Don't Forget the Bacon!
Encyclopedia
Don't Forget the Bacon! is a children's book written and illustrated by Pat Hutchins
. It was published by Bodley Head in 1976. The story is about a little boy who tries to memorise a list of groceries his mother has asked him to buy. The book has been used as a teaching tool to instruct children about early learning concepts.
In an analysis of teaching tools for remedial readers, Maurice Saxby notes in the book Books in the Life of a Child: Bridges to Literature & Learning, "Hutchins's Don't Forget the Bacon has been one of my most successful texts." Andrea Hillbrick's Tuning in with Task Cards includes a teaching lesson structured around the boy's shopping list from the story. The book Foundation Blocks suggests Don't Forget the Bacon! be used to teach children about the concept of miscommunication, and Bilinguality and Literacy lists the story among those used to help assist a bilingual child develop fluency
in English.
Don't Forget the Bacon! was a success in England and the United States, and received positive reception from the American Library Association
, and The Washington Post
. The story was recommended in 2005 as part of a children's reading challenge announced by the Education Minister for New South Wales, Australia, and included in suggested reading by The Times
as part of the 2008 recognition of World Book Day.
, and the reliability of spoken language
. In an analysis of teaching tools for remedial readers, Maurice Saxby notes in the book Books in the Life of a Child: Bridges to Literature & Learning, "Hutchins's Don't Forget the Bacon has been one of my most successful texts." The book is utilised in author Andrea Hillbrick's Tuning in with Task Cards as a teaching lesson: children are assigned to collect items from the initial and final versions of the shopping list from the boy in the story, and subsequently total the prices of the tabulated items. It is listed by Manjula Datta in the book Bilinguality and Literacy: Principles and Practice among stories to help assist a bilingual child develop fluency
in the English language
. Joy Palmer and Joanna C. Birch list the book in their work Geography in the Early Years as a recommendation for children among "Story Books Suitable as Starting Points in Geography". In her book Foundation Blocks: Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Mavis Brown suggests the story be used to teach children about the theme of miscommunication. The story is used in a case study
in education
, which is cited in the book Improving Teaching and Learning In the Core Curriculum by Kate Ashcroft and John Lee. Children were read the story, and then asked "about how and why spoken language is sometimes unreliable – and its consequences."
Books including Belair Early Years: Stories, Books as Bridges: Using Text to Connect Home and School Literacy and Learning, Funny Photo Alphabet: Teaching Guide, and What Is It About Me You Can't Teach? suggest the story be used to teach children about rhyming, repetition, and prediction
. The story is suggested for use in curriculum
to teach children about food, in books Humanics National Preschool Assessment Handbook, and The Complete Daily Curriculum for Early Childhood. Mildred R. Donoghue writes in Language Arts: Integrating Skills for Classroom Teaching that the story should be utilised in the course of primary education
. In their work Success in Reading and Writing, authors Barbara J. Blackford, Helen Cappleman and Betty Cramer suggest the book be read aloud
to children in kindergarten
, and the teacher should subsequently quiz members of the class to see if they can recall items from the boy's shopping list. Authors Diane Stirling, Linda McKay, Georgia Archibald and Shelley Berg recommend the story in their book Character Education Connections: For School, Home and Community, in order to teach children the character trait of responsibility: "A willingness to be accountable for your own actions without blaming others."
before studying illustration at the Leeds College of Art. Hutchins's first children's work, Rosie's Walk, was named a 1968 ALA Notable Book, and her book The Wind Blew received the 1974 Kate Greenaway Medal
. She lives in London and has written twenty-five books and five novels.
in 1976 and 1978. An edition by imprint Picture Puffin was published in London in 1978. Imperial Educational Resources produced a version of the story in 1980, as a filmstrip
geared for children in primary school. It was published by Live Oak Media in 2004, and by Paw Prints in 2009. Gallaudet University
produced a DVD video edition aimed at youth versed in sign language.
gave Don't Forget the Bacon! favourable mention in its review of the book, "The picture book crowd (kindergarten through second grade) will adore Pat Hutchin's story of a grocery list and a bad memory." In an article for The Washington Post
, associate professor and director of the reading clinic at Western Maryland College, Joan Coley, observed that the repetitive nature of the story is appealing to children.
Michele Landsberg, author of Reading for the Love of It: Best Books for Young Readers noted in an article for The Washington Post that Pat Hutchins is "best known" for her "witty picture books", including Don't Forget the Bacon!. In 2005, New South Wales, Australia Education Minister Carmel Tebutt announced Don't Forget the Bacon! had been included as part of "Premier's Reading Challenge", under the section, "The 2006 Challenge Book Lists: Years K-2 Challenge". In 2008, Elizabeth McFarlane of The Times
included the book in a list of works recommended to encourage children's reading skills for World Book Day.
Pat Hutchins
- Biography :Hutchins was born on 18 June 1942, the sixth of seven children. A native of Yorkshire, she attended a local art school on scholarship for three years before entering the Leeds College of Art to specialize in illustration. Her first book Rosie's Walk was a 1968 ALA Notable Book. She...
. It was published by Bodley Head in 1976. The story is about a little boy who tries to memorise a list of groceries his mother has asked him to buy. The book has been used as a teaching tool to instruct children about early learning concepts.
In an analysis of teaching tools for remedial readers, Maurice Saxby notes in the book Books in the Life of a Child: Bridges to Literature & Learning, "Hutchins's Don't Forget the Bacon has been one of my most successful texts." Andrea Hillbrick's Tuning in with Task Cards includes a teaching lesson structured around the boy's shopping list from the story. The book Foundation Blocks suggests Don't Forget the Bacon! be used to teach children about the concept of miscommunication, and Bilinguality and Literacy lists the story among those used to help assist a bilingual child develop fluency
Fluency
Fluency is the property of a person or of a system that delivers information quickly and with expertise.-Speech:...
in English.
Don't Forget the Bacon! was a success in England and the United States, and received positive reception from the American Library Association
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
, and The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
. The story was recommended in 2005 as part of a children's reading challenge announced by the Education Minister for New South Wales, Australia, and included in suggested reading by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
as part of the 2008 recognition of World Book Day.
Plot
The story is about a little boy who leaves his home with his dog to shop for food items for his mother, and attempts to remember the list of things she wanted him to buy. The original request from his mother is for "six farm eggs, a cake for tea, a pound of pears, and don't forget the bacon." Along with the dog, he is accompanied on his trip by a butterfly. In order to avoid forgetting items, the boy recites his mother's list to himself. Throughout his trip to the store, the boy sees items along the way that play tricks with his memory, and items on his list one-by-one become substituted with other goods – "six farm eggs" initially becomes "six fat legs", then "six clothes pegs". By the end of his trip, the boy has forgotten the initial items requested, and supplants them in his mind with "six clothes pegs, a rake for leaves, a pile of chairs, and don't forget the bacon." A merchant in a junk shop assists the boy in compiling this odd list. While travelling back to his home, he remembers the original items and corrects his mistakes. However, he still forgets to acquire bacon. The final panel depicts the child carrying a basket and a coin purse, taking his dog attached to a leash, en route, probably to purchase the bacon.Themes
In his work Best Books for Beginning Readers, Thomas G. Gunning places Don't Forget the Bacon! within the themes of utilising humor in the learning process with children. Don't Forget the Bacon! has been used as a learning tool for children in education, in order to teach them about various themes including miscommunication, responsibilityResponsibility
Responsibility may refer to:* Collective responsibility** Cabinet collective responsibility, a constitutional Convention in Governments using the Westminster System* Corporate responsibility** Corporate social responsibility...
, and the reliability of spoken language
Spoken language
Spoken language is a form of human communication in which words derived from a large vocabulary together with a diverse variety of names are uttered through or with the mouth. All words are made up from a limited set of vowels and consonants. The spoken words they make are stringed into...
. In an analysis of teaching tools for remedial readers, Maurice Saxby notes in the book Books in the Life of a Child: Bridges to Literature & Learning, "Hutchins's Don't Forget the Bacon has been one of my most successful texts." The book is utilised in author Andrea Hillbrick's Tuning in with Task Cards as a teaching lesson: children are assigned to collect items from the initial and final versions of the shopping list from the boy in the story, and subsequently total the prices of the tabulated items. It is listed by Manjula Datta in the book Bilinguality and Literacy: Principles and Practice among stories to help assist a bilingual child develop fluency
Fluency
Fluency is the property of a person or of a system that delivers information quickly and with expertise.-Speech:...
in the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Joy Palmer and Joanna C. Birch list the book in their work Geography in the Early Years as a recommendation for children among "Story Books Suitable as Starting Points in Geography". In her book Foundation Blocks: Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Mavis Brown suggests the story be used to teach children about the theme of miscommunication. The story is used in a case study
Case study
A case study is an intensive analysis of an individual unit stressing developmental factors in relation to context. The case study is common in social sciences and life sciences. Case studies may be descriptive or explanatory. The latter type is used to explore causation in order to find...
in education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, which is cited in the book Improving Teaching and Learning In the Core Curriculum by Kate Ashcroft and John Lee. Children were read the story, and then asked "about how and why spoken language is sometimes unreliable – and its consequences."
Books including Belair Early Years: Stories, Books as Bridges: Using Text to Connect Home and School Literacy and Learning, Funny Photo Alphabet: Teaching Guide, and What Is It About Me You Can't Teach? suggest the story be used to teach children about rhyming, repetition, and prediction
Prediction
A prediction or forecast is a statement about the way things will happen in the future, often but not always based on experience or knowledge...
. The story is suggested for use in curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
to teach children about food, in books Humanics National Preschool Assessment Handbook, and The Complete Daily Curriculum for Early Childhood. Mildred R. Donoghue writes in Language Arts: Integrating Skills for Classroom Teaching that the story should be utilised in the course of primary education
Primary education
A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...
. In their work Success in Reading and Writing, authors Barbara J. Blackford, Helen Cappleman and Betty Cramer suggest the book be read aloud
Reading (process)
Reading is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols for the intention of constructing or deriving meaning . It is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information and ideas...
to children in kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
, and the teacher should subsequently quiz members of the class to see if they can recall items from the boy's shopping list. Authors Diane Stirling, Linda McKay, Georgia Archibald and Shelley Berg recommend the story in their book Character Education Connections: For School, Home and Community, in order to teach children the character trait of responsibility: "A willingness to be accountable for your own actions without blaming others."
Background
Pat Hutchins was born 18 June 1942. A native of Yorkshire, she attended a local art school for three years on scholarshipScholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
before studying illustration at the Leeds College of Art. Hutchins's first children's work, Rosie's Walk, was named a 1968 ALA Notable Book, and her book The Wind Blew received the 1974 Kate Greenaway Medal
Kate Greenaway Medal
The Kate Greenaway Medal was established in the United Kingdom in 1955 in honour of the children's illustrator, Kate Greenaway. The medal is given annually to an outstanding work of illustration in children's literature. It is awarded by Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals...
. She lives in London and has written twenty-five books and five novels.
Publication history
Don't Forget the Bacon! was published by Bodley Head in 1976. It was published again in New York by Greenwillow Books in 1976, and Puffin BooksPuffin Books
Puffin Books is the children's imprint of British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s it has been the largest publisher of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world.-Early history:...
in 1976 and 1978. An edition by imprint Picture Puffin was published in London in 1978. Imperial Educational Resources produced a version of the story in 1980, as a filmstrip
Filmstrip
The filmstrip was a common form of still image instructional multimedia, once commonly used by educators in primary and secondary schools , now overtaken by newer and increasingly lower-cost full-motion videocassettes and DVDs...
geared for children in primary school. It was published by Live Oak Media in 2004, and by Paw Prints in 2009. Gallaudet University
Gallaudet University
Gallaudet University is a federally-chartered university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing, located in the District of Columbia, U.S...
produced a DVD video edition aimed at youth versed in sign language.
Reception
Don't Forget the Bacon! became a successful book in both England and the United States; Hutchins has become known for the work. Sharron L. McElmeel wrote in An Author a Month (for Nickels), "This is an example of Hutchins's more realistic drawings and of a reversible text." A reversible text refers to a story which proceeds in the forward direction, and concludes with the protagonist returning to a development introduced at the story's inception. The American Library AssociationAmerican Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
gave Don't Forget the Bacon! favourable mention in its review of the book, "The picture book crowd (kindergarten through second grade) will adore Pat Hutchin's story of a grocery list and a bad memory." In an article for The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, associate professor and director of the reading clinic at Western Maryland College, Joan Coley, observed that the repetitive nature of the story is appealing to children.
Michele Landsberg, author of Reading for the Love of It: Best Books for Young Readers noted in an article for The Washington Post that Pat Hutchins is "best known" for her "witty picture books", including Don't Forget the Bacon!. In 2005, New South Wales, Australia Education Minister Carmel Tebutt announced Don't Forget the Bacon! had been included as part of "Premier's Reading Challenge", under the section, "The 2006 Challenge Book Lists: Years K-2 Challenge". In 2008, Elizabeth McFarlane of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
included the book in a list of works recommended to encourage children's reading skills for World Book Day.
See also
- Children's literature canonChildren's literature canonAs with adult literature, the validity of defining a canon of worthy or renowned works in children's literature is hotly debated. Nevertheless, many books have had enormous impact on publishing history and are still in print today...
- Children's literature criticismChildren's literature criticismThe term children's literature criticism includes both generalist discussions of the relationship between children's literature and literary theory and literary analyses of a specific works of children's literature...
- List of children's classic books
- List of children's literature authors
- List of illustrators
- List of publishers of children's books
Endnotes
- Secondary source references consulted to assist in summarising information for Plot section include Brodt 1987, Elleman 1976, and McElmeel 1990.
External links
- Don't Forget the Bacon!, Harper Collins