Friday phrase: this will never come off I don’t think

I have a little picture in my mind as I write. It’s evening, close to bedtime, and Junior Reader is out in the garden, attired in pyjamas and crocs. (It’s actually been warm. Lovely.)

Dan continues to put the new picnic bench together, and in a little bit of role reversal, Junior Reader reads to him as he fixes the pieces in place.

And what, may you ask, is suitable for the occasion? Why, the Cat in the Hat, who is always on hand when there is a new scheme to plot, or a new contraption to build.

To be truthful, I think the reading was The Cat in the Hat, rather than the Cat in the Hat Comes Back. But it is the latter that is in my head as I write – probably always and permanently in my head, I think.

I didn’t grow up with Dr Seuss, really. But my grandparents had The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, and I would read it when visiting them. So it came to have a particularly significant status in terms of treasured reads.

Dr Seuss mangles language beautifully for the sake of keeping a rhyme scheme – and we love it, because we know full well what it means, and it is so so memorable.

While I’m at it, I can also heartily recommend Adrian Edmondson’s audio versions of both books – plus Fox in Socks and Green Eggs and Ham. Good reading, and great sound effects to go with it.

So for today, I leave you with the Cat, having eaten his pink cake in the tub, surveying the evidence afterwards.

And the boy, in a little role reversal of his own, offers a variant on the immortal line that I’m sure many parents have uttered when seeing a stain of new and giant proportions.

Happy weekend!

—

The Cat in the Hat Comes Back (Dr Seuss)

‘The water ran out and then I saw THE RING!
A ring in the tub! And, oh boy! What a thing!
A big long pink cat ring! It looked like pink ink!
And I said, “Will this ever come off? I don’t think!” ‘

[If you want to soak in the general goodness of the whole book, this link will let you read all the text – and see a few pictures too.

But please, go and buy your own copy too, if you haven’t got it. It really is that worth it.]

 

Making: new clothes for old

Here’s where it began. I started doing some sewing because a few clothes didn’t work any more. And I found I liked the results.

My normal sewing levels are around attaching name tapes to clothes. Occasionally badges to judo outfits. Not much more.

I did learn to do backstitch (making a nice strong seam) in the teenage days of having a favourite schoolbag, which would intermittently fall apart under the weight of all the books.

Having finally found the perfect bag (large, green, canvas material, good straps), I was not going to let it go and have to begin the hunt again. So I think I must have kept it going a good three years in the end.

Which is good for schoolbags, all in all.

Over time, and with a bit of observation of my mother-in-law’s trouser hemming techniques, I have moved up to being able to take up trousers to a shorter height, should one’s junior reader require it.

(I have also on occasion managed to sew one trouser leg to another (temporarily, I didn’t leave it like that), but I’m better at spotting that in advance and saving all the unpicking.)

Although it has allowed me to buy a seam ripper, like the one I remember my mum having, which is a lot of fun to use.)

Having shown the level of my sewing credentials to date, down to the business of making.

—

No. 1: a pair of trousers belonging to Junior Reader. Having been taken up several times to begin with, once they were taken down, they had big bands of fold around the ankles.

They looked a bit like lines you’d find at successive high tides. So I asked if I could turn them into mid-length trousers, and was given the nod. (Phew.)

The trousers were cargo pants, and fortunately, had some detailing on them already which gave me a hint of where to cut. Then I hemmed them and: hey presto, new light-weight trousers.

Not yet tried out at the beach, but great for this ‘is it spring/isn’t it’ kind of weather.

These I have been able to see are a success, because they are getting worn a lot.

(We have also had the ‘how to take off your trousers carefully’ talk, after a certain amount of recent fixing and refixing of school trousers, and so far, cargo pants are doing just fine.)

—

No 2: a stage further up. Dan had a pair of jeans with rips on both knees. So I applied the same logic (and measured VERY carefully), and managed to create some cut-offs.

I think the point of proper cut-offs is that the hems are mean to be a bit raggy. But that doesn’t really build in your sewing skills, so I’ve gone for neat for now.

I think they may actually need taking up a bit more – they are a tiny bit Empire-builder for now. But hopefully we’ll get to see them in action (if that hot summer we’re promised comes round), and then we can fix on the hems for definite.

Updated: they’ve been worn all week on holiday. The length is good at the points when you sit with your knees bent. And really, they are just off, seeing holidaying action, so I think that’s a win.

—

No 3: same approach, different garment. Dan had a much loved long-sleeved shirt, with a hole at one elbow. No longer suitable for business meetings.

A spot more cutting, and cue: short sleeve shirt. This one I’m happy with for length of sleeve.

Somehow or other, there was also a hole near the lower seam. So I cut the lower seams and had a go at a rolled stitch, to make the hem very small.

The hems were a success, but it does make the shirt a bit boxy now. So I think we’ve settled that it’s one of those summer shirts that you don’t actually try to do up, but wear open over a T shirt or a vest.

—

Big plus point from 2 and 3: spare material. Just a bit, but nice enough to use for something else.

Which leads us to the next making update: a small attempt in the direction of quilting. (Fingers crossed.)

Lit Kid: storytelling through letters

Junior Reader is starting to experiment more with lots of different types of writing.

Whether it’s the bedroom door sign – ‘Keep out! – the written refusal to comply with a parental request, or a kingly proclamation (on a scroll), I enjoy seeing them coming.

Variety is a good thing in children’s books, as elsewhere. And letter-writing as a way to tell stories can work well.

Here are three in our collection that do just that.

Click Clack Moo – Doreen Cronin, Betsy Lewin

This one is a bit of a classic. It’s not just about letter writing – or even letter typing – it’s an introduction to politics.

The animals in the farm are not entirely happy with their lot. So they start to spell it out for Farmer Brown by typing him notes about what they feel would improve things – say, electric blankets for the barn.

Farmer Brown tries to push back against the demands – and triggers a full-on election situation.

Look out for Duck, the go-between character in this story, who appears again in Vote for Duck!, a brilliant introduction to the US political voting system.

Both are great examples of children’s books that include much more ‘grown-up’ situations – explained with the lightness of touch that a really good children’s book can offer.

Love from Louisa – Simon Puttock, Jo Kiddie

This is an early introduction for your junior readers to the ‘Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells’ style of letter. As with the real-life version, the joke is more clearly on the one doing the letter writing.

Louisa is a pig, also on a farm, and equally unhappy with the conditions there. Her solution is handwritten notes, torn from reporters’ notebooks, all signed off:

‘Sincerely, Disgruntled!’

Farmer Giles is prepared to act on the suggestions much more than Farmer Brown, but even he has had enough after a while – and turns the tables on Disgruntled by asking him/her to clear up the mess.

There’s another twist in the tale after that, but I’ll leave you to discover that one for yourself.

What I quite enjoy is that Louisa is clearly having more fun writing uppity letters than appreciating what Farmer Brown is doing. Whether or not she changes her tune in the end is left open, which also seems appropriate.

Wolves – Emily Gravett

Rabbit borrows a library book to find out about wolves, and discovers a bit more than he has bargained on…

This was Gravett’s first book, and a huge success, leading her to write various more, and illustrate on others. Her humour is sly and revealed gradually as the book unfolds.

Part of the delight of this book is the various internal writing devices – letters you can remove from the book, library book descriptions, and so on. There are also two endings, so you can choose which one you (or your audience) prefer.

As with my previous recommendation of a book with wolves as characters, you may well want to look this one over before sharing it with your junior readers.

However, for those who like a joke, and particularly slightly older readers who can identify the various types of writing at the end, and what they mean, this book is great fun, and may well spark some writing ideas for your own junior writers.

Friday phrases: no matter what

The end of another week. We may be feeling great, or more than a little grizzly.

We may even wonder if we’ve blown it  – and be looking for some reassurance.

Enter Debi Gliori’s No Matter What. A wonderful story for helping us realise that we will be loved, no matter what we do, it’s a message that adults need just as much as kids.

After all, can’t we all relate to this:

‘Small was feeling grim and dark.’

Adults would probably quite like to do as he does, showing his feelings through behaviour rather than words. Luckily for Small (and for us), Large sees something is up, and decides to find out what’s going on:

‘Small said, “I’m a grim and grumpy little Small and nobody loves me at all.”

“Oh Small,” said Large. “Grumpy or not, I’ll always love you no matter what.” ‘

Like many of us, Small wallows a bit longer in feeling sad, testing out just how much love he can get. But in the course of his questions, Small learns a lot more about just how big and strong love is.

Click on the link above to be able to see several pages within the book – and discover how Large will still love Small, no matter what he ‘turns into’ at times.

Making

Over the time I’ve been reading blogs, I’ve discovered that whatever your passion, you’ll find plenty of others eager to share their ideas – successes, failures, tips and so on.

It doesn’t seem to matter what the interest is – science experiments you can do at home, knitting patterns for tiny babies – there’s plenty to borrow from.

So I’m tentatively creating a new category here: making. Not because I think that what I’m trying to do is Pinterest-worthy (hardly, given that I’m still avoiding adding photos), but simply because That’s Where It’s At right now.

Making is probably not big news any more online – but there’s plenty more encouragement for what is effectively free-range creative endeavours. It might be putting together paper and cardboard, it might be making finger puppets, or all kinds of different things.

I’ve reached a point where my head is too full of chatter in the evenings. Sometimes, I drown it out with TV – that works fine, but it seems that my hands would like something to do as well.

So, little by little, I’ve been starting some making of my own. It’s not going to be a new and exciting invention, it’s not going to inspire other kids in the playground, but it’s going to be something that I made. By myself.

—

I do do making, of sorts. Cooking has been my big area of making, for a long time, but in a funny way, it doesn’t feel like making particularly.

In cooking, you have recipes to follow (or at least to use as a guide). There are techniques to learn; variants on how to use different ingredients.

I dare say the same could be applied to something like woodwork, but I have lacked the confidence to feel that I could then approach a new area of making, and extend my skills there.

So what I’m trying is a bit different for me – it’s in the following your nose kind of category of activity. I’m trying things out: no patterns, no how tos, no instruction booklets.

No one is telling me what to make but me. No one is devising the plans but me. That is partly faintly alarming and partly very releasing, because I can be on my own side. It’s about having fun in the activity, and hopefully it turning out OK.

—

The thing with making is that it encourages all kinds of useful skills. Learning through trial and error, thinking on your feet, improving techniques as you go along.

It’s a very arts/crafts way of thinking – much more what you can do with your hands than I’m used to. But that’s OK. I don’t want to write a thesis in the evenings; I want to relax, and maybe explore a little too.

I am worried about whether I’ll manage to be precise enough. I fear cutting into things and making mistakes, but maybe I’ll find a different idea as a result. (I hope so.)

—

So every now and then, I’ll share some making thing that I’m doing. I might even mention what Junior Reader is up to – there’s someone who loves making, and is not afraid to try new things. Maybe I can learn a thing or two.

I’m hoping that what I come up with will be a little bit eco, too, finding new purposes for things, spinning out the life of a garment. Stopping some fabric sitting doing nothing, and turning it into something useful.

If you’re really lucky, I might even take photos. Not for the how-to factor, but to prove to myself: I made something. I can do it.

And I can enjoy the process as well as the finished product.