By Elizabeth Guilfoile
Illustrated by Mary Stevens
Several weeks ago, as I was lying in bed during the very
early morning hours, unable to sleep, the memory of this book popped into my
head. I hadn’t laid eyes on the book in
many years, yet I still remembered some of the illustrations and a few of the lines. Once the sun started to rise, I finally got
up and fortunately a quick internet search led me to a copy of Nobody Listens to Andrew on Amazon Used
Books.
We probably had this book around the house when I was
growing up because one of my brother’s names is Andrew. My mother, a life-long bibliophile, liked to
find books with main characters that shared a name with one of her
children. (It wasn’t until I was in high
school that she found The Secret Diary of
Adrian Mole!)
Nobody Listens to
Andrew is a beginning reader with a short, simple text. A little boy is desperately trying to tell
his family and neighbors something very important, but everyone is too busy to
listen. Daddy needs to cut the grass,
Ruthy wants to go roller skating before dark, Bobby says, “Don’t bother me,
Andrew”, because he’s too busy looking for his bat and ball.
Eventually, Andrew becomes louder and more insistent. When the others finally stop to listen, they
discover that Andrew did have something very important to say. There was a bear in his bed!
After resolving the bear situation, Daddy says, “Next time,
we will listen to Andrew.”
A modern version of this book would have Daddy working at
his computer, Ruthy texting her friends, and Bobby playing video games. Mother would be too busy on Facebook and Mr.
Neighbor wouldn’t hear him because he would be listening to his Ipod.
Often, I’ve noticed that parents out in public are paying
attention to their cell phones rather than the conversation and cries of their
young children. How often could the
phone calls or texts have waited until another time?
Just like all of us,
children want to be heard. To
acknowledge a child with the gift of attentive conversation is a gift that will
last their lifetime.
Just like all of us, children want to be heard. To acknowledge a child with the gift of attentive conversation is a gift that will last their lifetime. <~~~ So true :) This is one thing that I continually try to work on with my own kids.
ReplyDeleteI remember Grandma reading this book to me!!
ReplyDeleteI have adored this book since my mother read it to me many, many years ago. The comments about how we do so many other things besides carefully listen to children when they speak to us were thought provoking. Especially with Adrian's way of updating the story line with cell phones, ipods and video games.
ReplyDeleteThis was my favorite book, as a child, and was the first book I learned to read in English, and many years later, in French.
ReplyDeletelove this book and still remember it
ReplyDelete