Book Weeks

[ladyofastolat]

While reading stories this week at various schools' Book Weeks, I've been trying to keep a tally of the most popular costume choice for when children are told to come as a book character. My probably very unreliable impression is that top characters are:

1. Generic princess. (Of course, each princess might be a very specific one from a book, but they looked pretty generic.)
2. Generic pirate, some of which were definitely Captain Hook
3. Harry Potter (especially popular in Reception, despite the fact that books is aimed at rather older children.)
4. Horrid Henry
5. Disney's Snow White
6. Spiderman
7. Generic skeleton (maybe one of the Funnybones?)
8. Robin Hood
9. Generic knight
10. Little Red Riding Hood

I've been reading a story in which nursery rhyme characters write to an agony aunt to solve their problems, and I've been getting children to guess what the answer might be. This was what came up in today's group of mixed year 3 and 4s (aged 7 to 9)

"Dear Mother Goose. I have to walk across London Bridge every day to get home, but it keeps falling down. What shall I do? from, My Fair Lady."

Children's responses:
"She should jump"
"It's too far! I went to London in half term and the river's really big!"
"She should get a trampoline, then"
"Or a cannon. She could shoot herself out a cannon and get over the river like that"
"She could swim."
"That would ruin her best dress."
"She should write to the Council and get them to repair the bridge properly this time."

After much discussion, the final one was settled on as the best solution. (The book's solution: Take the train that goes under the river.)


"Dear Mother Goose. I can't find a bone for my dog. What shall I do? from Mother Hubbard."

"She should give him some dog food instead."
"But the cupboard's empty! She hasn't got dog food, either."
"She should go to the shops"
"She might not have any money."
"Then she should steal it. Yes, she should go out and find someone and beat him up and kill him and take his money and then spend it on dog food."
"That's not nice! She should get a job and then she'd have money."
"What if she can't find a job?"
"She should explain things to the dog, so it knows that she still loves it even if it can't have a bone."

The job was accepted as the best solution in the end. (The book's solution: Look in the fridge.)


"Dear Mother Goose. There are some dangerous blackbirds in the garden where I hang up the clothes. Whenever the king has a pie, they attack me. Please help. The Maid."

"She should tell the King not to cook blackbirds in his pie."
"The king might chop her head off if she tries to tell him what to do."
"She should ask the queen to get a clothes drier"
"She should hang the clothes up in a bit of the garden that doesn't have birds in."
"She should build a scarecrow."
"She should hang the clothes up inside a greenhouse"
"She should get a big net and catch the birds in it, and then take them out into the wild where they'll be happy and won't be able to peck her nose off."
"She should wear a mask"
"No, a helmet! A helmet like a knight wears!"
"But she's a girl. Girls can't dress up as knights."
"Yes, they can!"
"No, they can't!"

(Whereupon I intervened to reveal the book's answer: that she wear a crash helmet.)

Comments

[squonk79.livejournal.com]

Bwahahahaaa!! Nice to see you're such a good influence.

That's given everyone in the office a much needed laugh. :D

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Glad to have been of service. :-) LJ's still escaped the internet cull, then?

[squonk79.livejournal.com]

Yeah, no pictures, no graphics, just a white page with black "Times New Roman" and running at a snails pace, but it's something!

[segh.livejournal.com]

When my boys' school had book weeks the overwhelming majority of the boys came as generic footballers, presumably because they had football strip already. I suppose this indicates that parents on a south London estate are less interested in producing costumes for their children.
I once made an Elmer costume for my middle son.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I did notice that the majority of the costumes were ones that had been bought ready-made in a shop (e.g Snow Wight. Oops. *laughs* I mean Snow White. I guess that shows which word I more often have to type.) Horrid Henry was popular, I suspect, because he was pretty much normal clothes, with perhaps some spiky, messy hair or some dirty smears on the face.

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

I sent one of mine in a sort of psuedo-fat controller once with a top hat made from black paper. I like making hats out of paper. I think his brother went as a cowboy.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

One of the classrooms had a nice little pile of home-made hats lined up on teacher's desk: a cat in the hat's hat, Postman Pat's hat etc. A bar of Willy Wonka's chocolate was also there. For some reason, I found it quite amusing.

[adaese.livejournal.com]

Remember a childhood friend of mine going to a book-character party as Puck of Pook's Hill, only to report afterwards (with much indignation) that "no-one there had heard of Puck"!

My sister reports that no. 3 niece has just gone to another such event as Snow White, so add that to your count.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

We never had to dress up as a book character at school, but if we had done, I would have gone as an Amazon pirate at that age. Since I seemed to be the only person in my school who liked those books, I expect nobody would have recognised who I was, either.

[kargicq.livejournal.com]

3. Harry Potter (especially popular in Reception, despite the fact that books is aimed at rather older children.)

Many have seen the films (despite the fact that they are aimed at older children.) Katy told me that in one playground games, the baddies shout 'spelliarmo!' as a magic word...

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Ah, how sweet. I hope this goes down in playground lore, so generations later, children are still saying "spelliarmo" in their games, long after anyone can remember where it came from.

[starsnsammiches.livejournal.com]

I just found your journal as a result of a long and inexplicable bimble round LJ... would you mind very much if I added you? I don't normally wander into people's journals uninvited and add them - but I just loved your entries. Especially this one! :)

(And I remember attending a "Famous Person" fancy dress party, back when I was about 5 or 6, to which all my peers had comes dressed as characters from Neighbours, or as pop stars, or something else culturally relevant to most kids back then. For some reason still unbeknownst to me I had chosen to arrive dressed as the Laughing Cavalier, from the 1624 Frans Hals painting. I think it was possibly my mother's idea. Needless to say, I was not one of the most popular children at school...) :D

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Of course I don't mind if you add me. :-) I'm smiling at your Laughing Cavalier moment, since I was very much the same as a child. I once dressed up as a cavalier for a fancy dress competition, and my tenth birthday party was themed around cavaliers and roundheads - complete with cavalier cake, cavalier games ("pin the ear on the cavalier") and English Civil War themed place settings. It was only many years later that I looked back on that and realised quite how weird everyone probably thought I was. It felt perfectly normal to me.

[starsnsammiches.livejournal.com]

A wholly Civil War-themed party? I only wish I'd thought of it! (In fact I may still poach the idea...)

I'm glad to hear it wasn't just me, anyway... looking back at some of the very elaborate parties I devised as a child, I can't help but wonder why I wasn't even more shunned than I was. All I remember is being mildly perplexed at why anyone would settle for a mere sleepover, when they too could've thrown a formal 1930's dinner party for their tenth birthday. I mean... I ask you?

And splendid! I just saw that you'd added me... have added you right back. :)