Tuesday Tales: Room On a Broom

Children's books are a staple in my practice as a speech-language therapist. There are so many valuable skills a child can learn from books. In this new "Tuesday Tales" feature I will post a synopsis and provide some key language skills that might be the focus of conversation when reading this book aloud to your child.

Today's "Tuesday Tales" is Room On A Broom written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler.
It is almost October and what better time to begin reading books with a theme for the upcoming events. This is a perfect non-halloween book about a nice witch and her friends.

This is what Barnes & Noble says about this book:
"The witch and her cat are happily flying through the sky on her broomstick when the wind picks up and blows away the witch's hat, then her bow, and then her wand! Luckily, three helpful animals find the missing items, and all they want in return is a ride on the broom. But is there room on the broom for so many friends? And, when disaster strikes will they be able to save the witch from the hungry dragon?

1. Make Predictions.

Before reading this book look at the front cover together and try to guess what the story might be about. Children can develop predictive skills at an early age and they are so important for literacy and reading development. After they make some guesses, acknowledge their guesses as they read the story and find out what really happened.

• What do you think the story is about?
• Where do you think the witch and cat are going?
• How many friends could sit on that broom?
• What season do you think it is? Why?
• If you were going to ride on a broom where would you want to go?

2. Practice Inferencing.

Another strategy for book reading is for the reader to view the next page without the child seeing the page, then provide information about the page for the child to guess what is happening.

• Oh! My! You won't believe it but the witch dropped something! Can you guess what she dropped? If the child does not guess, then provide inferencing clues about the object until the child guesses correctly.


• Another example from this story is to provide inferences about the animal that helped the witch. Ex: This animal walks on four legs, wears a collar, barks and eats bones. Increase or decrease the attributes based on your child's level of language.

3. Describe Character's Emotions.

Children learn through stories to empathize with another's point of view. Have a discussion about how the witch felt when the animals helped her, or how the animals felt when they helped the witch. Then relate the theme to child's own experience. Ex: I remember when you helped you sister put on her shoes. How did you feel when she said thank you? Were you "proud" of yourself? Did you have "courage"? With older children, talk about what they think about the friends "sticking up" for the witch. What does this look like in the family or at school and how do they feel about it?

4. Learn some new vocabulary.

There are so many words to talk about that are not in the text of the book but are basic to the themes of the story. Talk about these higher level words to "raise the bar" of vocabulary development, then use the words in the home environment throughout the day or week. In this story you can point out the rhyming words or have the child repeat key phrases.."is there room on the broom for a dog like me?"

braid, bow, cauldron, gust, blew, wand, beast, dragon, room (available space), crowded, disguise, camouflage, conceal, deceive, hoax, trick, swamp, disaster, frightened, scared, terrified, protect, threaten, loyal, growl, yowl, croak, shriek, wail, imaginary, make-believe, search

Abundance is...finding something that was lost and having a friend to act on your behalf.