Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
by Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault
illustrated by Lois Ehlert
*ALA Notable Children's Book 1989
*Boston Globe/Horn Book Honors Award 1989
*Kentucky State Award
*Parent's Choice Silver Honors 1989
Summary
Using rhyming, the authors tell an interesting story about the various letters of the alphabet all meeting at the top of a coconut tree. As each letter goes to the top of the tree, the question is raised "Chicka chicka boom boom! Will there be enough room?" The letters race to the top of the tree in order (A-B-C etc). As the letters go onto the tree, the illustrations show bright and colorful bolded letters surrounding the tree or on the trunk, helping children to imagine the story. As the last few letters (X-Y-Z) make it up the tree, all the letters come tumbling down in a jumbled mess on the page. The following pages show capital letters with lowercase letters, referring to them as "mamas and papas and uncles and aunts." The letters help each other out of the jumbled mess while the children read the alliteration and onomatopoeia: "M is looped. N is stooped. O is twisted alley-oop. Skit skat skoodle doot. Flip flop flee." as the sun goes down all letters are safely away from the tree, but then the letter A starts the cycle over again.
Discussion
This book is written by Bill Martin Jr, one of the most well known picture book authors. It uses rhyming and alliteration as well as bright and colorful pictures to appeal to young children, even those who cannot read. Children just learning their letters are able to participate with their parents when reading this book if they can recognize the colorful letters on the various pages. The concept of letters racing to the top of a tree amuses many children, and I have never seen this book read with anything less than an overall positive response. On a page where the letters are all tangled, the alliteration and language used coincides with the letters, as they are visibly malformed.
A potential springboard for this book is creating some sort of activity where children are able to be around the letters, perhaps drawing a tree and a few letters on it or, as seen above, using felt or velcro to create a tree trunk and allowing children to stick letters on it.
Archambault, J., & Jr, B. M. (1989). Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.
Summary
Using rhyming, the authors tell an interesting story about the various letters of the alphabet all meeting at the top of a coconut tree. As each letter goes to the top of the tree, the question is raised "Chicka chicka boom boom! Will there be enough room?" The letters race to the top of the tree in order (A-B-C etc). As the letters go onto the tree, the illustrations show bright and colorful bolded letters surrounding the tree or on the trunk, helping children to imagine the story. As the last few letters (X-Y-Z) make it up the tree, all the letters come tumbling down in a jumbled mess on the page. The following pages show capital letters with lowercase letters, referring to them as "mamas and papas and uncles and aunts." The letters help each other out of the jumbled mess while the children read the alliteration and onomatopoeia: "M is looped. N is stooped. O is twisted alley-oop. Skit skat skoodle doot. Flip flop flee." as the sun goes down all letters are safely away from the tree, but then the letter A starts the cycle over again.
Discussion
This book is written by Bill Martin Jr, one of the most well known picture book authors. It uses rhyming and alliteration as well as bright and colorful pictures to appeal to young children, even those who cannot read. Children just learning their letters are able to participate with their parents when reading this book if they can recognize the colorful letters on the various pages. The concept of letters racing to the top of a tree amuses many children, and I have never seen this book read with anything less than an overall positive response. On a page where the letters are all tangled, the alliteration and language used coincides with the letters, as they are visibly malformed.
A potential springboard for this book is creating some sort of activity where children are able to be around the letters, perhaps drawing a tree and a few letters on it or, as seen above, using felt or velcro to create a tree trunk and allowing children to stick letters on it.
Archambault, J., & Jr, B. M. (1989). Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.
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