Go Hang a Salami, I'm a Lasagna Hog

In Aprils Past,
Poetry posts predominated.
(me opt poem)
and certainly we've read some
wonderful poetry.
But sillier stuff appeals
more to my son.
Jon Agee's books of palindromes 
couple ridiculous phrases with
matching silly drawings and
will delight those with a sense
of the ridiculous and anyone
who sees things backwards and
forwards. 
Here a few for you
to see if your gal or guy
would like to give Agee
a try.
Llama Mall
Lion Oil
Emil's Niece, in slime.
You may want to try writing your own -
you'll find out why they can be so weird 
and why Agee's funny drawings help.
The drawings define the palindromes,
and provide a context for the reader.
But I think my son would like them
even without the pictures.

Think Pun Thoughts

Here's a book recommendation direct from my son:
Jon Agee's Mr. Putney’s Quacking Dog 
“I like it because of the very funny jokes.”
Agee really appeals to my boy because
of the word play. Like many of Agee's books,
Putney dispenses with conventional
narrative to better indulge in 
outrageous word related silliness.
Putney lives with a wacky menagerie
of animals who often make
themselves useful in punny ways.
Each morning, Putney's alarmodillo wakes
him for another day playing with his
anteloop and taking care of his poor
ill hippospotamus.
My ten year old loves this book and 
would have loved it any time these past
five years. I worried a little lest he fasten
on the jokes too strongly (as boys with or
without autism sometimes do) but he 
contents himself with occasionally
saying "Alarmodillo. Do you get it?"
or the like remark. 
This imaginary world works well for
kids who enjoy word based silliness
with a solid structure visible beneath
the nonsense.
-Spectrum Mom

We Talk Silly Most Days

Here's Andrew Lost again, in the deep this 
time. My son continues to follow Andrew, 
but his enthusiasm is reserved for Thudd.
You know he's paying attention to what 
he's reading when he uses expression and 
neither sings nor shouts.
Last time I wondered how we could get
his attention, knowing full well that if
someone else asked me this I would
blithely say, "find books on topics that
interest him."
That's hard with my son. It's not that he
doesn't have interests, but most of them
don't translate well to book form. He likes
math, but not books about math; music,
but not books about music, etc.
But he loves word play. And he loves 
talking silly-in fact, trying to keep him
from changing the words in a book to 
silly ones can be a big problem.

So word play books like Jon Agee's are 
great.
But what about helping him read a story?
A book must have characters who have 
their own language or funny way 
of talking-like Thudd in Andrew Lost,
or Mouse in My Father's Dragon.
Comment or e-me with your own
picks for funniest sounding fictional
character-please? I'll share.
-Spectrum Mom

We go, Dr Sam (word games)

My boy can make up palindromes, but while he can unscramble word
scrambles, I haven't heard him make up many anagrams. I haven't made 
up many either. 
In fact, I think the one at the top is my first.
In the car this morning I asked him for an anagram and he promptly replied 
"toot otto" words he has also played around with when we try to come up 
with palindromes.
I think these books interest and engage my son because the rules are so 
clear. Once he got the concept, any time he saw an anagram, he knew the
point. I remember when we first told puns and knock knock jokes he always
had to check in - "so "orange" instead of "aren't you"?" 
and he still does that sometimes. With an anagram or palindrome, he knows
what is happening every time and can think it over.
My boy is a symbol decoder and concept-challenged. 
I would be curious as to whether kids who have challenges
with symbol decoding would enjoy having the letters change around.

Jon Agee again does a nice job with composing, grouping and illustrating 
this word fun. All of his kids' books are worth a look because they combine 
strong visuals with straightforward narratives and humor.
-Spectrum Mom

Word Play

From my boy's earliest recorded
utterances, he's played around 
with words.
All kids do, but I think verbal
kids with autism may do more
than most. At three when my son
interjected comments, he did so
almost exclusively in opposites.
("We're out of bananas." "We're
in bananas.")
Since at age 10 he still struggles
to understand what he hears, I 
think playing around with words
helps him a lot. He has control and
knows what is happening. Sometimes
the word games may help him with
comprehension. Sometimes the 
opposite happens. But he gets a
chance to study how words work
in a different and engaging way.
We started thinking about 
palindromes about a year ago,
inventing a little story about
Dad and a civic. Agee's book
takes the activity to a new level
with fun and inventive cartoons
with groups of palindromically (?)
named like objects and stories.
-s mom
puff up
moms
(or from my boy, "hat tah")
*www.samandboo.blogspot.com
 this week spotlights
wonderful banned books for kids.