Not liking "Yellow Ball"?!

[Gwyneth in VA]

We are rowing "Yellow Ball" this week, but Cath has no patience for it. This is the 1st BFIAR book that she hasn't loved. Every time I try to read it to her she either walks away or closes the book for me and gets me another book to read! Has anyone else's child not liked this book or is it just mine?

[Jocelyne]

my son wasn't a fan either. he told me it was because it didn't have a story. so i ditched the words and made up my own. he loved that idea and we started making up our own stories to go with it. the same with blue boat. i think by the time we started b4 he was over the simple books and wanted more story.

[Alana]

My son loves this book. But he is only 2. I have been reading it to him for a few months. He turned two at the very end of August, so he is actually two and a half. He loves for me to say in a teasing voice,"Too late now." We also do lots of hand motions on the Above, Below page. We shake our hand above the top of the book/page and then below, changing the tone of voice to higher on above and lower on below. He also enjoys finding the ball on each page. He asks for this book constantly. I think it helps too that he loves balls. They are not all going to be hits. It's alright.

[KimK]

I didn't have that with B4 but we only did a couple then moved on to FIAR. My ds5 dislikes Make Way for Ducklings. I am not sure what it is about that book, but he wouldn't listen to it for anything. I have noticed a couple of books that were so so. There have also been some I thought he would not like, but he did. I always have a back-up book just in case, but I haven't had to use it in a long time.

HTH

[Gwyneth in VA]

my son wasn't a fan either. he told me it was because it didn't have a story. so i ditched the words and made up my own. he loved that idea and we started making up our own stories to go with it. the same with blue boat. i think by the time we started b4 he was over the simple books and wanted more story.

I think this is what annoys Cath about it too. She seems to get annoyed at the lack of story, and then she'll go search in the bookcase for a previous BFIAR favorite.

[Stacey in FL]

my son wasn't a fan either. he told me it was because it didn't have a story. so i ditched the words and made up my own. he loved that idea and we started making up our own stories to go with it. the same with blue boat. i think by the time we started b4 he was over the simple books and wanted more story.

Ah, but is does have a story.
See if your little one can figure it out. That ball goes on an adventure after the little boy loses it in the sea. Then it miraculously returns to him. I love the last illustration where he is so happy to have his ball back home. :clap: My kiddos always have a smile when they see that the ball came back to the boy.

[MarieD]

Ah, but is does have a story.
See if your little one can figure it out. That ball goes on an adventure after the little boy loses it in the sea. Then it miraculously returns to him. I love the last illustration where he is so happy to have his ball back home. :clap: My kiddos always have a smile when they see that the ball came back to the boy.

According to the author (http://www.fiarhq.com/~gbprnhrz/forum/showthread.php?t=24568&highlight=molly+bang), the ball floated across the ocean and is found by another child. Still makes for a great story of the journey in pictures.

On a different, but similar note. I read Paddle to the Sea to my oldest this year, about another toy traveling in the water. I look forward to reading this to my youngest when she is older and draw out the similarities…"remember when we read about a ball that traveled across the sea?" I love seeing connections!

[Julianna]

Both of my girls enjoyed this book. They tell a story about what is happening. My 6 yo can't resist trying to take over as my 3yo tells her version. We all have different tastes though.

[Jocelyne]

i do agree that it does have a story. but the words alone don't tell it and that is what he didn't like. he wants to hear a story. it took me making up my own story about the story that made him like it. i didn't necessarily change the underlying story to the book. i just added a lot more words to it ;)

[CJ]

Depending on the child's age, an activity might be to talk about "what if you could only use a certain number of words to tell a story". Then count how many words Yellow Ball has. Then take another very familiar BFIAR book that has typical word count and ask your child if they can tell that story using the same number of words. Or mom could try as an example.

It is also poetic and you could share that maybe the author wanted to write a book that was more like simple poetry than a regular wordy story. We may not also like a story we read, but can we consider why the author may have done what they did?

Just a thought...