Telephone

by Mac Barnett, Jen Corace (Illustrator)

It's time to fly home for dinner! In this witty picture book from award-winning and bestselling author Mac Barnett, a mother bird gives the bird next to her a message for little Peter. But passing messages on a telephone line isn't as simple as it sounds. Each subsequent bird understands Mama's message according to its own very particular hobbies. Will Peter ever get home for dinner? This uproarious interpretation of a favorite children's game will get everyone giggling and is sure to lead to countless rereads.

Genres: Picture Books, Birds, Childrens, Humor, Animals, Storytime, Fiction

40 pages, Hardcover

First published August 5, 2014

About the author

Born to non-farmers in a California farming community, Mac Barnett now lives near San Francisco. He's on the board of directors of 826LA, a nonprofit writing center for students in Los Angeles, and he founded the Echo Park Time Travel Mart, a convenience store for time travelers.

Reviews

[Sara]

یک کلاغ چهل کلاغ به سبک مک بارنت!
وقتی دنبال آرامشی و به کتاب کودک پناه میبری.
فروردین ۱۴۰۴

[Moonkiszt]

Featured in grandma reads session.

Remember the old Telephone game? This is a version of that. . . .hilarious, and doesn't end out quite like you expect! Birds win!

A laugh out loud for all my group.

4 stars for that!

[KC]

This is a charming and humorous telling of the game "telephone".

[Richie Partington]

Richie's Picks: TELEPHONE by Mac Barnett and Jen Corace, ill., Chronicle, September 2014, 40p., ISBN: 978-1-4521-1023-9

“I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh lord please don’t let me be misunderstood”
-- a song from the sixties written for Nina Simone and made famous by The Animals

For those of you who, like me, once-upon-a-time sat on the curb with the neighborhood kids playing Telephone, you know how funny it is to hear the garbled message that emerges from the other end of that chain of whispers. I haven’t thought about that game in a long time.

Inspired by the comic effect of the twisted messages, Mac Barnett and Jen Corace have crafted a picture book about Telephone. Here, birds lined up on a telephone wire pass along a simple message, initially conveyed by a mama bird ("Tell Peter: Fly home for dinner."), that becomes wilder and crazier as it is communicated from bird to bird to bird. Each of the birds is anthropomorphized with props and some costuming, enhancing the book’s visual delivery. (I especially like the bird wearing the old-timey, Snoopy-style cap.)

Of course, there are some great lessons for kids to learn in playing Telephone, such as the need to take rumors with a grain of salt. This book, TELEPHONE, is a very fun introduction to that game and can readily lead to some useful discussions with young audiences about communicating effectively.

Richie Partington, MLIS
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[La Coccinelle]

This book is a funny depiction of the classic game of Telephone, with a bunch of wacky birds doing their best to pass on their message. The birds are anthropomorphized and have hobbies, so each time the message is passed along, it changes in a way particular to the messenger. It's a cute idea, made even better by the adorable illustrations. How can you not smile at a little blue jay rocking out on his electric guitar?

How will Peter ever get the correct message after it's passed through the minds and mouths of so many silly birds? The answer is quite simple (but clever); I'll let you discover it for yourself.

[Erika B. (SOS BOOKS)]

Seriously one of the funniest kids books that I have read in a long time! I read it with my sister (I'm 26 and she's 35) and we were laughing so hard that I went out and bought her a copy too! I will even admit that we read it like three times in one setting. When you find a good laugh you gotta live off the giggle high as long as you can! Who said picture books were only for kids? May I never grow up! Amen!

Erika's Amazon Link

[Barbara]

Watercolor, ink, gouache, and pencil illustrations filled with primary colors follow a simple text telling a familiar story about how messages are distorted. Whether because they are misheard or deliberately misinterpreted, the original message often bears little resemblance to the one the hearer finally hears in a game of "Telephone." In this case, the message to fly home for supper is passed from one bird to the next until an owl somehow manages to correctly interpret a nonverbal message and put things back on track. This would be a terrific picture book for sharing with students right before playing "Telephone" or before having a class meeting about gossip and character assassination. We can't count on having an owl around to decipher the message and make sure the right one has been delivered.

[Katt Hansen]

The best part of this story - the turkey on the wire. Funny bit of a game of telephone. I would have liked it better if there had been a more gradual progression of garbling, but given what everyone is shown to think about, the whole thing still makes sense and is fun to read.

3.5 stars.

[Becky B]

Birds on a wire pass on a message for Peter. It starts out to just tell him to come home for dinner, but others add all sorts of things to the message along the way until the next to the last bird delivers an epic garbled message. Thankfully, a wise old owl is there to save the day.

I was expecting more of a traditional telephone game style message where each bird just messes up the original message a little bit. I wasn't expecting each bird to have their own individual note for Peter. And I certainly didn't expect the epicly garbled message towards the end (though, it was a genius little bit of writing and quite humorous). I liked the illustrations and the wide variety of birds represented. I can see kids who like birds having fun identifying the different types on the wire. I think most people are going to be a little put off when this book doesn't flow the way they expect it to.

[Paul]

Telephonegets high marks for great illustrations and clever garblings of the original message, especially the final one before the owl intervenes. It feels like kids might crack up over the confused translations, but the wrap-up requires a more grown-up sensibility to savor it.

[Mahdiye Fateh]

عالی! به معنی واقعی کلمه، گوگولی! دلم برای این کتاب ضعف رفت.

[Dani ❤️ Perspective of a Writer]

Check out more picture book reviews @ Perspective of a Writer...

Peter's mom has dinner prepared and asks Peter's baseball buddy to tell him to fly home for dinner. As he passes the message on to another bird down the wire the message gets garbled due to his own interests. Will Peter ever get his message to come home?

I love picture books with messages and I'm not sure this qualifies, though an adult could easily link it to telling rumors, but the end does kind of kill the message that telling tells is bad... Still I really enjoyed the way the story progressed with the garbled messages and it made total sense to me the crazy bird communicated the true message to the wise owl.

Word wise it has a perfect number with one short sentence on each spread with one page filled with text. My nephew book only struggled with two words but it was still great practice with the right balance. He loved the rock star bird page where he struggled over admired the best and drew that spread very well! My favorite bird was the turkey, lol. It was drawn so marvelously that her words being on the next page still worked well!

Really though the art makes this book totally worth purchasing! Each spread is gorgeous, and kids will pour over it just for the art alone!

BOTTOM LINE: A fun introduction on different birds for a beginner reader.

______________________
You can find this review and many others on my book blog @ Perspective of a Writer. See my picture book reviews in a special feature called Boo's Picture Gallery...

[Amy Seto]

Peter’s mom wants him to come home for dinner. So she passes the message down the bird covered telephone wire. Unfortunately, the birds get the message a little confused. Will Peter understand it when it finally gets to him? The playfully humorous all dialogue text is perfect for an elementary aged audience. Corace’s watercolor, ink, gouache, and pencil illustrations feature soft colors, precise edges, and visual humor galore. Follow up with your own game of telephone.

Full Review at Picture-Book-a-Day: http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/2...

[Brooke Williams]

As a reader, I thought this was a fun and cute picture book. I enjoyed how the owl at the end is the one who finally realizes that what is being said is not making much sense and corrects it. I found that clever since owls are always considered wise.
As a future teacher, I think this would be a great book to share in the classroom. It will teach the students to be careful about what they say and to make sure that it is the truth. It demonstrates how easily words can become distorted or miscomprehended.

[Ann Haefele]

Mac Barnett is fast becoming a new favorite author of mine. This book is a fun portrayal of how our words get misinterpreted, and it will remind the reader of the "telephone" game with mixed up results. Each bird and its outfit gives a hint of his or her misinterpretation of the message. This would be a good book to read when talking to children about gossip.

[Donalyn]

Numerous birds on a telephone wire pass along a message to Peter from his mother, each bird changing the message. Fun twist at the end. Lots of details to examine and use to infer the personality of each bird.

[Karen A.]

Just exactly how it happens - could have been a power point on how everyone gets the wrong information - I see lots of lesson plans with the game telephone coupled with this book. Possibly even a TED talk.

Should be good for just plain ol' storytime too!!

[Heydi Smith]

Hilarious!!!! A must read - over and over again! Then play telephone and watch what happens. :)

This book would pair perfectly with Ophelia by Ingred Schubert. One of my all time favorite books.

[Melissa Rochelle]

I loved the illustrations. And the wise owl who saw through all the crazy is awesome. Lots of silly, fun here!

[Ryan M. Hanna]

Too cute!

[Morgan]

Lololol.

[Amy Allgeier]

Cute and funny. Would be great for elementary teachers to discuss gossiping in the classroom and how things are changed with every repeat.

[Melissa]

Mac Barnett is awesome. A game of telephone with bids (perched on a telephone wire-- which my kids found fascinating...the notion of wired phones)-- smart, interesting, fun. A+

[Edward Sullivan]

An absurd, witty take on the Telephone game that will give kids lots to giggle about.

[Jenny]

Such a cute book with a fun ending!

[Heather]

Cute illustrations but I knew from the beginning even my 5 1/2 yr old wouldn't get the humor of it and she's even played the game.

[Mother Goose Librarian]

Fun read aloud! Must play a game of telephone after reading this fun book. Would also make a fun readers theater script!

[Brittany]

I would give this book zero stars, if possible. Unappealing illustrations. Terrible story!

[Stefanie Burns]

Didn't find the humor in this story and I usually love Barnett's stuff.

[The Reading Countess]

Excellent.
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Tangible way to teach kids to go to the source, to not believe everything they hear, to realize that friends’ perceptions and what they in turn tell us are formed largely by their own experiences—and often have nothing to do with us at all.
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Read this aloud at the beginning of the year to set the tone for a mutually respectful classroom.
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