The story starts
with Jeremy. He has a bike and with an air of snobbery, shows it off to
Anthony. The illustration on the next page shows parts of the bike flying
everywhere, indicating that he crashes. This really sets the pattern of what is
to come for the entire book.
Jeremy
continues to show off things he has to Sam. He seems to feel to need to be
noticed to have these things.
The
illustrations help to tell the story, and on the 13th page (the
pages aren’t numbered), there were some odd and interesting ones that caught my
attention:
‘Beware of
the dog’ sign- a cat sits behind it. There are clothes on a line. On the line,
are a pair of feet coming out of the trousers; a pair of glasses hanging from
the line; a hat; a sock acting as a tie, hanging from a long-sleeved top. There
is a garden gnome; a bra with three breast cups, as well as three pairs of
jocks with X upside down Y and Z, two socks under and two socks above the
clothes line as if they were walking on top of it.
Children
could find for themselves these odd pictures and point them out and a
discussion could start from them.
‘I bet you
wish you had…..’ is the repeating phrase that Browne uses for Jeremy’s
character as he tries to taunt Sam with the things that he has. Sam is not
phased by the things that Jeremy has and Jeremy also falls into trouble after
he shows off his next possession. The book is based on this pattern.
There is an obvious moral to this story. The
‘villian’ seems to get what he deserves. Sam, the main character, is portrayed
as the mature one whose disposition is to remain undisturbed by Sam’s taunts
and therefore doesn’t become jealous of what he has. Sam also goes tries to
help Jeremy on a couple of occasions as he finds himself in a bind.
A teacher could
guide the discussion around this concept of possessions and what is truly valuable
in life.
Some Anthony Browne
lesson plans which may or may not be of use: www.lessonplanet.com/search?keywords=anthony+browne
ISBN: 978-1-4063—2625-3
Alex
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