Lately Will has been wanting us to read him a Dick and Jane book he got for Christmas. Actually, it's three Dick and Jane books that were reprinted recently. Obscurity was a better place for them, I thought.
My question is, how do you read "Oh, oh, oh" out loud? Who the hell ever says that, anyway? Does it register surprise, dismay, shock, amusement? Or what? And what about "Oh,oh?" In one place it can be read as "uh, oh" but not the others. And what is the difference between "oh, oh" and "oh, oh, oh"? So far I have been using that sardonic bland Dick and Jane voice (you know the one I mean) that does not seem appropriate for reading to young children. It's too arch and knowing. Help me, Internet.
P.S. How do you read the pages in Where The Wild Things Are where Max and the beasts engage in their wild rumpus, and there are no words? I sing "Rumpus, rumpus, rumpus" two times and jiggle the book from side to side in an annoying manner.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
When they rumpus wordlessly you should describe in song the locations and status of the rumpus.
Lol. That's too funny. I had no idea that Dick and Jane, and the amazing pooch Spot had made a return. I would love to have my son read them to me, as he would do it in a mocking, sarcastic manner, as 9-year old boys do for most things produced from earlier times (i.e. old choose your own adventure spy books in which the former Soviet Union plays a prominent role or the original Hardy Boys books).
I think your take on the rumpus situation is a good one. It is much the same tactic as when you read Robert Munsch books, and there are no words, just much color and action.
I have no idea about the Dick and Jane books. When I read those pages in Wild Things, I just ask the kids to describe what's going on. Sometimes the kids jump up and march around or dance or something, and sometimes they point out objects in the picture. Often they spend much of the book making claws out of their fingers and shouting "Roar!" and "Rooooooar!" over and over.
I generally say "Rumpus! Rumpus! Rumpus!" sort of like the toga party scene in Animal House...
A woman who is working on a degree in library science actually came over to my house a few months ago to videotape me reading "Goodnight Gorilla" (which is mostly wordless) to my son. She was taping lots of parents doing it, and looking for patterns.
Elizabeth
http://elb.typepad.com/halfchangedworld
Post a Comment