New Chapter Book for the Younger Set
Elizabeth Godley’s second children’s book and first early chapter book, Rock, Scissors, Paperbag, illustrated by Akanksha, is a delightful jaunt into fantasy, perfect for those young, early readers, just ready to hear and read longer stories!
This book is a great read aloud to increase listening reading stamina for those beginning to venture beyond picture books. The text and illustrations are fun and engaging and will keep kids on the edge of their seats. The characters of Rock, Scissors and Paperbag are those that kids can relate to such as dealing with bullies, confidence and being afraid.
Orange ball is the most important sport in the town of Orange, Orange and also one of the only exciting things that happen in this town where they celebrate things like “Wash a Cup Day” and “Watch Paint Dry Day”. As Scissors says at the beginning of the story, “Our town is lame!” The only problem is that no one except the professional Orange ball team owns and plays with a REAL orange ball. Everyone else, including the kids on the playground, have to play with poor substitutes such as balls of yarn. When Scissors, who yearns to be a professional orange ball player, gets fed up with the bullies and the fake orange balls, the three decide to try and find the map that supposedly leads to the one and only Great Orange Ball Tree! They meet up with lots of challenges and upsets while learning a lot about themselves and what they are capable of as they pursue their dream.
Besides the fun storyline, as a literacy specialist, I thought of so many extension activities that you could do with this book to enhance comprehension and literacy skills. Before I share these ideas though, I would caution you to please read and discuss the entire story first. Stopping and doing activities disrupt the comprehension of the story, especially for those children who struggle with literacy.
One of the things that I found delightful about this book is the imagery and great description. This is particularly important for children learning to visualize while listening to a longer story with fewer pictures. For example, there is a great description of a “monster” the trio meet along their journey. As the passage is reread, the kids could draw their own interpretation of this description, learning the very important comprehension skill of visualization, something that struggling readers often do not employ when reading. Remember –these skills need to be explicitly taught and kids are never too young to begin! Imagine the drawings from this description: “The little creature had long grey ears with a soft, white furry head, from which purple eyes shone above an orangey-pink triangle nose . . .and that is just part of the description.
Another fun phonics lesson, so important for this age group just beginning to unlock the phonetic code, is decoding the engaging language in this book. From the wail of Scissors guitar, “Menooowww” to the monster’s, ROWWRR sker SPLASH, students will delight in figuring out these words in a context with a connection. And last of all this book is just pure fun with language that is sure to have kids laughing hysterically, as they do when any bathroom words are mentioned, such as this line – “She has trumpet trousers when she gets nervous.” ☺
I would recommend this book for a great read aloud for those too young to read on their own or as a good starter book for those students just venturing into the chapter book world.
Elizabeth can be found on her website: Nobody's Banana Publishing
and on Instagram Elizabeth Godley
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