Telephone ~ Wacky Wednesday Picture Book & KID KANDY

Telephone
By Mac Barnett
Illustrated by Jen Corace
(Chronicle Books, 2014)

To begin with, I absolutely adore the illustrations found in Telephone! Watercolor is one of my favorite mediums for artwork.

Besides the great illustrations, Telephone is a story about the old game of telephone. Remember that game?

You start at one end of a line or circle, whisper something into someone's ear, and they whisper to the next person, and so on, until the saying gets to the last person, who then repeats the message aloud. Hysterical results are usually the case, with the ending message being nothing close to the original message.

Telephone takes place on a telephone wire and the message mixing is done by birds. A wide assortment of birds, in fact, are hanging out above apartment buildings when a mother requests the message be sent that Peter needs to fly home for dinner. The hilarity begins then, as each bird message gets wilder and more off course. Whoo-oo solves the problem? You will have to read the story.

Telephone will delight and give giggles to children who love to play with words and act silly.

KID KANDY:

Play the Telephone Game

~ Play telephone with a larger group of people (at least 5). Family reunions would be a great place to try the telephone game.

~ Choose a simple statement like Uncle Peter has no hair or Aunt Susie sat on her hamburger. Whisper the statement to the first person. You might want to write down the statement to keep it straight.

~ Let everyone play. The crazier the message, the funnier the end results.

~ Let each person whisper the message to the person or child beside him or her until the last person is reached.

~ Ask the last person to repeat the message.

~ LOL. Share the original message. How far off was it?

Be prepared to play this funny game over and over.