Please and thank you

Dear Aunt Debbie,

What a lovely visit we had with you in Washington, DC! The trip to Child's Play was among the highlights.  We hadn't been there since before the renovation, and it's so cheering to be among such well-stocked shelves!  After being briefly distracted by the racks of dress-up in  the toy section of the store, Eleanor and Isabel settled down to looking at books.  We said we'd buy each girl one of her choosing: Isabel picked Owl Babies, and Eleanor a new Nancy Drew.

Then I spotted Thank You, Mama, by Kate Banks, which I was curious to read after your post on it a couple of months ago, and found its companion book, Please, Papa.  I quickly read through both, fell completely in love with them, and passed the two books over to Jeff to read to the girls while I nursed Will.

In Please, Papa, the animal-loving Alice is making a farm in her bedroom.  She asks her mother for a variety of animals, and her mother responds with a refrain familiar to all parents:

"Mama, give me the pig," she said.
"Say please," said Alice's mother.
"Please, Mama," said Alice,
and her mother gave her the pig.

In Gabi Swiatkowska's fabulous illustrations, the animals that Alice's mother passes over aren't toys, but real farm animals -- Alice lugs the huge pig across the page.  The requests continue, and Alice gets slightly more polite, until Alice asks for a horse and her mother doesn't have one.  When her father comes home from work, Alice asks him for a horse, and when she says please, he becomes the horse, lifting her up onto his shoulders:

"Make the horse trot," said Alice.  "Please, Papa."
Alice's father skipped around the room.
"Make the horse neigh," said Alice.  "Please, Papa."
Alice's father bobbed his head and neighed like a horse.
"Make the horse gallop," said Alice.  "Please, Papa."
Alice's father raced around the room with Alice on his shoulders.

"Make the horse jump," said Alice.  "Please."
"No," said her father.

"Please, Papa," said Alice.
Her father shook his head.
"No," he said again.  "This horse is tired."
Alice frowned.

This is the moment that made me love this book unquestioningly: the father's total willingness to play, and then his need to stop playing before she's tired of the game, ring true.  Alice pouts, and then her father asks her ("please, Alice") to give him a rest, and she gets over her pout, and she does.  It's pretty much what happens at our house every time Jeff comes home from work.

So thank you, most wonderful Aunt Debbie, for hosting us and giving us gifts (including these two excellent books), and for continuing to support such good reading in our home.  And please, can we come visit again sometime soon?

Love, Annie

Thank you!

Dear Annie,

It makes sense that Isabel has some hesitation about new habits of reading right now.  Reading independently -- or being able to listen to a sibling who can -- is a great thing, but because reading is such an emotionally satisfying activity, a change can be unsettling.   At a point when parental attention is newly split three ways, the problem with Eleanor may be that she's just not mom or dad.  At different points, Isabel can see learning to read on her own as wonderfully independent, or as not-so-wonderfully reading without parents.  Needless to say, this will all shake out.  I love that picture of the three of them (upper right).

I had another one of those happy surprises today, opening a box of new books and finding a truly delightful one I'd ordered months ago. 
Thank You, Mama by Kate Banks, spectacularly illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska (you wrote about her new-baby book here) epitomizes to me why we don't need the Berenstain Bears.  This a book about learning to say thank you.  But it's so much more too.

It starts with Alice's mama and papa taking her to the zoo -- on a triple tandem bicycle -- to celebrate her birthday.  When she reaches for a proffered balloon, her father prompts her to say, "Thank you, Papa," which she repeats.

"Would you like a birthday hat? said Alice's mama.
"No," said Alice.  "I don't want a hat."
"No, thank you," said Alice's mama.
"No, thank you, Mama," said Alice.  "I would like a pet."

We then go through a wackily-illustrated series of possible pets.  A giraffe is too tall to pet, Alice wonders where an elephant would sleep, and:

The alert reader will notice the unprompted thank you coming from Alice.  She asks for a parrot -- one has been flying around the edges of the last few pages -- and thanks both mama and papa for it.  When Alice thanks her papa for an ice cream, the parrot chimes in, "Thank you, Papa," and does the same with Mama and another gift.  When they're home, the parrot demands food, and rewards Alice with a "Thank you, Mama."  Alice prompts the parrot to thank Alice, and the parrot declines.

 When she gives the parrot a drink:

"What do you say?" she said [looking a bit stern].
"Thank you, Papa," said the parrot.
"No," said Alice.  "Thank you, Alice."
"Thank you, Papa," said the parrot again.
Alice frowned.

Alice's facial expressions are constantly changing and endlessly entertaining.  Here's her goodnight kiss:

The parrot demands a kiss too, and when Alice kisses it:

"Thank you, Alice," said the parrot. "Thank you, Alice."
And Alice kissed the parrot again.

The book is offering a lesson, but without a preachy bone in its little body.  Banks's rhythm and repetition, combined with the warmth and oddness of Swiatkowska's pictures makes it a delightful read.  Thank you, Kate; thank you, Gabi.

Love,

Deborah