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[CCBC-Net] Baby books -- Peepo
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From: maggie_bo at comcast.net <maggie_bo>
Date: Tue, 08 Nov 2005 01:00:26 +0000
Peek-a-Boo was, hands down, my favorite book to read to my own babies once they were just past the boardbook stage (although I guess it comes as a boardbook now). Another Ahlberg book was also a favorite: Each Peach Pear Plum. The mother-goose and fairy-tale inspired rhymes are just made to order, and the fun of searching for the characters never grows old for toddlers, even after they've done it 100 times. So fun for a toddler to share this book with a grown-up who hasn't seen it before (a visiting grandparent or aunt or uncle) and proudly point out all the interesting discoveries.
Maggie Bokelman
-------------- Original message --------------
>
>
>
>
> I wasn't aware that the Ahlbergs Peepo underwent translation for American
> readers. I wonder how it would read as Peek-a-boo. As a parent we read and
> read and read this and I still love it. This book is worth a thesis alone.
> Why? I think it teaches children (and their parents) to look. It guides the
> eye, teaches to make connections within scenes and across pages.
>
> There are so many dynamics at work: The immediate family ("she wants him on
> her knee") the way dad's clothes are casually hooked upon the end of the
> bed, the adventures in the park and the presence of both mother and
> grandma...the tassles blowing in the breeze. The historical setting lends a
> quiet memoir-esque quality and an authenticity that you can't find in their
> metafictional stories (Jolly Postman, etc) When I look at Bob Graham's
> books (Let's Get A Pup, Red Woollen Blanket, etc I see the same rumpled
> charm that permeates Peepo. It wears its cleverness, its genius, on the
> inside if you like.
>
> The text is easy and unforced. It has the same comfortable, rounded
> slightly worn feel that the pictures have.
>
>
> But what caps it for me is the final scene at the top of the stairs. We are
> looking at the mirror, its rainbow rim, and the mirror (or the family
> including the baby) are looking back at the reader. It's the detail that
> makes me love it. Peepo is seamless and brilliant. I don't think the
> Ahlbergs did a better book.
>
>
>
>
> Mike Shuttleworth
> Program Co-ordinator
> Centre for Youth Literature
> 328 Swanston Street
> Melbourne VIC 3000
> PH: 03 8664 7262
> FAX: 03 9639 4143
> http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/youthlit/
>
> _______________________________________________
> CCBC-Net mailing list
> CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
> Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe...
> http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Mon 07 Nov 2005 07:00:26 PM CST
Date: Tue, 08 Nov 2005 01:00:26 +0000
Peek-a-Boo was, hands down, my favorite book to read to my own babies once they were just past the boardbook stage (although I guess it comes as a boardbook now). Another Ahlberg book was also a favorite: Each Peach Pear Plum. The mother-goose and fairy-tale inspired rhymes are just made to order, and the fun of searching for the characters never grows old for toddlers, even after they've done it 100 times. So fun for a toddler to share this book with a grown-up who hasn't seen it before (a visiting grandparent or aunt or uncle) and proudly point out all the interesting discoveries.
Maggie Bokelman
-------------- Original message --------------
>
>
>
>
> I wasn't aware that the Ahlbergs Peepo underwent translation for American
> readers. I wonder how it would read as Peek-a-boo. As a parent we read and
> read and read this and I still love it. This book is worth a thesis alone.
> Why? I think it teaches children (and their parents) to look. It guides the
> eye, teaches to make connections within scenes and across pages.
>
> There are so many dynamics at work: The immediate family ("she wants him on
> her knee") the way dad's clothes are casually hooked upon the end of the
> bed, the adventures in the park and the presence of both mother and
> grandma...the tassles blowing in the breeze. The historical setting lends a
> quiet memoir-esque quality and an authenticity that you can't find in their
> metafictional stories (Jolly Postman, etc) When I look at Bob Graham's
> books (Let's Get A Pup, Red Woollen Blanket, etc I see the same rumpled
> charm that permeates Peepo. It wears its cleverness, its genius, on the
> inside if you like.
>
> The text is easy and unforced. It has the same comfortable, rounded
> slightly worn feel that the pictures have.
>
>
> But what caps it for me is the final scene at the top of the stairs. We are
> looking at the mirror, its rainbow rim, and the mirror (or the family
> including the baby) are looking back at the reader. It's the detail that
> makes me love it. Peepo is seamless and brilliant. I don't think the
> Ahlbergs did a better book.
>
>
>
>
> Mike Shuttleworth
> Program Co-ordinator
> Centre for Youth Literature
> 328 Swanston Street
> Melbourne VIC 3000
> PH: 03 8664 7262
> FAX: 03 9639 4143
> http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/youthlit/
>
> _______________________________________________
> CCBC-Net mailing list
> CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
> Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe...
> http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Mon 07 Nov 2005 07:00:26 PM CST
