Monster Bubble

Book Champion: Sean

Our Book Champion today is Sean who initially turned the tables on our
intrepid interviewer by asking: “Why are you asking me these questions?!”.
Sean is 10 years old and lives in Spain, he likes playing the saxophone and
his favourite book is The 13-Storey Treehouse by author Andy Griffiths
and illustrator Terry Denton.

Is this the first book you’ve read by this author?
No, it’s my second one.

What do you like about his books?
The illustrations because they’re fun. And I especially like how you could be in
one chapter at the start and then all the way at the end that person will come back into the story. Like the dog Barky. He’s there early on and then he comes back a hundred pages later. And gets squished!

And that’s it for Barky? He’s gone? Oops!
The End!

The End for Barky. Who squished him?
A giant gorilla.

They seem like long books. Do they take a long time to read?
Hmmm, they probably take me two months.

Do you read one chapter a night?
No, probably for a week I read about 36 pages.

And how did you come across this book. Are your other friends at school
reading The 13-Storey Treehouse?
No. A friend from Australia came to visit and he showed me one of his books which I’d already read and so then I got interested in it and I was talking to my teacher about it and she said her son has tonnes of them.

How many of them are there in the series?
23.

What’s the other one that you’ve read?
The Very Bad Book. And see that’s an autograph by the illustrator. The writer and the illustrator are both Australian.

And what’s the story about?
The book is basically about the writer and the illustrator. They live in this tree house and all these strange things happen to them. Like giant sea princesses that turn into evil monsters, giant gorillas, monkeys invading the treehouse, falling cats. But from the start of the book, they have to write a book. Which is this book! And then all the way through they’re getting stopped from what they’re doing because of that book. And eventually at the end you’re reading the book that they came up with.

That sounds like fun. Especially when you have a man-eating shark tank and a bowling alley and a room full of pillows and swinging vines and a see-through swimming pool. And a lemonade fountain. Would you like to live there?
Yes. I even did a drawing of it, except it’s at school.

Who would you live there with?
All my friends. Mum and Dad. My brother. And Luka (Sean’s dog)

Would Luka be scared living up a tree?
Oh no, she doesn’t seem afraid of heights.

 

Chatterbox No. 8

Scents and Nonsensibilty:
A three-year-old reveals her acute olfactory dysfunction

Camille: Your head smells like orange juice.

Me: Really? What does my chin smell like?

Camille: Lemon squeezy.

Me: What about my eye?

Camille: Sniff, sniff. Bananas! I smell your other eye, it smells like ham.

Me: And what about  …

Camille: I smell your ear now … sniff, sniff, sniff. Ha! Chocolate!

Ahhh Zoom!

Alphabet books have been a part of children’s reading experience forever.
These days, they revolve around a concept or theme, and perhaps incorporate a simple story. It’s not A is for Apple anymore. We set ourselves this holiday season challenge; write an ABC using an A-Z of onomatopoeia and create a story from the sounds using as few words as possible. Here goes …

AHHH!
I was snug in bed when …

BOOM!
Mum stormed in the room.

CLAP!  CLAP!
‘Get up. Get out of bed.’ she said.

DONG! DONG!
‘You’re late for school!’

EEEK!
I Jumped up.

FWOOSH!
Ran out the room.

GULP!
Ate breakfast.

HIC!
Ate too quick.

ICK
And felt quite sick.

JIGGLE, JIGGLE
All squirmy and wriggly.

KONK! KLUNK! KRACK!
‘Oh, oh!’ There goes the vase.

‘LA LA LA’  
‘I Didn’t break it … promise.’

‘MEOW’
‘It was Cat.’

NIGGLE, NIGGLE
‘Cat pushed Duck.’

‘OOPS’
‘I mean Duck bumped Pig.’ 

And Mum said, ‘Wait on, I’m not too sure about this, because …’

‘PURR’
‘Cat is asleep.’

‘QUACK!’
‘Duck is in the pond and …’

ROLY POLY
‘The pigs are all in the mud.’

So, are you really sure?’

SIGH
‘Ok,’ I said. ‘It wasn’t Cat, it wasn’t Duck,
and not one Pig was involved. It was me … I broke the vase.’

TEE HEE HEE
‘I know,’ said Mum.

UMM
‘I’ll fix it, don’t worry. Hurry, you’re late for school!’

VROOM!
The school bus rumbled downhill.

WHOOSH!
I chased after it.

XXXXT!
The door opened.

YIKES!
‘Phew,’ I made it in.

ZOOM!
Still wearing my pyjamas.