The most recent Bobbledy Book went out a few weeks ago. It’s called Archipelago, and it’s about words.
I love words, which is probably part of why I chose to be a writer. Robbi loves words, which is probably why she chose to be an illustrator. You may not know it, but an illustrator’s job is to come up with pictures that go with words. Basically every illustration is paired with words, whether in a book or on a magazine cover or in a newspaper ad. Think about it. Try to find an illustration without words.
Some of the words in Archipelago are short words you probably already know.
But some of them are long and complicated words you might not of heard of, such as Bilibili.
The point of Archipelago is to share some of our favorite words, tell you what they mean, and then show you how to say them. Basically any big word can be chopped into bite size pieces. All you have to so is put those pieces all together and you can say any word in the world, no matter how long.
Even archipelago.
Even apatosaurus.
We really love Archipelago, and were really excited to send it out. But we weren’t sure what to expect. Would kids like it? After all, it’s not about ninjas or princesses or dragons or any of the things that kids usually enjoy.
Could kids get excited about a book about words?
What would happen when the envelope arrived?
Would they open it carefully, a la Simon and Everett?
With a studied balance of cautious eagerness…
…and impatient ripping?
Or would they utterly demolish it?
To each his own, we say.
When they read the accompanying letter, would they feel compelled to wear a pink cape?
Or perhaps even a pink cape and woolen gloves?
While resting their feet on the cover of the book perhaps?
And what approach would they take to reading the book itself? Maybe shirtless with hot pink sunglasses with frog accents?
And most importantly, would they like it?
Wesley seems to.
And what about Suki?
Apparently, she does!
Various parents have chimed in to share their thoughts:
We received Archipelago today and LOVE IT!!! What a great idea, to put something “educational” in such a fun, story-like form. – Natasha S.
Listening to Woody and his friend read Archipelago to each other and having a blast with pronunciation. Such a great book Robbi and Matthew! – Nifer H.
My 7 year old son wouldn’t put Archipelago down tonight. He was giggling and page turning! You sure do know how to engage a young reader! Thanks Matthew & Robbi – Melissa T.
I think Archipelago is your best yet. The kids thought it was hilarious (especially mmmmbilimmmbili!) and I thought it was gorgeous. And clever. Bravo! – Claudia G.
And by the way, I adore Archipelago. “I ate some teriyaki and saw a Koala in the zoo” cracks me up. As a kid, I would have read this book several times a day for weeks.” – Drew B.
I wanted to let you know that we received Archipelago in the mail last night and you should have put some sort of warning on the book for parents!
Let me explain – every evening, in my attempts to wind the kids down and get everyone relaxed for bed time, we read. Last night, we decided to snuggle together and read Archipelago. With each page, the children’s level of happiness, laughter, and excitement grew. Who knew that pages filled with unpronounceable words could be so exciting! And you had to end the book with a page that included the work nincompoop! For an eight year old boy, I don’t think it gets any better than saying nincompoop over and over again. And Aracely actually knew what Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis was (it was randomly in one of her books she recently read) even though she couldn’t pronounce it.
Needless to say, neither child drifted off to sleep peacefully, but it was such fun to hear them laugh uproariously and have such fun reading a book. I have a feeling we will be rereading Archipelago in the days and evenings to come. -Paola G.
Thanks to all you kids and parents who shared your pictures and words with us. Although we make these books to please ourselves, it means so much when others like them, too.
I guess before this post ends, we should tell you that an archipelago is a string of islands. Hawaii is an archipelago and so is Indonesia. But the book Archipelago is kind of like a string of islands, too. It’s a string of pages, each of which contains its own idea and its own collection of words and pictures. This blog post is also kind of like an archipelago, made up of photos and paragraphs in a long column for you to scroll through at your own pace, in your own time.
And so we’ll leave you as Archipelago does.
We hope you have enjoyed exploring.