3 May 2014 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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