Aunt Meredith gave Autumn our first Robert Munsch Treasury on her 1st birthday. Since Autumn's Dad is from Canada and Robert Munsch is a Canadian author, he was very familiar with many of his stories. But, I had never read any of his books before. To be honest, I didn't like them at first. I thought they were too repetitive. "I mean, how many times can someone -run around in a circle three times-" I thought. But then I became more comfortable with the stories and realized that when I read them they allowed me to add in much more of my own personality and style than any of the other kids books I had read. On top of it, Autumn thought they were hilarious, and even though I didn't like the repetition at first, she CRAVED it and anticipated it. These stories became our favorite bedtime stories because the repetition was so soothing. 
When you read a Robert Munsch book you need to realize that these are are storytellers stories. They can take wild twists and be goofy. They have tons of sound effects written on the page that beg to be performed. These are books that require some EFFORT from the reader. If you are looking for books that you can sleep through then these are not for you. When a character knocks on a door in a robert munsch book, there is a succession of BLAM, BLAM, BLAM, BLAM, BLAMS. If there is a yell, it is a "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaa, or a YEEEEE-OWWWWWWW." Snoring is taken to the extreme....
"ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ."Words walk up and downs steps literally, and sounds are written out just begging the reader to perform them.
Aunt Meredith has given the girls three more Munsch Treasuries, and now we own almost all of his stories, and we each have our own favorites.
Autumn's favorite is: "Purple, Green, and Yellow." She says she likes it because it is so funny.
Alaina's favorite story is: "Mortimer." She loves to sing along with Mortimer at the top of her lungs "Clang, Clang Rattle Bing Bang, Gonna Make My Noise All Day!" It is a great bedtime story for a hyper kid.
My favorite story is: "Love You Forever." There should be a warning label on this book explaining that extreme and uncontrollable crying fits might occur if given to and read by new mothers. I don't know what it is about this story, but if you have recently delivered a baby, I guarantee you will cry. It is a definite tear jerker, and yet we all still love to read it, and often sing the little song it contains to one another.
Well, we are so thankful to Aunt Meredith for immersing us in the world of Robert Munsch. If you are ready to try your hand at some REAL storytelling then check out his website and books here:
http://robertmunsch.com/books
No comments:
Post a Comment
I would love to hear from you! Thanks for your comments!