Jitterbug Jam by Barbara Jean Hicks and Alexis Deacon

Publication Details

Barbara Jean Hicks & Alexis Deacon (2004) Jitterbug Jam Hutchinson (Random House) ISBN 0091884985

The Author

Barbara Jean Hicks has worked as a waitress, a shop assistant, a nanny and a teacher. She was born in a small town in Washington State, USA, and now lives in Seattle, where she is Author in Residence at a primary school. She is the award-winning author of several books for adults. Jitterbug Jam was inspired by the children with whom she works – curious, courageous and all-accepting.

(Reproduced with permission from Hutchinson)

The Illustrator

Alexis Deacon studied Illustration at Brighton University and graduated with a first-class honours degree in 2001. His first picture book, Slow Loris, was acclaimed 'a thrilling debut' by the Guardian. His second book, Begu, was published in May 2003, and was praised by the Sunday Times as 'comic and touching exquisitely expressive'. Alexis is now a full-time writer and illustrator living and working in South London, where he also enjoys Kung Fu and acting.

(Reproduced with permission from Hutchinson)

Curriculum Context

The sophisticated illustration of Jitterbug Jam can be appreciated by all ages but the story and themes are particularly appropriate for lower KS2 children (Y3 and Y4). It could be incorporated into a cross-curricular unit of work, connecting Literacy, Art and PSHCE. The following teaching suggestions are most suitable for Year 4 but can be adapted for other age groups.

Jitterbug Jam fits the range of literature outlined in the Literacy Framework for Year 4 as, it contains elements that can be used for exploring 'families and feelings,' (Term 1) it is set in an 'imagined world' (Term2) and is a 'story that raises issues,' (Term3).

The issues raised by this book will provide opportunities for children to access areas of the PSHCE curriculum in particular:

> To recognise their worth as individuals by identifying positive things about themselves and their achievements

> How to deal with their feelings towards themselves, their family and others in a positive way

> To realise the nature and consequence of teasing, bullying and aggressive behaviour

> To understand that their actions affect themselves and others.

Synopsis

Set in the night-time world of the 'Boo' monsters that eat jitterbug jam.

Bobo, the little monster, is scared of going to bed. He is convinced that there is something lurking underneath it just waiting to jump out and catch him. Bobo suffers teasing from his older brother, Buster, and confides his fear of the boy with orange fur and pink skin to his grampa.

Grampa, "the biggest, baddest monster grampa ever", tells Bobo a story of how he was once scared of a similar creature; but not quite as scary because it was a girl not a boy. He tells Bobo how to scare the boy away.

Bobo doesn't follow his grampa's advice and discovers how similar the boy is to himself. Bobo finds himself longing for the relationship the boy has with his older brother: Buster does not play with Bobo. Bobo tries, to no avail, to encourage Buster to share a game of hide and seek.

Does a new friendship blossom under the bed with the boy with orange fur whilst eating jitterbug jam?

Main Themes

> Overcoming Fear

> Family Relationships

> Friendship

> Accepting Others

> Discovery of a new / different world

Teaching Suggestions

Aims

> To encourage children to reflect on the issues raised in Jitterbug Jam and any possible parallels in their own lives.

> To use picture books as a stimulus to both Literacy and cross-curricular work.

> To promote illustrations and the children's drawing / art work as a means of stimulating vocabulary, discussion and story structure.

Discussion

The themes in the book provide ample opportunities for discussion in literacy or PSCHE. For example:

> Fear: Discussion of fears and what people can do to overcome them.

  • Key questions include:

  • What is fear?

  • Is it wrong to be fearful?

  • What are you most afraid of?

  • Do you have good reason to be afraid

  • Is it possible to stop being afraid?

  • What would you do to overcome your fear

Supporting discussion: some strategies that aid discussion include:

> Telling a relevant story from your personal experience to stimulate children's memories and stories

> Storytelling in pairs ' a time when I was afraid'

> Notemaking in response to key questions before discussing

> Paired talk

Writing Activities

> 'Yesterday was the scariest yet' (Page3). The day is described in a series of 6 pictures with short extracts of text to add the details. Notice the use of short sentences for tension and use of alliteration and onomatopoeia 'scritch-scratch-skittering'. Tell the children a story from your personal experience, 'my scariest moment'. In pairs, ask children to share their own scariest moment stories. After telling the story the children could make a visual storyboard, telling the story in 6 pictures and using carefully selected text including dialogue for impact and effect.

> On pages 6-11, grampa Boo-Dad recounts a story within the story. This mini saga is described primarily through the power of illustration, which detail different moments of grampa Boo-Dad's experience. Show the children the illustrations (pages 8 & 9, 10 & 11) masking the text. Ask the children to use the illustrations in order to re-tell the tale to their partner. . Guide the children to notice how the illustrations essentially describe the setting while the text carries the action of the story. Using the same frame arrangement (4 vertical boxes & 3 horizontal) they could write a story based in an imagined world.

> Bobo has a toy monster Godzilla who is introduced to the reader on the first page. He appears in many illustrations and is referred to in the main body of the text. He becomes justification for Bobo's fear; 'even Godzilla ... . the bravest monster ever, would be scared of a boy with pink skin and orange hair on his head where his horns by right should be…' .At the end of the story, when Bobo is feeling much braver, Godzilla, whilst still present, is a more detached and less significant part of the illustration. Compare and discuss the opening and closing illustrations. Encourage the children to consider why Bobo is no longer holding Godzilla in the final scene. Children could write a story about a character that is in possession of an object or toy that is crucial to the plot. The object should be present throughout the story and be justification of the character's feelings or ability to overcome fear.

> On page 25 Bobo makes a journey from getting out of bed to breakfast. He wakes 'to a sliver of a moon' and 'boogies out of bed'. Children could create their own journey maps, starting with a description and adding short sentences. Encourage them to use precise verbs to describe movement. This might be further developed by experimenting with illustrations in Alexis Deacon 's style.

> Annotate a picture of Bobo with all information that is known about him; this could be done by drawing around a child and having a life-size Bobo on display. In pairs or small groups, children could then create their own monster. Using the detail they have identified for Bobo as a springboard, they have to generate new information for their monster. What does he look like? Is he scared of anything? Who are his friends? What does he eat? Etc Children could then write stories in which their 'monster appears.

> Discuss what a dilemma is. Have the children ever experienced one? Should Bobo go under the bed to befriend the 'boy with orange fur'? Children could write a story when their previously created monster has to face a dilemma.

> Children can have fun creating an illustrated alliterative food alphabet in the style of Jitterbug Jam e.g. Ant Antipasti, Spider Spread, Grasshopper Goulash! Etc. Recipe books and Lois Ehlert's Eating the Alphabet might be used as supporting resources.

Language Study:

Jitterbug Jam provides opportunities for a range of language study activities. The following is a menu of possibilities for you to choose from. It is intended that the activities are carried out in the context of developing an appreciation and understanding of the book or through children's writing.

> Simile 'crumble like a week old cookie', 'still as a stump in snow'. Talk about the appropriateness and effect of these similes.

> Onomatopoeia Bobo is afraid of the noises that he hears under his bed. The skritch-scratch-skittering and Bobo and the boy hide from the ' clump clomp-clump' footsteps when they are playing hide and seek..

What is special about these words? Introduce the term onomatopoeia

Use percussion instruments to reproduce these sounds and use them to accompany a reading of the story. Children might also identify other percussion effects that they can use to aid the story reading.

Make a collection of onomatopoeic words. Illustrate and display them and encourage children to use them in their storywriting.

> Prepositions in Boo-dad's story he snuck out of bed ... and across the floor … and over the windowsill ... and down the banyan tree ...And under the big old iron gate.'

This sentence could be used as model for developing children's story writing. Model writing a similar sentence and then demonstrate how this could be used in a new story using suggestions from the children.

> Dialogue:

In several places the speech and thought of characters are presented in bubbles. Experiment with different voices to read these bubbles. E.g. How would Bobo-dad say the words, 'Hey Boy! I'm Bobo! You new round here?'? e.g. timidly, loudly, happily? What clues tell us how these words should be spoken? E.g. exclamation marks, the shape of the speech bubble etc.

> In pairs, children could read the conversation between Bobo and the boy, experimenting with different voices and choosing the most appropriate.

> Find the double page spread of Bobo's meeting with the boy pages 18, 19). What are they thinking? Ask the children to write down the characters thoughts on post-it notes. Display them around the picture and invite the children to read each others ideas. This activity is best undertaken before reading on from page 20.

> Movement Verbs –

Make a collection of the movement words used in Jitterbug Jam. e.g. sneaks, scoots, grabs, stomp etc

Discuss the effectiveness of word choices. What other words could have been used? What is the effect of choosing alternative words?

Explore movement verbs in dance. This works especially well where pairs of contrasting words are selected. For example, ask children to think of a word that contrasts with stomp (e.g. skip). Explore the qualities of these movement words building up sequences of movement.

> Apostrophe – where'd, hide 'n' seek, tremblin', thinkin', don't. Consider why it is appropriate in this story to use abbreviated words (e.g. speech patterns). Revise apostrophes of contraction.

Art Opportunities

> Draw the children's attention to the 'bug' patterns used in the illustrations e.g. background wallpaper and Mama's dress. Display a collection of patterns used in interior decoration and clothing (swatches of wallpaper and fabric) Use press print techniques to produce 'jitterbug' tile. Print a repeating pattern using the tile. Different arrangements can be experimented with (regular vertical and horizontal lines, diagonal patterns, chequerboard patterns). Create a collage of Bobo and fix to the patterned background..

> Warhol Pop Art Movement – links with illustration bottom of page 3. Bobo hides behind a box of Slime-O. Make a poster display of Warhol's pop art including 100 Cans of Soup .Investigate Warhol's use of repetition and colour and the ideas underpinning his work Warhol used photo silkscreen to produce his repeating images. He once said 'I want to be a machine' Children could produce their own food label and reproduce in style of Campbell soup work. Ask them to produce one drawing and then photocopy six time. They colour each picture using three colours. Although they can use the colours in more than one picture, they cannot use the same combination more than once. Encourage the use of bright colours (omitting brown, black, white and grey from the palette).

> Bridget Riley Op Art Movement: There are many instances of geometric shapes and patterns in Deacon's illustrations e.g. Boo- Dad's shirt, Bobo's trousers, tiled floor patterns. Create a poster display of Bridget Riley's Op Art e.g. Movement in Squares, Blaze 4, Achiain. Investigate Riley's use of line, pattern and colour to create the appearance of movement and other optical illusions. Introduce technical vocabulary when talking about art work (e.g. diagonal, horizontal, vertical, curvilinear, thick, thin, optical illusion, Op Art). Children can experiment producing work in this style, which they can then use to clothe their created 'monster'.

> Movement sequences: Look at the movement sequence which starts 'I wake up to a sliver of moon and the smell of bug juice brewing ... and follow my nose to breakfast.' Eadweard Muybridge pioneered chronophotography –photographing a movement sequence – in the nineteenth century. Posters of his work are available from the Kingston Museum which holds the Muybridge bequest. Children can produce their own drawings illustrating a simple movement sequence. Encourage observation rather than guess work. Digital photographs might also be used in this activity.

> Decorative borders: look at the borders used around the double page spreads (pages 6 & 7 and pages11 & 12). These pages are part of Boo-Dad's storytelling and imitate the style of a classic storybook. One frame depicts a range of creatures and bugs twined around a pole. The other is a floral border. Children can produce decorative borders to adorn a special piece of writing for display. The border should reflect the content of the writing e.g. bugs and flowers for natural history, local images for environment study etc.

> There are two views from windows; page 3 'still dark out' and 14 'By and by the sun climbs over the mountains'. Make a collection of views from windows e.g. Mark Rothko Windows. You might also make connections with Jeannie Baker's Window (hyperlink to notes on this text – environment unit).Children could paint the view from a window in their imaginary world. An extension of this work would be to create views looking into windows e.g. Edward Hopper's Nighthawks.