National Library Week is from April 7 -13 this year & I thought I would lean into what makes libraries main characters in literacy still to this day: entertainment! Children librarians are taught to respect their readers’ interest, whether they are 6 months to 17 years old. We would rather put a book in a child’s hand that they love, than force them to read one they may struggle to comprehend. Yes, we believe in literacy & personal improvement of course, but all in due time!
Here are two books that are chock full of silliness & laughter.
A is for Apricat
Written & illustrated by Mauro Gatti
This ABC board book carries the wit of the English language in hilarious mash-up puns. Fresh produce make up parts of the joke so it can be classified as a “clean eating” supporter without the seriousness. Some of my favorite critter mashups were of course the apricat, but the flamango & moushroom were my favorite! I will start calling mushrooms moushrooms from now on. I cannot believe how easy uni-corn was to make: it’s been RIGHT there my whole life lol As a lover of puns, this is definitely a book I will be buying for baby showers & will regret not haven written, every time. Food facts at the end add a touch of reference material/seriousness.
Traducción: Este libro es mejor apreciado en inglés. Una buena opción es decir los nombres de las letras en español al leerlo y traducir los nombres de los animales, frutas y vegetales.
- fig = higo
- beets = remolacha
- ximenia =ximenia
- brussel sprouts = bruselas (coles de bruselas)
- flamingo = flamenco
The Wrong Book
Written by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Alex Willmore
The Wrong Book echoes The Book With No Pictures in its outrageousness! A bookmark emcee presents this book and agrees that “apples go crunch crunch… when you bite them,” but is soon scratching its head when the narrator says flowers go “chugga chugga choooo choooo!!!!” A dog is said to be a bicycle that goes “BURRRRP!” & the mislabeling takes off at full speed after that, haha. This is definitely a performative title, perfect for story time or acting out at home. The illustrations add to the humor and we see the poor bookmark losing its cool as the pages go on.
The principal at my son’s school actually read the title for their “learning in jammies” event. Two kindergarteners were near spraying milks out of their noses as the jokes culminated, haha. It was very sweet to hear their reaction.
Traducción: Tomara poquito tiempo, pero el titulo es fácil de traducir. Como hay mucha onomatopeya algunos sonidos van variar en español. Por ejemplo el sonido del gallo sera —¡Qui qui ri qui! en ves de “cock-a-doodle-doo!!.”Otra opción es hacer las correcciones en español. Ejemplo: —¡¡Esa no es una hamburguesa, es un tiburón!!
I hope you enjoy these two titles that reminds us not to take ourselves too seriously. They are proof that it takes creativity to be silly!
Biblioterika 
These books sound like a lot of fun. I hope my library has at least one of them. I love the learning in jammies.
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