BOOK N. 1

We start from “The Ducks Painters”: briefly, the story is about two troublemaker ducks which have to paint Mrs. Rabbit’s home.

Mrs. Rabbit is very tidy, and since the ducks don’t do a good job, she doesn’t give them a reward (a cake), but a punishment (a pumpkin).

I begin to tell the story, referring to the pictures, adding details and trying to imitate the characters’ voices.

A. is attracted by the story and by the pictures, and she carefully looks at them.

QUESTIONS RELATED TO THE CONTENT

I ask her some questions, and she answers me referring to the pictures:

-          F “What’s happening here? Mrs. Rabbit will be happy?

-          A. describes the scene “No, they are getting everything dirty!” she says, referring to the picture and pointing with her finger the color spots all over the home. “They have made the floor, the table, le sofa, dirty!”

-          F “You’re right! And what’s happening here?”

-          A “Here comes Mrs. Rabbit…”

-          F “Do you think she will be happy?”

-          A “No! Because the ducks have made a mess all over the house!”

I focus on a picture in particular, observing that the ducks have a proud expression, despite the bad job they have done:

-          F “Look, they’re smiling. Why?”

-          A (she’s thinking) “I don’t know”

-          F “Maybe, they think they have done a good job. But is Mrs. Rabbit happy, instead?”

-          A. turns the page “No! Look!” she says, pointing with her finger Mrs. Rabbit’s upset expression.

-          F “She looks desperate! What will she do now?”

-          A. turns the page again, pronouncing: “Pumpkin!”, referring to the punishment that Mrs. Rabbit gives to the ducks.

At the end of the reading, A. asks me to read the book again.

She also says that, this time, she would like to be the narrator (obviously, by means of the pictures).

I tell her that I’m agree.         

I observe with curiosity that she focuses on the same details I underlined before, also pointing the same pictures that I pointed. For example:

-          “Mrs. Rabbit has a very clean and tidy home. Look, here she’s cleaning the floor!”

-          “In this picture the ducks are laughing, because they think that Mrs. Rabbit will give them a cake!”

I ask her some question before starting the next reading:

F “Would you like to be one of the ducks?”

A “No…”

F “Why?”

A “Because they are nothing but trouble!”