This is an exciting week. In a few days, we’re going to be sending you the first-ever Bobbledy Books album. Because we are excited and thinking about all these great songs that you will soon be able hear and shake your booty to, we have been thinking about singing. And so, last Friday, we asked kids to draw…
. . . someone or some thing that’s singing. Maybe it’s you and maybe it’s an elephant or maybe it’s a group of purple anteaters. Whatever you like.
With the prompt in mind, we all sat down together to do some drawing.
Alden started out quite focused.
But she and Kato were both soon distracted by my masterful technique.
Even August joined the fun.
Until he, too, was distracted. Distracted by the delicious taste of yellow crayons, that is.
At any rate, once everyone settled in, we actually got some drawings out of it. Here’s Alden’s:
Gazing at her masterwork, she informed us:
“It’s a woman and a man singing on their wedding day. She’s singing and he’s not really singing. And they’re singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”
Alden was very careful as she drew. If you count the number of notes, it matches up with the number of syllables in the song.
And here is a drawing from Kato, who likes to use scissors as much as he likes to draw. We scanned his construction against a piece of gray paper so that it would not be invisible.
According to Kato, “This is Mama singing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” Here he is, demonstrating how it works.
Kato allowed that he wasn’t sure how to draw stars, which caused some fretting, but we think he faked it pretty well. Initially, he was only interested in drawing two stars (to align with “Twinkle, Twinkle” but Alden lobbied for a third star (to match up with “Little Star.” After some resistance, Kato relented. Throughout the history of art, big sisters have considerable influence. Apparently, Jackson Pollock wanted to paint hyperrealistic portraiture. Apparently, Michelangelo wanted David to be wearing a Speedo. But their sisters had other ideas.
Robbi just walked by and admitted that she helped Kato cut out the bubble. I think she is proud of her work and wanted to get full credit.
Here is a drawing from Tyler, who says, “This is a picture of a snake singing, “la la la la.” The snake loves singing. That’s why he’s singing to himself. His name is Tyler because that’s my name”.
Generally speaking, I try to avoid snakes at all costs. There’s something about armless, legless, slithering things that gives me the heebie jeebies. But I must admit that Tyler’s snake is very charming. And probably because he is singing. It’s hard to be creepy when you’re singing. Vampires should try it sometimes, and werewolves, and zombies, and wild boars. I’d be much less frightened in the woods at night if all the scary things would sing as cheerfully as Tyler’s snake.
And here’s a drawing from Spencer.
Spencer says, “Maxi is singing a song called, “Gangnam Style” in the wild dog grasslands. There are little baby plants growing. It’s really beautiful there.”
I really like Spencer’s drawing, but I must admit, it’s the accompanying writing that I really love. Look how much he is able to say with four short sentences.
Character: Maxi, of course. He is a dog. A singing dog, apparently.
Setting: The Wild Dog Grasslands. How wonderful. I am particularly intrigued by the fact that Maxi himself (or is it “herself”?) appears to be quite sedate. Is Maxi wilder than we think? Or is he/she out of place (or in for a period of dramatic personal awakening) in the grasslands?
Dramatic tension: (see above)
Exposition: We learn in the story’s second sentence of the “little baby plants” that are growing. Perhaps this is an establishing detail. Perhaps later on these plants will grow into bloodthirsty, dog-eating adult plants. Or perhaps the author is just setting the stage.
Narrative sensibility: The narrator tells us that it is “really beautiful there.” While this observation provides no new information (we can see from the illustration how lovely the Grasslands are), we learn as we begin this (surely epic) tale that we are in the careful hands of an aesthete.
Delicious detail that may or may not be relevant to the story’s central themes: Maxi’s choice of song is the one and only Gangnam Style. Given the song’s popularity, we cannot know whether the story is set in Seoul or suburban New Jersey. But one thing we do know is that Maxi is awesome.
Which is to say, thanks Spencer, for a riveting tale. More please.
And here is my drawing.
I’m not sure who I was trying to draw or why he’s wearing a full-body (including fingers and feet) light blue jumpsuit or why he’s riding on a skateboard or whether or not he’s racing down a mountain, but the feeling of the picture does capture the feeling I get when I really sing without thinking about what I sound like. Which is to say, fierce.
So fierce, even Kato feels it.
And here, as a reminder, is Robbi’s drawing from last week’s prompt post. I love it so much. That little bird has a song to sing, and by gosh, he’s singing it with all of his might. He clearly doesn’t care whether or not it sounds good or whether other people want to hear it. He’s singing it because he wants to.
I contend that he should be riding a bright pink skateboard with a bright yellow lightning bolt, but apparently, that’s not how Robbi wanted to draw him.
If you love this little bird as much as I do and would like to give him a good home, we’ve just posted the painting for auction on Ebay. The auction ends next Monday (June 3) at 12:30EST. GET YOUR BID IN HERE!
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