Monday, June 11, 2018

HUUURRRAAAYY, cried the children

The title of this post is a phrase frequently encountered in Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants series.
I like it so much I use it whenever occasion arises. It happened this way....

Many years ago, when I realized the gallery wasn't gonna be able to support us, I began a campaign to entice Ms. Cook (Double El) into doing childrens book illustration. To foster enthusiasm, I resurrected a childhood pleasure: story time.

We'd load up on library books and trade off reading to each other. I'd read one; then she'd read one. We'd usually go through four or five a night. In addition to the pure pleasure of the activity, we enjoyed the variety of techniques of illustration, all the while making careful note of the layouts, numbers of pages, their sizes, etc.

At some point Michelle discovered Dav's books. She immediately recognized and related to his experience. And his perspective brought much light and hilarity to a period that had been, to say the least, difficult.


Images can't be downloaded, but here's a link to the original on Amazon...

https://smile.amazon.com/Adventures-Captain-Underpants-Dav-Pilkey/dp/0590846280/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1528754896&sr=8-5&keywords=captain+underpants+books




The link below is to a presentation he gave to teachers titled: My Favorite Teacher. Although it doesn't include his iconic phrase, it conveys something priceless about creativity,.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=31&v=qBgB9ZqJRlw


Interestingly, another of Cook's observations was about a Russian immigrant who said the only two English phrases essential to know are: "Thank you!  and  "I'm Sorry."  Dav must've known that guy too.

3 comments:

  1. Only in recent years have I appreciated the intimacy of reading aloud to someone.

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  2. Ah, well, Roxanne, you know what they say, "Better eventually than never."

    Have you tried *Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor* by Mervyn Peake? It's totally diff from Dav Pilky's but I highly recommend; perhaps through inter-library loan?

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  3. I haven't, and hadn't heard of it until now. I'll check it out.

    ReplyDelete