The Ox and the House
The idea: a picture can stand for just the first sound of its name, so a few pictures can write any word.
Read it
One story, three ways: Sprout for a new reader, Grower in short chapters, Reader as a full chapter book. Same plot, same ending.
Who is in this book
-
Inkling a child of the Green Names what she notices -
Lan a child of the Green Goes first; makes a friend in a minute
Every recurring character has a short tune, so you can tell who is on stage before a word is said. The tunes play only when you tap, and the Reading Access sound switch turns them off.
The Honest Page
Which parts are true, stretched or made up — and what does nobody know?
True
- About 3,800 years ago, at the turquoise mines of Serabit el-Khadim in the Sinai desert, workers who spoke a language that was not Egyptian scratched short messages using a small set of pictures borrowed from Egyptian writing. Source
- Each picture stood for the first sound of its name in the workers' own language. The picture of a house, whose name began with a 'b' sound, stood for 'b'. This way of writing is thought to be the ancestor of most alphabets used today, including the one in this book. Source
- In the story, the girl's cousin guesses two of her five pictures right and three wrong.
Stretched
- In the story, the girl writes the word for 'up' with an eye and a shepherd's crook, to warn a caravan. What we simplified: The real messages found at the mines are short, and most seem to be gifts or thanks; scholars can read only a few words of them. No warning like hers has been found. Her two signs are the kind of signs they used, not a copy of a real message.
Made up
- Lan and Inkling, the spark, the buzzing word, the girl, her cousin, the rockfall and the water caravan are made up.
Nobody knows
- Nobody knows who first let a picture stand for just one sound, or who wrote the first message this way. The people who did it left no names that anyone has found. Source
Tell it back
Tell the story in your own words: who was there, what went wrong, and what they found out. Then the letter W, the first of a third word under DOOR and OPEN goes on your belt.
On your belt: the letter W, the first of a third word under DOOR and OPEN.
Your belt lives on this device. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Ring the hammer for someone
Pick this book for someone younger. The link carries only the book, and it will wait for them on the Green.