrases beginning with as and while. For example –

• As they give thanks, _____________.
• While they stand before the headstone, _______________.
• As season turns to winter, __________________.

Don’t forget the woodpecker!  Hmmmm. Where could it be now?

More Vocabulary, Higher level concepts, Grammar and syntax, Cause-and-effect relationships

On the next three page turns, see spring arriving to the Cherokee Nation. The story says they say otsaliheliga –

…while men sing, asking for thunder and lightning’s protection of the emerging sprouts that women tend.

Begin laying groundwork with vocabulary development.   Define the word emerging.  Connect it with another target word, using it in context to create more meaning.

For example, use it with sprouts to talk about young plants coming up through the ground. When they break through the surface of the earth (when first seen) they emerge.

Model and shape sentences using the words.  Then use it in other contexts to create different meanings, as in –

•    The dog woke up and emerged from the doghouse.
•    Out of all the brands of chips at the market, one brand emerged as the favorite.
•    After a discussion about what happened on the playground, the facts emerged.

Have children express the meaning in their own words and offer their own sentences.

Encourage advanced syntactic constructions and the higher level concept of time as they express what is happening within each group of people. Consider beginning a sentence for the child fill in, such as –

• While the men sing, ___________(e.g., the women tend to the sprouts).
• As the family gathers around the table, __________________(e.g., the men sing, pray for rain, Mom and daughter gather onions from the plants, and so on.).
• Meanwhile, as the family prepares the hens’ eggs at the table, _____________ (e.g., the little dog digs a hole, the woodpecker drills on the tree bark, looking for food, and so on).

Then ask a child to begin a meanwhile sentence for another to finish.

To work on cause-and-effect relationships, talk about the sprouts the women are tending in the ground. Ask questions and support answers, such as –

• What will cause the sprouts to grow into healthy plants that yield food for the people?
• What effect do the men who sing hope to bring about for their people?

Help children structure sentences with connecting words, such as –

•   The men sing and ask God for rain so that the crops will grow.
•   The men sing to ask for lightning and thunder because they want their crops to grow.
•  -The women gather the onions so that they can be used in cooking.

Synonyms and Antonyms

The next three page turns show the Cherokee people during the summer season. Discuss how the crops have grown and the gratitude of the people as they are able to gather from the harvest. Discuss the reason they are able to gather the food. Also discuss the activities taking place in the fields of corn, strawberries, pumpkins, and so on. See kids wading in the creek to catch crawdads and then, in the illustration below, the extended family seated for dinner.

The story says they are grateful –

 …. as we sink our teeth into the season’s first harvest at the Green Corn Ceremony.

Talk about the gathering of the extended family outside at the table as they celebrate their meal. What might the family be saying to each other?

Draw similarities to the holiday of Thanksgiving.  Ask –

• When you and your family celebrate Thanksgiving this month, what can you say that you are grateful for?
• What is another way you can say you are grateful?

Don’t forget the woodpecker!  Hmmmm.  Where did it go? Did its position change?

 

After the read-aloud, go back and revisit the pages as you continue to make use the many opportunities to support literacy and specific communication objectives.

Discussion, Relating personal experiences

Hold a discussion about celebrations children experience in their own cultures and families. Draw parallels, especially to the ceremonial ways of life. The Cherokee show gratitude for those who came before them, as well as for one another.  Talk about how Native American cultures aren’t just in the past, but alive and well today and deserve our understanding and attention.                       

Fluency

Appropriate treatment for children who stutter requires a broad-based approach. Speech-language pathologists focus on fluency techniques as well as treatment for other components of this complex disorder to competently address feelings, beliefs, behaviors, and rationales for change.

The illustrations and text in this story are ideal to work on techniques such as easy start, phonation on a steady breath stream, and others. The themes of struggle, openness, and gratitude allow opportunities to work on self-acceptance, self-disclosure, and other aspects as indicated for that particular, unique child.

Consider the following suggestions if they apply:

To work on adjusting attitudes and moving from beliefs such as “I don’t have a problem” and “I don’t have to change”, consider discussion (in an appropriate setting) on struggles.

While we can only imagine that people of the Cherokee Nation had and still have struggles in their lives, they also acknowledge them openly. As the story shows, on every page they give thanks for their lives while fully acknowledging their hardships.

Possible questions to start a discussion might include –

• What do you think about the Cherokee people’s ability to enjoy a good life despite their struggles?
• How does that make you feel about their ability to overcome hardships?
• How is struggling with things such as learning a new skill or speaking without stuttering similar to the struggles of the people in the story?
• Did you know that many people stutter and that many among them are famous?

To work on openness, use the story to segue to struggles all people have and how we can view our struggles with self-acceptance, resilience, and goal setting. In helping the child become more open and comfortable with stuttering, there is less likelihood of avoidance behaviors. To be comfortable with one’s stuttering is to acknowledge openly the struggle.

• What kinds of things or situations do you struggle with?
• Is speaking a struggle sometimes?
• How does that make you feel?

By moving toward openness, the child has the potential for less tension and struggle that avoidance behaviors can reinforce. This is also a good place to begin with acceptance of therapy to move forward on therapy goals.

Encourage a belief that the importance of communicating is in what you have to say, and that it is aways important.

Social Pragmatics

To work on social communication, use the illustrations depicting people during community activities to create a dialogue appropriate for the context. Without imposing outside societal norms on tribal contexts, we can show respect for the culture and use communication skills common to all cultures (e.g., while playing, eating, and learning together) to support effective social interaction.

Review pages where dialogue would realistically occur. Situations include:

• Sharing materials while making crafts seated around a table
• Seated outside with family (and extended family) at the dinner table
• Saying goodbye to a relative
• Catching crawdads in the creek with Dad

Create a communicative context within the situation. Then support the child in giving an appropriate response.

For example, at the illustration of children sharing materials at a crafts table, you might say –

• One of the boys at the table is making moccasins. He needs scissors to cut out his footprint drawn on fabric. The kids next to him are using theirs. What could he say?
• One of the girls at the table is making a clay pot. She needs the rolling pin to roll out the clay, but it’s on the other side of the girl next to her. What could she say?
• One of the girls isn’t sure how to roll out the clay because she didn’t hear the directions. What could she say to her teacher?

In another example, at the Green Corn Ceremony the extended family is seated at the table, partaking in their meal. A girl runs from the table toward a boy at the other end. You might say –

• The girl finished her dinner and wants to go play. What could she say to her family if she wanted to leave the table?
• What could she say to the boy if she wanted him to play a game of stickball with her?

With so many situational contexts within which to create social interaction, opportunities to target various types of speech acts are plentiful.

More Morphological units

The value of community traditions is a theme that runs throughout the story. Share talk about the meaning of community. Use community to show that words are made up of parts, such as the prefix com- , meaning bring together.

Some suggestions to choose from include –

• Com- munity:  bring together people who share common interests (i.e., celebrate, work, learn, play, etc.) within their setting, or area where they live
• Com – pare:  bring together and set side by side, i.e., apple and orange)
• Com – bine:  bring together, as in two words that make a compound word)
• Com – municate – share information, participate in meaning with another (others)
• Com – pany – being with another (others)
• Com – mittee:  those who come together for a special purpose or function, i.e., a school committee to set safety rules)
• Com – panion:  bring together two people in friendship with one another)
• Com – passion:  to suffer together, feel misfortune (hardship) of another and want to help

Articulation

The frequently appearing word, Cherokee, provides opportunities to use it in book talk to establish production of CH at syllable (especially the Cherokee syllables of the text), word, sentence, and in discourse. There are additional opportunities to work on the voiceless cognate, SH, as well as sibilant phoneme J.

• CH  – Words from the text: Cherokee, children, mature, teach, scorches, catch (crawdads), each (other), and chase.
  Words from picture descriptions: reach (toward the tree), branches (of the tree), change, changing (seasons), watch (the shell shakers), chickens (feeding them outside), couch, and bunch (of…).

• SH – Words from the text: shell shakers, hardship, share (stories), traditional, showers, protection, hardship, blackbrush, bushes, hibernation, patience, shoots, protection, and patience.
• J – Words from the text: Cherokee words for: Grateful: (oh-jah-LEE-hay-gah),  Cherokee: (JAH-lah-geeh), Spring: (go-GEH-yee) and emerging.
  Words from picture descriptions: language, (baby) carriage, joy, enjoy, and jacket.

Phonological Awareness
Syllable (and Compound Word) Awareness Level

The syllabic demonstration of certain words in the text provides opportunities to focus on phonological awareness (PA) at the syllable level.  If the child has mastered earlier levels on the PA continuum, the child is ready to work at this level. If the child has already mastered skills at the syllable awareness level, you may wish to create your own lists to work on higher levels, such as synthesis, analysis, and manipulation of individual phonemes with these great words.  Either way, the words are fun to play with! Some of these words include the nine syllabicated Cherokee words in the text.

Please Note: Academic research tells us that words used in phonological awareness training need to be familiar and make sense to the child. If you are working with a child who has not quite achieved syllable awareness or has challenges with some of these unfamiliar (seemingly non-meaning) words, practice first with the known words of the story. If the child is not familiar with the meanings, consider going back to review them before you begin.

NOTICE: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The following phonological awareness games are copyrighted material from the 3rd and 4th editions of Books Are for Talking, Too!  They are the intellectual property of the author/publisher. They are used here in Book Talk by the author/publisher for educational purposes only. Duplication of this material for commercial use is prohibited.

Play: Clap-and-Count. Children clap to, then count the number of syllables, or word parts, in a word or compound word.
For example, say –

• Say au-tumn.
  Clap it with me. Au -tumn.
  How many parts to the word? (two)
  Au- tumn.  One, two.

Words from the story with 1, 2, and 3 syllables include –

• Autumn – (2)
• Winter – (2)
• Spring – (1)
• Summer – (2)
• Crawdads (2)
• History – (2)
• Grandmother – (3)
• Ancestors – (3)
• Cherokee – (3)
• Moccasins – (3)
• Gratitude – (3)
• Strawberries (3)
• Woodpecker – 3

Now try playing Clap-and-Count with some of the Cherokee words in the story.  Try the easy ones first.

• Go – lah (winter)   – 2
• go – GEEH (summer) – 2
• eh – LEE- see (grandmother) – 3
• JAH – lah – geeh (Cherokee) – 3
• go- GEH – yee (spring) – 3
• ani- AH – nee – (strawberries) – 3
• Oh – jah – LEE – hay – lee – gah (we are grateful) – 5
• oo- lee – GO – huhs- dee (autumn) – 5
• new – lees- tah- nee – doe – luh  (history) – 6 

Play: What’s the Word?  Children synthesize syllables or little words into words or compound words.

Say the parts with a clear pause between them, and have the children say the word parts until they identify the word.
For example, say –

• Cher – o – kee   (o sounds like u).
  What word did I say?
  Say it until you hear it. Cherrrrrr – o – keeeee.
  Cherr -o – kee.
  That’s right! Cherokee is the word.

 To continue, choose from words in the syllable list above and compound words from the story in the list below. 

• scare- crow
• snow – ball
• snow – man
• tomb – stone
• stick – ball
• sail – boat
• Straw – berry
• Grand – mother
• Wood- pecker

Play: Find-the-Little-Words. Children analyze words to hear each element in a compound or multisyllable word to create two new, smaller words.
For example, say –

• Can you hear any little words in scarecrow?
  Scare – crow
  That’s right! Scare is a little word in scarecrow.
  Can you hear any other little words in scarecrow?
  That’s right! Crow is another little word in scarecrow.

Use the lists provided above for multi syllable and compound words from the story.

 Play: Leave-It-Out.  Children delete a little word within a compound word, or syllable within a two-syllable word, to create a new, smaller word.
For example, say –

• Say scarecrow.
  Now say scarecrow, but leave out scare.
  What little word is left? (crow)
  Now say scarecrow, but leave out crow.
  What little word is left? (scare)

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

• Say scare.
  Now say scare and add crow.
  What new word can you make? (scarecrow)

Play: 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 crow at the beginning of scare.
  What silly word do you have? (crowscare)
  What was it before you turned it around? (scarecrow)

With all the opportunities for book talk, this is a treasure of a book to read again and again, year after year. You’ll find new avenues to create a positive, meaningful exchange on which to build essential skills children need to develop with each new read-aloud!

____________________# # ____________________

NOTICE: All rights reserved. The material herein is intellectual property copyrighted under Books Are for Talking, Too! (Fourth Edition), 2023 by the publisher and presented by the author on her website, http://www,/soundingyourbest.com for educational purposes only.  Duplication of this material for commercial use is prohibited.

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). Find the book titles cross-referenced in three age-related Catalogs and discover book treatments that provide you with methods, prompts, word lists, activities, and loads of ideas!

*Special Note: You’ll also find tips for reading selected picture books like these to older children in Section 3, “Books Are for Talking with Children in Grades 1 through 5 and Beyond.”

Plus!  Find more books to work on thematic units!  Look under the headings in the Topic Exploration index to discover titles under Native American culture and history; Family and family relationships; Thanksgiving; People of the World; Seasons of the Year, Speaking and Communicating, and many more! Then find the books featured in the Catalogs with loads of methods for supporting literacy and communication skills – for a lifetime of success!

Books Are For Talking, Too!
~ Now in its 4th Edition ~
Available on Amazon at: https://a.co/d/efcKFw6

For more information on the Cherokee syllabary, visit: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/sequoyah-and-creation-cherokee-syllabary/

See the entire syllabary at: https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/object/NMAI_277769

Learn more about folk art on the website for the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where you’ll see photos of exhibition pieces and learn about their education and outreach. Visit: https://internationalfolkart.org/exhibitions/

Click, Clack, Boo! A Tricky Treat
by Doreen Cronin; illustrated by Betsy Lewin
New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2013.

Suggested Grade and Interest Level:  Pre-K through 3rd.

Topics to Explore: Farm animals; Farms; Holidays, Halloween; Seasons, Autumn; Sounds and listening

Target Skills:
Concepts of print
Auditory awareness
Vocabulary: Adjectives, Synonyms, Prepositions
Grammar and syntax: Two- and three-word utterances, Noun + Verb agreement, Present and past tense constructions; Negative structures; Possessive forms of nouns, Plural forms of nouns
Language literacy (a.k.a., Literate discourse): Relating personal experiences, Predicting events, Cause-and-effect relationships, Problem solving, Storytelling, Giving explanations, Drawing inferences, Answering Why questions, Verbal expression, Discussion
Executive functioning (planning and organization)
Articulation – K,  F, and L
Morphological markers
Phonological awareness

Summary: Another hilarious sequel from the Doreen Cronin-Betsy Lewin team is sure to entertain kids and provide loads of opportunities for communication and literacy development. The literate Duck is up to his old tricks. Farmer Brown does not like Halloween, yet unbeknownst of him, his animals are decorating the barn for a party! Duck drapes the chickens in sheets and puts witches’ hats on top of the sheep’s heads. The cow gets ready to bob for apples in its skeleton costume. Look out for spiders caught in their webs hanging from the ceiling! What could be more fun in October? But poor Farmer Brown is spooked, and hiding under the covers won’t help. Find out who it is cloaked in a black cape that tacked a note on his door. The kids will surely know what the farmer doesn’t! And maybe – just maybe – the farmer will learn that Halloween isn’t that spooky at all. It’s just a lot of fun!

Before the read-aloud, share the cover. If the series is familiar, relate that Farmer Brown’s barn animals are up to it again, with more mischief-making on the farm.  If the series is unfamiliar, point out the barn animals in costumes on the cover (and the mice in their Cinderella costumes!). Read the subtitle, “A Tricky Treat”, and make predictions about what the farm animals are about to do.  

Concepts of print

To develop print awareness, point to the cover’s title, Click, Clack, Boo!: A Tricky Treat.  As you read it, run your finger along the direction in which the words are read.

Share that on Farmer Brown’s farm, the animals like to print signs. They spell out words and tack them on the wall.  Ask children to be on the lookout for the signs, indicating the animals may want to say something. It will be fun to read what they want to say. (See more methods below.)

Consider explaining the meaning of the title. Share that in previous stories, the cows wanted an old-fashioned typewriter to create their messages. It made click, clack sounds in the barn that the farmer could hear from far away. This story suggests there is another sound that might be coming from the barn – boo!

Show the inside cover and point to the same words in the title, asking the children to read them along with you.

Relating personal experiences

As you share the cover of the farm animals in Halloween costumes gathered around a carved pumpkin, encourage children to relate their own experiences of a Jack-o’-lantern. If needed, prompt by asking –

• How did this pumpkin get its face?
• Who might have carved the pumpkin on this cover?
• Have you ever carved a pumpkin?
• Who did the carving?
• What did you do first?
• What kind of a face did you draw and carve out on the pumpkin?

Prepositions, Predicting events

Continue on the inside title page and work on prepositions by describing the bats against the light of the full moon. Ask –

     Where are they flying?

• in the sky,
• above the barn,
• over the field, and
• in front of the moon.

Discuss the setting of the story. Then make predictions about what might happen based on what you know so far.

• What kind of a night do you think it will be?
• Where do you think the story will take place?
• What kinds of things might the barn animals want to do on Halloween night?

 

During the read-aloud, pause to clarify meaning and describe what is transpiring in the images. Use the opportunities in the text and pictures to build the skills you want most to target. As you continue, consider places in the story that you may want to pause for interaction, and those places where you might want to return after the story is read.

 Grammar and syntax

On the first page, we’re told that –

Farmer Brown does not like Halloween.

See that Farmer Brown doesn’t look so happy.  Notice the big, squished Jack-o’- lantern he is sitting on.

Use the picture opportunity for descriptions and target early utterances, noun + verb agreement, tense structures, negative structures, and plural forms of nouns (e.g., chickens, pumpkins, corn stalks, and candy corn).

Vocabulary (Adjectives, Synonyms), Answering Why questions, More Grammar and syntax

On a page turn, see why Farmer Brown doesn’t like Halloween. The text explains, giving a scenario for each dreaded feature – according to the farmer, that is.

After you read the explanation, ask children to explain by answering a few Why questions, such as –

• Why doesn’t he like witches? (e., they give him nightmares)
• Why do pirates give him shivers? (e., think “shiver me timbers”)
• Why doesn’t he like Jack-o’- lanterns? (i.e., light gives off scary shadows)

Discuss words such as shivers and flicker. Encourage use of these words in retelling this part of the story.

When the text reads:

 Jack-o’-lanterns flicker spooky shadows on the wall.

Talk about the shadows and why they seem spooky to the farmer.

To work on synonyms, ask children to define the word by thinking of other words to describe the shadows, such as –

• Strange
• Scary
• Eerie
• Ghostly
• Frightening

Then think of other adjectives for the Jack-o’-lantern, such as

• Glowing
• Shining
• Orange
• Hollow
• Funny
• Sad
• Goofy

Giving explanations, Drawing inferences

On the next page turn, see Farmer Brown’s solution is to his problem.  Target more language skills with picture descriptions of each scene.

For example, we see Farmer Brown leaving a bowl of candy on the porch. On the facing page,

He draws the shades and locks the door.

Ask children to explain why the farmer would want to leave candy on the front porch. How does being afraid of Halloween make him want to put out candy?

Similarly, what is implied by the farmer drawing the shades and locking the door? How will this solve his problem.

More Grammar and syntax, More Concepts of print

On a page turn, we see what’s happening at the same time inside the barn.  Preparing for Halloween festivities involves quite a bit!

It’s fun to point out all that’s going on with book talk targeting early utterances, noun + verb agreement, tense structures, possessive forms of nouns, and plural forms of nouns (e.g., sheep/sheep; pig/pigs; chick/chicks).

For example –

• See the duck place a witch’s hat on the sheep’s head.
• See the pig on a ladder hanging the Halloween streamers.
• Notice the cow in the skeleton costume ready to bob for apples.
• Notice the big, black spider dangling over the cow’s head.

NOTE: Be sure to talk about the sign tacked to the barn wall – no matter what skills you may be working on. See that it lists the prizes to be given out at the party. This will help to give the end of the story more meaning.

Continue to work on Concepts of print by pointing out that there are letters on the sign that tell us something – just like the letters on the book’s cover.

Explain that partygoers will want to know about the prizes they might win. So (presumably)  Duck printed a sign they can all read at the party that lets them know.

Point to and read the words of the sign. See if children recognize the word that also appears in the title of the book.

Most candy eaten!
Scariest BOO!
Loudest SCREAM!
BEST COSTUME!

Also show how some words are written with all capital letters.

Auditory awareness, Vocabulary, More Grammar and syntax

On the next 3 page turns, the story describes the sounds inside and outside the barn as the guests arrive.

There’s crunch, crunch, crunching,
Creak, creak, creaking,
And then tap, tap, tapping.

Ask children to describe each sound.  Can they hear it?  Ask –

     What does it sound like when

• …you walk on top of fallen leaves?
• …a barn door squeaks open?
• …a cat taps at the window with its paw?

Can you hear it?

To work on vocabulary, talk about the word scurry. Ask children what it means when the story says

…mice scurry across the field.

Look at the motion in the illustration and talk about the way mice move when on the go, quickly in all directions.

Use the word in another sentence about the story. For example,

• The mice scurry over to the barn.
• Chickens scurry out of the way of the farmer. 

More predictions

On the next page turn, we discover Farmer Brown can hear these sounds, too. A closeup of his face as he lifts his drawn shade and looks outside his window tells us he’s not so happy.

• How do you think he feels?
• What might he be thinking?
• What might happen next?

Verbal expression, Cause-and-effect relationships

A page turn reveals a figure outside in the moonlit night, standing between two trees in a black cape. On seeing this, the farmer puts on his pajamas, runs to his bed, and hides beneath the covers.

Ask children to look closely at the cloaked figure.

• Do you see a white head and orange beak?
• Is the cloak extended to the side, as if something is beneath it?
• What could it be?

Ask children to describe Farmer Brown now.

• What caused him to hide under the covers?

Help structure sentences that connect the relationship between the two events.

For example,

• The farmer saw the creature and got scared, so he got under the covers.
• The farmer got into his pajamas and went to bed because he was afraid of the duck in costume.
• The farmer got scared because he didn’t recognize the creature outside was the duck!

More Auditory awareness, More Predictions

At the next 3 page turns, the story describes more noises Farmer Brown hears from under his covers as the duck crunch, crunch, crunches over leaves, creak, creak, creaks over the porch floorboards, and tap, tap, taps with his hammer nailing something to the door.

Build anticipation by asking what the costumed creature is doing. Ask –

• What is the cloaked figure tacking onto the front door?
• Is it another one of duck’s signs?
• What do you think it will say?

More Drawing inferences, More Concepts of print

The next 3 page turns find Farmer Brown listening a new sound –

quack, quack, quackle

Ask children to draw inferences about what happened and use connective words in their descriptions. For example –

• What made Farmer Brown jump out of bed when he heard Quackle?
• What do you think happened to the candy he set out on the porch?
• Why does Farmer Brown look shocked when he reads the sign on his door?

 

Help structure sentences about what the child has inferred using connective words such as since, because, in a response. For example –

• He jumped out of bed because he knew Quackle was the sound of Duck!
• The candy bowl was gone because Duck took it!
• He’s shocked at the note since he didn’t know about a party in his barn!

To continue work on print awareness in young children, show that the sign on the Farmer’s door is made of letters that read –

Halloween PARTY at the barn!

Point out the large letters in PARTY and have children read the word along with you.

Explain that the words in the sign are different from the words of the text because they were written down by Duck (presumably).

More Auditory awareness, Grammar and syntax, Verbal expression

On the next page turn, Farmer Brown is seen running in the light of the moon out to the barn in his footed pajamas and sun hat. Ask children –

• What’s funny about this picture?
• What do his balled up fists tell you about how he’s feeling?

The action of the scene of the farmer running to the barn creates opportunities to target grammar and syntax structuressuch as two-and-three-word utterances, N+V agreement, tense structures, and negative structures.

Continue to build auditory awareness by using the crunch, crunch, crunching words to help children focus on the sounds the words convey. Ask –

• Can you hear it?
• What does it sound like when you walk on fallen leaves?
• What other sounds might he going on as Farmer Brown approaches the barn?

 

On a page turn, see the farmer looking through the barn window at all that’s going on inside. Encourage a closer look at what the animals are doing.

Be sure to point out the familiar, darkly cloaked figure (might be hard to see in front of the cow), with its arms outstretched in front of the cow in its skeleton costume.

Past tense structures, Giving explanations; Predicting events

Then turn the page to see….

A full page spread of the now fully identifiable Duck; his cloak outstretched holding the blue ribbon prize for “Best Costume”.

Kids can remember what happened in the story and work on past tense structures as you ask –

• Who was it in the dark cloak between the trees in front of the house?
• Who was it crunch, crunch crunching over the leaves in the night with a note?
• Who was it tap, tap, tapping the hammer to tack the note on his door?

Turn the last page and reveal the prize winner – Farmer Brown in his footed PJ’s and straw hat! See Duck earnestly hand him the bowl of candy taken from his front porch – still full!  Then ask –

• Out of all the prizes listed on the sign, which one did Farmer Brown win?
• Why did he win Best Costume?
• Did he really need to put on his straw hat to go out to the barn at night?

Conclude the story by asking –

• Is Farmer Brown happy now?
• Do you think he will feel differently about Halloween next year?
• What do you think might happen next?

Discussion, Verbal expression

After the read-aloud, hold a discussion on how Farmer Brown changed at the end of the story. Talk about the benefits of celebrating Halloween and why it might not be so scary after all – just fun! Ask questions to stimulate a discussion, such as –

• Was Farmer Brown afraid needlessly or were there good reasons for his fear?
• Do you think Farmer Brown ended up enjoying the party in the barn?
• What kinds of fun things do you think he might he have done at the party?
• Do you think he had a different view of Halloween after that?
• What do you think about the holiday of Halloween?

Problem solving

Ask children to identify the problem in the story. Then discuss how it was resolved.

• What did the farmer do about his problem? (e.g., put candy on the front doorstep so trick-or-treaters wouldn’t knock on the door, pulled down his window shades so it looked like he wasn’t home, went to bed and pulled the covers over his head, etc.)
• How did he feel then?
• Did that solve his problem?
• Did Farmer Brown’s problem get resolved?
• How did it get resolved?
• How would the story have been different if he hadn’t gone into the barn?
• How would the story have been different if he hadn’t been given the best costume award?
• How did he feel then?
• What would you have done if you were Farmer Brown?

Storytelling

Having previously discussed Farmer Brown’s problem and how he overcame his fear of Halloween, now support the child in telling a simplified version of the story in narrative discourse. You can begin with a few story grammar elements at a time and gradually build until a full story can be told. In reviewing the pages, discuss the story elements as follows:

The beginning element involves the setting.  Ask questions such as –

•  Where does the story take place?
•  Who is the story about?
•  Does it take place in the daytime or nighttime?

Now show how to put the first element together in storytelling discourse. It might go something like this –

One day on the farm, the farmer sat down in the middle of his cornfield on top of a big pumpkin.

Then discuss the second element, the initiating event.  Ask –

• What happens to start this story off?

Responses may go like this –

•  The farmer doesn’t like Halloween.
•  Witches give him nightmares.
•  He is afraid of the Jack-o’-lanterns.

Support the child in putting the second element together in storytelling discourse.

Then proceed to structure the third element, the characters’ responses to the problem. Ask –

• How did the farmer handle his problem?
• What did he do about his scary feelings about Halloween?

The storytelling may go something like this –

He was so afraid of witches that he had nightmares about them.  He got shivers just looking at pirates. And the shadows that flickered on the wall from the Jack-o’-lanterns were too spooky for him to handle.

When you have supported the child’s telling of the characters’ internal responses in storytelling discourse, it’s time to talk about the plan to solve the problem, called the external attempts. Ask –

•  What did the farmer do about the problem to get himself out of his distress?
•  What was his solution to being afraid of Halloween night?

Support the child in relating the solution to the problem in more storytelling discourse. It might go something like this –

The farmer set out a bowl of candy on his front porch for the trick-or-treaters. He pulled down the shades and turned out the lights to make it look like no one was home.  He put out a Do Not Disturb sign because he didn’t want to be scared by any trick-or-treaters.

Then move on to the next element, telling the consequences of this plan.  Ask –

• What happened as a result of his decision to “hole up” on Halloween night?
• Was it a good plan?
• Did it help him avoid the problem of being scared?

Support the child in relating the consequences of his actions in storytelling discourse. It might go something like this –

But that didn’t solve anything. Meanwhile, the animals were getting ready for a Halloween party in the barn. All the noise spooked the farmer even more. When he looked outside to see what was going on, all the candy was gone out of the bowl.  Then he heard a ‘quackle’ and knew Duck was up to something. He ran out to the barn in his PJ’s and discovered the party.

        And finally, describe the outcome. Ask –

• How did the farmer feel on his way to the barn?
• What happened when he got to the barn?
• How did this make him feel then?
• Did his feelings about Halloween change?

• Was this a good outcome?
• What do you think Farmer Brown learned?

Support children’s storytelling by teaching these elements and pulling them all together in building this type of narrative structure. Helping children develop storytelling discourse is an important skill for literacy and academic success.

Executive functioning

Work on planning and organizational skills by sharing ideas about what Duck (presumably the party planner) would have needed to put in place in order to hold the Halloween party in the barn. As language drives the networking skills of executive functioning, encourage children to state the plans and explain what is needed to carry them out in sentence form.

For example, look over the page showing the decorated barn and brainstorm items that Duck would have had to list, find, and gather up.  Ask –

• If the animals wanted to bob for apples at the party, what would Duck have needed to gather up in order to put the game in place?

Suggestions include:

• Large barrel
• Apples
• Water
• Hose (to connect to a spigot and fill the barrel with water)

The barn was all decked out with decorations.  Ask –

• What sorts of things would Duck have needed to gather up to make a party atmosphere in the barn?

Suggestions include –

• Spider webs
• Paper spiders
• Garlands
• Pumpkins
• Scotch tape or glue
• Paper, pens, and thumbtacks for the signs
• Prizes (e.g., Farmer Brown’s blue ribbon badge)

Duck also would have needed to provide costumes for the animals. Ask –

• What items would Duck have gathered up?

Suggestions include –

• Skeleton costume
• Witches’ hats
• Party hats
• Black cloak

and so on.

You can target various other language skills in the process.

For example, if Duck wanted to include the game of bobbing for apples inside the barn, it could be expressed something like this –

First Duck would have to look for a big barrel inside or outside of the barn. He would have to drag it in a good location where everyone could have room to play the game. Then he would need to find a hose outside that hooked up to a spigot, turn on the water, carry the hose to the barrel, and fill it with water. To fill the barrel with apples, he might have to go to the storage shed to see if Farmer Brown was storing a few from his fall crop.

And so on.

Have fun using language to plan, organize, and implement the surprise Halloween party for Farmer Brown in the barn!

Articulation of K,  F, and L

To work on articulation of K, start off the book sharing by asking children to identify their sound in the book’s title, Click, Clack, Boo!  Then ask them to listen for their sound on each page of text you read aloud.

At each page turn, they can also look for words containing their sound pictured in the illustrations. For example –

    See on the first page –

• candy sprinkled across the ground,
• called candy corn
• in front of the chickens

Now listen to all the words of the text having their sound on the next page –

Jack-o’-lanterns flicker spooky shadows on the wall.

See the page where animals in Halloween costumes decorate the barn. Look for words to create phrases to practice production at the child’s acquired ability level, such as –

• careful (not to fall off the ladder),
• duck takes the costumes out of the box
• the cow in the skeleton costume,
• the Jack-o’-lantern on the floor,
• the chickens in sheets,

The recurring words, cruch, crunch, crunching, and creak, creak, creaking of the text also make for fun practice with the repetition of the words.

 

For articulation of F: Point out the target words as you share talk about the story, such as Farmer, flicker, footsteps, field, footsteps, front (porch, door) leafy, and floor,

    On the title page, see a full moon, bats flying, and a fence in the Farmer’s

When the animals in Halloween costumes decorate the barn, find additional words to create your own phrases, such as –

• careful not to fall off (the ladder)
• bobbing for apples
• apples on the floor
• the animals’ outfits
• hang streamers from the roof

More words in the illustrations: fence, afraid, feet, footed (pajamas) and funny

 

For articulation of L: encourage repetition of the text:

Farmer Brown [he] does not like Halloween.

Other L words in the text include: Jack-o’-lanterns, wall, locks, Halloween party, slowly, pulls (on his pajamas), climbs (under the covers), leafy (footsteps), old (boards), and bowl (is gone)

Encourage production of target words according to the child’s acquired ability level.

Morphological markers

As you go back to review the pages in the story, show the first page that reads –

Farmer Brown does not like Halloween.

Ask children to describe how Farmer Brown looks and feels in the illustration. Use the word unhappy to describe him.  Ask what unhappy means.

Break up the word into its parts –

• Un – happy

Explain that the little word un means not, as in –

• Farmer Brown is not happy

Then use the new word to make a different .

• He’s unhappy about Halloween.

Continue to review the pages of the story. As you discuss what happens on the pages, help children brainstorm other words that begin with the prefix un.

Then use those words in sentences about the story. Here are a few to start you off –

• Un – aware (He’s unaware that barn animals are planning a party.)
• Un – pleasant (The noises Farmer Brown hears are unpleasant.)
• Un – able (Farmer Brown is unable to enjoy Halloween; He is unable to recognize duck in the costume.)
• Un – pack (Duck unpacks the witches’ hats from the box.)
• Un – lock (The Farmer probably had to unlock the front door.)
• Un – expected (What Farmer Brown sees in the barn is unexpected.)
• Un – believable (The decorations in Farmer Brown’s barn are unbelievable!)
• Un – afraid (After he sees how much fun Halloween really is, Farmer brown is unafraid.)

Phonological Awareness

Play Phonological Awareness (PA) games is fun and easy using the words of the text. Depending on where the child’s abilities fall on the PA spectrum, you may wish to start with two games provided here from the beginning levels, Listening Awareness and Word Awareness.

If the child has progressed to the advanced, Phonemic Awareness level, then you may wish to begin play at the Synthesis–Onset-Rime level provided below.

NOTE: The full spectrum of PA is not within the scope of this book treatment. For book treatments that encompass the full range of PA, check out books like Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type in the PA Catalog of Books Are for Talking, Too! (4^th edition), where you’ll find a full range activities to use with easy-to-find picture books.

NOTICE: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The following phonological awareness games are copyrighted material from the 3rd and 4th editions of Books Are for Talking, Too!  They are the intellectual property of the author/publisher. They are used here in Book Talk by the author/publisher for educational purposes only. Duplication of this material for commercial use is prohibited without explicit permission from author/publisher.

Initial Phonemic Awareness Level

Listening Awarenes

Play Can-You-Hear-It? Children listen and identify the kinds of sounds that selected words from the text make. For example,

Say –

• Listen to the sound of the word crunch.
• The story says –

There is a crunch, crunch, crunching as the mice scurry across the field.

Ask –

• What sounds do the little mice make when they scurry across the field on top of the fallen leaves?
• Can you hear it?
• What else makes a crunching sound? (e.g., eating potato chips, munching on carrots, crinkling up paper, and so on.)

Continue playing the game with words from the text, including:

• Creak (i.e., a door slowly opening on its hinges)
• Click (i.e., a keyboard, stapler, light switch)
• Clack (i.e., coffee cup setting down on a saucer, a loud keyboard)
• Tap (i.e., pencil on tapping on a desk, foot tapping to the beat of the music)
• Quack (i.e., sound of a duck)

Word Awareness

Play Rearrange-It.  Children rearrange, in correct word order, a scrambled phrase or short sentence from the text. For example,

Say –

       Click, Boo, Clack!

•  Is that really the title of the book?
• Can you help me say the words in the right order?
• That’s right. Click, Boo, Clack should really be Click, Clack, Boo!

Some other word strings from the text to rearrange:

• doesn’t Halloween like
• witches nightmares give him
• pirates shivers give him

 

• peeks he through the window
• sounds of night Halloween
• beneath standing the trees

•  his pajamas pulls on
• covers under the climbs
• out of bed jumps

Advanced Phonemic Awareness Level

Synthesis – Onset-Rime Awareness

Play: Say-It-Until-You-Hear-It. Children synthesize one-syllable words divided into onset-rime. Begin with onset parts that are continuous (e.g., ffff… and nnn…) and then proceed to single stop sounds (e.g., b,  p, and t).
A second stage follows that contains onsets with two-consonant clusters. Begin with words having two continuant sounds (e.g., as in sssllll…. . . .-eeep ) and proceed to clusters having only one continuant sound (e.g., crrr – unch and cllll – ick).

How to do it:

Present word parts with a clear pause between them until the children can identify the whole word. For example, say –

• Put these two parts together:  f  –  arm
• Say it until you hear it.
• Fffffff  –  aaaaarm.  Fff  –   arm.  Farm.

More words to play with in developmentally appropriate order –

• L – ike
• N – ight
• H – ide
• M – ice
• F – ield
• Sh – eep
• B – arn
• P – orch
• T – ap
• D – oor

• Sl eep
• Fr – ont
• Tr- ees
• Cr – eak
• Cr – unch
• Kw- ack (quack)
• Cl-ick
• Cl – ack
• Br – own

NOTE: All sorts of words in this book are suitable for addressing other levels on the PA spectrum, such as Initial Sound Awareness, Phoneme Analysis and Manipulation, to name a few. With the short amount of text, it’s easy to make a list of suitable words and proceed with specified activities that focus on each level of the continuum until the child has achieved the final stages of phonemic awareness.

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Note:  Click, Clack, Boo!: A Tricky Treat is also available in a board book and a Ready-to-Read Scholastic publication. Find them both in school and public libraries, and online booksellers such as Amazon.com.

You’ll find other popular picture books that cover this book’s topics, including Farm animals, Seasons, Halloween, Sounds and listening, and a whole lot more in the Topic Explorations Index of Books Are for Talking, Too! (4th Edition).

See listings of popular books ideal for targeting the skills addressed here and lots more in the extensive Skills Index of Books Are for Talking, Too! (4th Edition).

Find the book titles cross-referenced in three age-related Catalogs and discover book treatments that provide you with methods, prompts, word lists, activities, and loads of ideas!

~ All in one resource!  ~

 Books Are for Talking, Too! (Fourth Edition)

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