Reading Review: Children's reading on Long Island

At the end of April, I went to Barnes and Noble with my niece and nephew (2 and 3) to a children's reading of a book called Chicky Chicky Chook Chook by Cathy MacLennan. I was honestly skeptical about this at first (thinking that I might just giggle at it the whole time or possibly even fall asleep) but actually, there were a few interesting things I noticed during the reading that made me think about words and sounds and how they affect even the youngest of "readers".

There were probably 30 toddlers with parents, siblings, babysitters, etc, and none of the adults really looked too enthused to be there, except maybe the very new parents with children < 1 year old who hadn't really gotten over the thrill of parenting yet. Needless to say, it was a loud crowd, and the reading was at 3 pm on a Saturday, so the crowd was either post-nap babies or "my mommy kept me up for this are you kidding me I just want to take a nap" babies (why would anyone do that to their child?). It was definitely interesting, but not unexpected. We didn't have to wait too long until the reader (who wasn't the author, unfortunately, but was a pretty enthusiastic employee with whom i was honestly impressed) came in, handed out snacks for the kids (and maybe also for me) and got started.

The book contains pretty much all animals-- bees, chicks, cats, etc-- and most of it is alliterated and rhyming, which doesn't really surprise me considering it's a children's book. But the onomatopoeia from beginning to end was what kept my niece and nephew not only captivated during the reading, but remembering and singing it later. That's is what really struck me. I didn't realize how much those modes of diction can sway our memories. It made me think of the different ways we use rhymes, jingles, and acronyms to aid our memory. And then of course I started thinking about all of the annoying commercial songs for products and everything about marketing and...it was all just very thought-provoking despite the fact that I was expecting to take a nap for an hour or so.

I never really thought that I would ever want to write a children's book, but after going to that reading and thinking about all of the ways children learn and the way full-grown adults use similar methods just as effectively, I think I would want to give it a shot. I'm making a queer portfolio next semester, and I might consider including a children's book in with the other pieces I plan on writing.

It was definitely an interesting experience!