Oonga Boonga by Frieda Wishinsky

Prompts and vocabulary

Prompts:

Ask the child questions after the second and third readings of Oonga Boonga, to start a conversation about the book. You can prompt the child on every page, using the questions below. If the child says something spontaneously about a picture, expand on it and ask the child to repeat it. There are questions for every one or two pages of the story.

1. What is happening here? (Baby Louise is crying and no one can stop her.)
2. How does a baby sound when it's crying?
3. What does her mother do to stop the crying? (She sings a lullaby.)
4. Does this make Baby Louise stop crying? (No, she keeps on crying.)
5. How much does she cry? (She cries enough to make a river.)
6. What does her father do to stop the crying? (He rocks her and pats her.)
7. Does this make Baby Louise stop crying? (No, she keeps on crying.)
8. How much does she cry? (She cries so much the pictures fall down.)
9. What does her grandma do? (She gives her a bottle.)
10. Does this make Baby Louise stop crying? (No, she keeps on crying.)
11. How much does she cry? (She cries enough to wake all the dogs and cats.)
12. What does her grandpa do to stop the crying? (He plays a harmonica and dances.)
13. Does this make Baby Louise stop crying? (No, she keeps on crying.)
14. How much does she cry? (She cries enough to make the birds fly away and the squirrels run away.)
15. What's happening here? (The neighbors are telling how to stop the crying.)
16. What would you do to make a baby stop crying?
17. What does Daniel do? (He says, "Oonga boonga," and she stops crying.)
18. What is Baby Louise doing in this picture? (She is smiling.)
19. What is Baby Louise doing in these pictures? (She is starting to cry again.)
20. Who are these people? (These are Baby Louise's mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa.)
21. What is the rabbit doing? (He is holding his ears to stop the noise.)
22. What does Daniel do? (He says, "Bunka wunka," and the baby stops crying.)

Vocabulary

The words listed below come from the story and its pictures. As you page through the book, point to the pictures and ask the child to name the object or the action shown. This will help the child learn new words. You can use the words below, or you can choose words you think will interest your child. Below are words for every one or two pages of the story.

• baby, crying, rattle, rabbit, tears
• mother, holding, singing, duck, boat
• father, patting, pictures falling
• grandma, feeding, baby bottle, kissing, dogs, cats
• grandpa, harmonica, birds flying away, squirrels running away
• ladies, hat, necklace, earrings, radio
• brother, smiling
• happy
• paper airplane, looking, starting to cry
• tickling, hat
• sweater, rolling
• whispering