Speaking of the importance of voice…
The Fecklet, who is not quite twenty-two months old, can’t read words of course–though tonight he held his toy cat up to the book we were reading and said “Meow, meow, meow”, which seems a pretty good impression of a cat reading to me. But he can recognise style, or the artistic equivalent of voice, in pictures.
For example, he calls any Dr Seuss book “Ham”, for Green Eggs and Ham. Hardcover, softcover, new, used, whatever–if it’s illustrated by Dr Seuss, he calls it “Ham”.
Similarly, we got a Lauren Child book out of the library, called That Pesky Rat. The cover has a rat on it. Nothing else, no children, just a rat in a garbage can in the city. But when Fecklet picked up the book for the first time, he said “Lola”–because Lauren Child does the Charlie and Lola books.
How did he know this? Either he can read the authors’ names (other than “Meow meow”), or he recognises style.
Crazy. Voice is so fundamental that you can recognise it when you’re not even two years old.
your kid has style and taste, we absolutely love Charlie and Lola. and recognition? when we used to drive past a Mac D sign, my youngest used to call it “E,i’s”. as in the farm and song.
I suspect that the Fecklet will prove to have a good memory and will most likely be a spontaneous reader.
It is also amusing what children will call things. I can remember my eldest insisting that the Nutcracker was ‘Bad Rat’.
Charlie and Lola is great, isn’t it Fran? I love everything about it, probably more than my son does. LOL at your youngest singing to fast food signs.
Michelle, he does have a good memory, especially for things I want him to forget like things I have hidden from him! Does your family still call the Nutcracker Bad Rat?
Will called it Bad Rat for ages. Now, I think he is terribly grown up and calls it the Nutcracker. He can be a bit of a stuffed shirt.
He was just over two when he realised about letters making up words. We were out at Holy Island with my mom when he pointed at one of the boats on the shore and said in a very excited voice — ABC, ABC.
It is a good age when they get to play around with language.
As he wants to read English at university…it has held him in good stead.
He’s a genius! I love it when they do something that surprises you. Little Frog went to stay with Grandma this weekend and came home saying “oh dear”. Now, I never say this — if it’s an “oh dear” situation I usually say “oh no!” very dramatically. The yesterday I picked him up from the childminder, where he was playing with a fire engine and saying “nee nah, nee nah”. Again — we’ve never really said this! I think that once they get to a certain age they only need the slightest association with something for the cogs in their mind to start whirring away on their own.
Jess x
(PS. Must try him on some Dr Seuss.)