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Pete's a Pizza
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From: Kathleen Horning <horning>
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 09:57:16 -0600
I, too, think lots of families will be playing Pizza, after reading "Pete's a Pizza." I was sure my 4-year-old nephew would be playing it, after I gave him the book last year, but instead, he played with it in a different way ? he played with the words!
After I had read the book to him a couple of times, we were in the grocery store and he was riding in the little kid's seat in the grocery cart. When we rolled down the aisle with the frozen pizza, he got a little twinkle in his eye and then said, "How about some pepperoni, Petey?" That line got a big laugh from me, so then he started applying it to other types of food: "How about some ice cream, Icey?" "How about some popcorn, Poppy?" etc. I think it may have been the most fun I've ever had with a small child in a grocery store!
Something about that particular line in the book really grabbed him, and since then, I've seen him applying that "How about some pepperoni, Petey?" sentence construction to other types of word play. Once again, this shows how much the language in a picture book can enrich the lives of young children (and their adults!).
William Steig knows that young children thrill to the sounds of words, as well as the meanings, and that just as there is an interplay between text and pictures, there is also an interplay between sound and meaning in the best books for young children. And the most important interplay of all happens between the child and the adult when the book is read aloud, again and again.
Kathleen T. Horning (horning at facstaff.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center University of Wisconsin-School of Education 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706 608&3930 FAX: 608&2I33
First, I have to say that I just loved Pete's a Pizza. I'll bet a lot of parents will read it to their kids and then start playing the pizza game.
Second, William Steig is the author I always point to when I try to talk about the difference between writing for picture books that will be read aloud to children, and writing for young readers. Steig's language is quite complex, and uses any number of unusual, sophisticated words. Kids can get many of the words in context, but I suspect that a number of them have to be explained. I wouldn't dare use the kind of language he used in Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (one of my children's favorite books) on the pages of Ranger Rick; the reading level is way above that of our average reader.
Debby
Received on Tue 30 Mar 1999 09:57:16 AM CST
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 09:57:16 -0600
I, too, think lots of families will be playing Pizza, after reading "Pete's a Pizza." I was sure my 4-year-old nephew would be playing it, after I gave him the book last year, but instead, he played with it in a different way ? he played with the words!
After I had read the book to him a couple of times, we were in the grocery store and he was riding in the little kid's seat in the grocery cart. When we rolled down the aisle with the frozen pizza, he got a little twinkle in his eye and then said, "How about some pepperoni, Petey?" That line got a big laugh from me, so then he started applying it to other types of food: "How about some ice cream, Icey?" "How about some popcorn, Poppy?" etc. I think it may have been the most fun I've ever had with a small child in a grocery store!
Something about that particular line in the book really grabbed him, and since then, I've seen him applying that "How about some pepperoni, Petey?" sentence construction to other types of word play. Once again, this shows how much the language in a picture book can enrich the lives of young children (and their adults!).
William Steig knows that young children thrill to the sounds of words, as well as the meanings, and that just as there is an interplay between text and pictures, there is also an interplay between sound and meaning in the best books for young children. And the most important interplay of all happens between the child and the adult when the book is read aloud, again and again.
Kathleen T. Horning (horning at facstaff.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center University of Wisconsin-School of Education 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706 608&3930 FAX: 608&2I33
First, I have to say that I just loved Pete's a Pizza. I'll bet a lot of parents will read it to their kids and then start playing the pizza game.
Second, William Steig is the author I always point to when I try to talk about the difference between writing for picture books that will be read aloud to children, and writing for young readers. Steig's language is quite complex, and uses any number of unusual, sophisticated words. Kids can get many of the words in context, but I suspect that a number of them have to be explained. I wouldn't dare use the kind of language he used in Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (one of my children's favorite books) on the pages of Ranger Rick; the reading level is way above that of our average reader.
Debby
Received on Tue 30 Mar 1999 09:57:16 AM CST
