Licketyspit’s Just-So-John Bookplay
Bookplay is a Porridge & Play session where we all listen to a Story and then instead of the Magic Ball we ALL JUMP into the world of a BOOK to have an adventure!
The Just-so-John Bookplay stories are by a writer called Rudyard Kipling who was born 160 years ago in India! Rudyard travelled all over the world, which was quite amazing because this was before there were aeroplanes so you could only travel by foot, by boat, by horse, by bicycle or by train!!
Rudyard’s stories for children were inspired by all the different places he saw – a bit like us with our Flying Balloons game! His Just-So stories are about animals in India and Africa! (His most famous children’s book is The Jungle Book – which you might have heard of! ) His Just So Stories are about how he imagined some of the animals in the world came to be the way they are – how the camel got his hump? , how the leopard got his spots?, how the whale got his throat? and other questions.
Virginia’s Dad John loved these Just So Stories when he was a child. When he grew up he read them to his children (including Virginia) and then he read them to his grandchildren! John lived until he was nearly 91! When he died some of his friends and family decided it would be fun to help Licketyspit to do some Just-so- John Bookplay Sessions to introduce the stories John loved to more children! We are calling these our Just-So-John Bookplays! We hope you enjoy them!
‘How the Whale Got His Throat’ by Rudyard Kipling – a Bookplay by our Castlemilk Hub families…
In the sea, once upon a time O my Best Beloved, there was a Whale, and he ate fishes
We gathered at Castlemilk Library and we found out today was World Book Day – which was perfect for a Bookplay! We were oh so ready to jump into this tale about a whale, a person, and a wee tiny but wise fish.
Before jumping into the book, we got warmed up and ready by playing some of our Storyplay games to get our imaginations going and then Virginia read us the story…
All the fishes he could find in all the sea he ate with his mouth—so! Till at last there was only one small fish left in all the sea, and he was a small ‘Stute Fish
We all dressed up as the characters in the story!
Some of us decided to be the tiny ‘Stute Fish’!
Noble and generous Cetacean, have you ever tasted Man?’ ‘If you swim to latitude Fifty North, longitude Forty West (that is magic), you will find, sitting on a raft, in the middle of the sea, with nothing on but a pair of blue canvas breeches, a pair of suspenders (you must not forget the suspenders, Best Beloved), and a jack- knife, one ship-wrecked Mariner, who, it is only fair to tell you, is a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity.’
(‘infinite’ means ‘never ending’ and ‘sagacity’ means ‘clever and canny!’).
Some of us became the Mariner person…with the suspenders (or ‘braces’ to hold up his trousers!)
And of course, some of us became the very hungry Whale!
A brilliant thing about Bookplay is that you can be one character at one moment and a different character the next – we all collaborated and worked together so we could play out the whole story
Noble and generous Cetacean, have you ever tasted Man?
A pair of ship-wrecked Mariners!
Even though the Whale had eaten all the fishes – except one! – he was still hungry so he ate the Mariners!
Inside the Whale’s belly the Mariners “stumped and they jumped and they thumped and they bumped…they pranced and they danced and they …hopped and they dropped and they ..danced hornpipes where they shouldn’t!” amongst other things until the Whale got the hiccups!
‘Tell him to come out,’ said the ‘Stute Fish.
‘Nay, nay!’ said the Mariner. ‘Not so, but far otherwise. Take me to my natal-shore IN SCOTLAND!
The Mariner, who was indeed a person of infinite-resource-and-sagacity, had taken his jack-knife and cut up the raft into a little square grating all running criss- cross, and he had tied it firm with his suspenders, dragged that grating good and tight into the Whale’s throat, and there it stuck
By means of a grating, I have stopped your ating.
WHAT AN ADVENTURE! Do you think you could Bookplay other good stories?
All we had was each other and our bag of dressing up clothes! (Which as you know is just a collection of old clothes no-one wanted anymore!)
If you do a Bookplay at home send us a message or a photo!
Listen to John telling How The Whale Got His Throat by Rudyard Kipling by clicking here!
Check out the wonderful ART GALLERY inspired by our Just-So- John Bookplay at Castlemilk Library!
‘ A rainbow sun and me. I’m being the whale. Going to find people to eat them. The whale and then Anusha being a whale. A snowstorm and the whale got covered in snow. It’s a card – a full story.’
‘The fish, whale, raft and Scotland flag’
‘I done me and a boy, the Scotland flag and the whale. She chewed her bow. The bump on the whale cos he swallowed the raft’.
‘A ballon. The sun. Was very cold. A fish. Mateo was the big whale.’
‘Mariner and whale in the sea. The wee sardine’
‘That’s the whale, that’s the sea, the mariner.’
‘The whale. A boy. A cat. A dog. The stars. The clouds. A cloud for a bed. The sun.’
