Continuity

I'm starting to see something in Kiernan that gets me pretty excited, but will probably call to mind the phrase "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree" for a few of you, and not in a charitable way. This will probably be accompanied by an eye roll.

First off, here's a scan of a page and a half from one of Kiernan's Magic School Bus books. [Again I hope a C&D order is not in the offing.]


Again, this scan is across two pages. The line down the page indicates where the page break is, so these pictures are on two different pages.

One day as we read this, Kiernan stopped me and asked, "Daddy, why are Ms. Frizzle's earrings different colors? They are green on this page and yellow on that page." [It should be noted that I can't really tell what the real colors are because I'm terrible with colors. Kiernan nailed the colors, because he rocks at colors. A point I am very happy about and which I will explore in a later posting.]

So look at the picture above. Click on it to expand it if you have to. Ms. Frizzle's earrings are indeed different colors.

Now consider this scan from another Magic School Bus book, The Magic School Bus Gets Baked in a Cake.


In this instance we see Ms. Frizzle taking off and student character Dorothy Ann (D.A.) featured prominently in the foreground. In the upper part of the picture, sort of in the background, we see the Magic School Bus hovering overhead. The other students are looking out of the bus. You can see Liz, the class lizard, in the driver's seat.

As I have said in previous posts, the stock student characters in the MSB books are readily identifiable through physical traits and characteristics and wardrobe. D.A. is known for doing research, and she is blonde. Ralphie, for instance, wears a green shirt and a red baseball cap backwards. You can see him through the driver's window of the bus, standing to the right of Liz and waving.

Now look to the window to the driver's left and behind the driver's window. The window is partially obscured by the side view mirror of the bus. Notice anything in that window?

That would be a blonde girl in that window. That would be Dorothy Ann.

One morning shortly after getting this book Kiernan pointed this out, asking his mother, "Mommy, why are there two D.A.'s?"

I'm pretty good at catching discrepancies like this, but I never would have noticed this.

One more. Although this isn't really about a discrepancy. This is something else. And should really kick in the eye-roll.


As I have written previously, when we read these books the procedure is for the adult(s) to read the main text of the story on the page while Kiernan reads the dialogue bubbles over the heads of the characters.

In this instance we were reading this book as his pre-napping book. I turned the page to the page pictured above as Kiernan leaned forward to gather his stuffed animals (or dinosaurs, or squids) and to arrange his blankets. I finished my section, and without looking at the page, even once during this reading, he said,

"Oh no! A field trip to outer space!"

As always he did this in his perfect Arnold voice. At first my mind didn't catch what had happened, but as I turned the page it clicked. He had said the dialogue from memory. Perfectly. Exact words and correct character.

He does this a lot. He's got a whiz of a brain for words, for the exactness of writing. He loves to watch Magic School Bus videos and if there is a difference in how something is said, he nails it. Yesterday we were reading The Magic School Bus Gets Ants in Its Pants. Near the end of that story the Magic School Bus and the anthill are in danger of being wiped out by a mud slide. I read the following line from the story text:

"'Forget the movie!' said Arnold. 'There's a mud slide!'"

Kiernan stopped me and said, "In the show Arnold says, 'Mud slide!'"

"What?"

Taking a deep breath as if to give him the patience to deal with the denseness of his father he said, "Here Arnold says 'There's a mud slide' but in the video he just says, 'Mud slide!'"

"Oh."

That was it and we moved on. He wasn't complaining, just pointing something out.

So, after all this, my only logical question has to be...

How long do I have to wait before I can watch the Star Wars films with him?