Voices in the Park

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Look at the illustrations and you’ll find bowler hats in trees and so on. What do hats symbolise in this particular story? Hats typically function as a mask — something you wear to present your omote to the world, hiding your ura (to use Japanese terms). The omote is your public self; the ura your private self. participate in discussions about books that are read to them and those they can read for themselves, building on their own and others’ ideas and challenging views courteously

Personally, I felt that the story indicates how we should not be judged based on our class or gender. It shows that people should never give up on life and start afresh when life becomes difficult. We just need someone to talk to or be there to support people through hard times. Could you turn the story into a radio play with different children playing the role of each voice in the story? Of course, books mean different things to different people. However, it is interesting to list the varying ideas the children have. One Y6 class I worked with recently listed the following ideas: happiness; relationships; money doesn’t make you happy; making friends; the dogs are the happiest; posh people and snobs; things are not what they seem. The children are most likely to say we are missing the little boy’s voice. They may also say the dog. You can ask the kids what you think those voices would say. Read The Second Voice Voices in the Park is a very unique children's book. It tells the story from four separate perspectives about the same day in the park: a woman, her son, a man, and his daughter. The two children play together--creating a friendship--while the two adults keep to themselves. The woman, specifically, is upset by having to share the park bench with the man. The feelings of these characters can be seen in the illustrations. Depending on the perspective, the reader will notice the seasons changing. For example, the trees will appear bare for one character and in full bloom for another.What is the reason for a parallactic plot structure? In literary parallax, the message is implicitly this: The truth does not exist. A person’s version of the truth depends on their perspective. This is a defining characteristic of the literary Impressionists. That said, I think Anthony Browne has used parallax to a different end in this instance. I believe he conveys an unambiguous message: Repression of children is bad; playing is good; friendship across socioeconomic boundaries is good. He uses parallax to avoid hitting readers over the head with this ‘message’. A strong message like that could easily seem didactic. When readers put pieces of a puzzle together for themselves, they are more likely to agree with the storyteller’s message, regarding it as self-evident. In their independent activities, children answer questions by comparing and contrasting the two characters. In the alternative activity provided, they are challenged to write and perform a monologue for each of the characters as they are sitting on the bench in the park. It’s unlikely these kids go to the same school because of the British public/comprehensive divide in education, but this appears to be a fantasy park. So I hope they do meet each other again. Whether they do or do not, Charles will meet another kid in a park sometime. We simply don’t know if he’ll be more inclined to play with them or more inclined to talk to them, since his mother curtailed their visit this time due to inappropriate fraternising. RESONANCE After reading and discussing both chapters as a class, children put themselves in the shoes of each character, and complete thought bubbles for different scenarios from the book, or write short diary entries. Alternatively, children are challenged to create freeze frames of different scenarios, and infer what each character is thinking and feeling.

After the kids have made their predictions on what the book Voices in the Park is about, read the first voice. This is the voice of the stern women. After you read her story, stop reading and ask the kids this question: Education Shed Ltd, Severn House, Severn Bridge, Riverside North, Bewdley, Worcestershire, UK, DY12 1AB which pictorial ideas are playful and which suggest something meaningful that adds to your understanding;

Voices in the Park is a unique story that tells about an event from four different perspectives: A rigid mother, a timid boy, a tired father and a zealous girl. Instead of humans, all four main characters are gorillas with human-like qualities. All four individuals visit a local park, but how they view their times is completely unique.