Book time with Jasper
The following is an unedited transcript of my four year-old son’s take on Shel Silverstein’s book ‘The Giving Tree.’ Total weep-fest, right? HA. Not if your third kid is a honey badger/chaos monkey.
That’s a joke.
All third kids are.
That said, I will never, ever dissuade my kids from reading, talking about reading, and generally immersing themselves in a love of reading. (Even if they don’t always get the story arc one hundred percent correct.)
Please note that, while the dialogue is true, I’ve added in the letters ‘r’ and ‘l’ to Jasper’s speech that were missing from his once-over review.
Enjoy.
***
Jasper: Have you read this one?!
(cheerfully holds up the book, and I cringe, awaiting tears and Serious Talks)
The boy says- I need money- and the tree says “I don’t have money, I have apples and leaves,” so he gives him apples and leaves and the boy goes away.
(skips seven pages)
The boy wants a boat and the tree says “I don’t have money,” so the boy takes his branches and makes a boat.
(rifles forward and backwards through the books, eventually landing on the second to last page)
Then the boy gets old and wants to sit down. The tree says “I don’t have apples.”
“I DON’T HAVE TEETH!”
(pause for laughter)
Then the tree says “I don’t have branches.”
“I WANT TO SIT DOWN!”
So he does. And then he sits on the tree.
ISN’T THAT A FUNNY BOOK?
Me: ….
Jasper: ….
Me: ….Yes.
Jasper (guffaws): I KNOW!
***
…Proving that, yet again, it’s all about perspective.
And maybe a tiny bit about creating the stories you want to see/read in the world.
Or perhaps not listening through super well the first time around (with surprisingly good results).
(Eat your heart out, Goodreads.)
Speak Your Mind