Tag grammar

I YAM A DONKEY!

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I Yam A Donkey!
Cece Bell
Andersen Press
I read this book aloud to my partner straight after unwrapping it, and before long we were both reduced to fits of helpless giggles; it’s a real gem.
“I Yam a donkey!” declares the googly-eyed donkey on the title page and is immediately challenged by a yam: “What did you say? ‘I yam a donkey?’ The proper way to say that is ‘I am a donkey.’ ” Thus begins a crazy, escalating sequence of misunderstandings, as grammar and pronunciation pedant, yam, endeavours to correct each and every utterance of the thick-headed, bumbling donkey whose bewilderment increases in tandem with yam’s frustration.

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It’s all very funny, made even more so by the appearance of a carrot, a turnip and three green beans …

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who provide yam with the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the conjugation of the verb ‘to be’ …

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Here’s the singular part …

Donkey, all the more confused by this, sees something else entirely – a tasty meal …

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Such a splendid, darkly comic, turn, hereafter!
What a wonderful celebration of living language is this crazy tale of Cece Bell’s: Pedantic grammarians beware – you might end up as a donkey’s dinner! And then what the heck – no grammar, good or bad – is going to save your skin.
The bold, energetic illustrations rendered in bright colours and thickly outlined in black, are a real hoot; and the mix of double spreads,

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single pages, frames and panels add to the fun, and give the appearance of being effortlessly executed.
Primary school teachers, you REALLY NEED a copy of this book.

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Little Red Writing

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Little Red Writing
Joan Holub and Melissa Sweet
Chronicle Books
It’s Write On! Day at Pencilvania School, and all the little pencils, encouraged by their teacher, Ms. 2, are about to take the story path. There’s a buzz of excitement in the classroom as the pencils start thinking about their story ideas.

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Little Red decides her story should be about bravery and Ms 2 hands her a basket of red (noun) words telling her not to stray too far from the path and off goes the heroine on her writerly way. Before long though she decides that walking isn’t exciting enough for her narrative so she goes into the gym where a host of verbs help liven things up.

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But then she cartwheels clean off the page and into ‘a deep, dark, descriptive forest thick with adjectives.

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Feeling entangled by the adjectival foliage, she cuts her way out (thank you basket word) only to become stuck in a seemingly endless sentence.
Just in time though a truckload of adverbial assistance appears on the scene; assistance that quickly turns overwhelmingly exciting, causing our heroine to lose the plot and start scattering the contents of her basket all over the page, completely filling it.
Now what’s this tail doing on the next page? Surely a tail should be tailed, decides Little Red and off she goes on its trail all the way to …

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But that growly voice belongs not to Principal Granny but this lupine character,

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so it’s just as well that there’s one red noun left in Little Red’s basket and she puts it to use very effectively indeed…

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and just in time to save Principal Granny from complete oblivion …

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With its plethora of word play, Joan Holub’s text bubbles over with humour and Melissa Sweet’s collage, pencil and watercolour illustrations – an amalgam of classroom ephemera, calligraphy, and images of Little Red engaging in her storying adventure, are whimsical wonders.
An ingenious play on the Little Red Riding Hood tale, the whole thing is full to the brim with helpful advice for young (and not so young) writers. What better way to demonstrate ‘read before you write’. Every primary classroom should have a copy.

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