Don't Forget the Bacon!

Don't Forget the Bacon!
Book cover
Author(s)	Pat Hutchins
Illustrator	Pat Hutchins
Country	England
Language	English
Subject(s)	Shopping
Genre(s)	Children's literature
Publisher	Bodley Head
Publication date	1976
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
OCLC Number	001504849
LC Classification	75017935

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.

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.^[A]

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.^[1] 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,^[2] responsibility,^[3] and the reliability of spoken language.^[4] 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."^[5] 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.^[6] 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.^[7] 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".^[8] 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.^[2] 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.^[4] Children were read the story, and then asked "about how and why spoken language is sometimes unreliable – and its consequences."^[4]

Books including Belair Early Years: Stories,^[9] Books as Bridges: Using Text to Connect Home and School Literacy and Learning,^[10] Funny Photo Alphabet: Teaching Guide,^[11] and What Is It About Me You Can't Teach? suggest the story be used to teach children about rhyming, repetition, and prediction.^[12] The story is suggested for use in curriculum to teach children about food, in books Humanics National Preschool Assessment Handbook,^[13] and The Complete Daily Curriculum for Early Childhood.^[14] Mildred R. Donoghue writes in Language Arts: Integrating Skills for Classroom Teaching that the story should be utilised in the course of primary education.^[15] 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.^[16] 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."^[3]

Background

Pat Hutchins was born 18 June 1942.^[17] A native of Yorkshire, she attended a local art school for three years on scholarship 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.^[18]

Publication history

Don't Forget the Bacon! was published by Bodley Head in 1976.^[19] It was published again in New York by Greenwillow Books in 1976, and Puffin Books in 1976 and 1978.^[20][21][22] An edition by imprint Picture Puffin was published in London in 1978.^[23] Imperial Educational Resources produced a version of the story in 1980, as a filmstrip geared for children in primary school.^[24] It was published by Live Oak Media in 2004,^[25] and by Paw Prints in 2009.^[26] Gallaudet University produced a DVD video edition aimed at youth versed in sign language.^[27]

Reception

Don't Forget the Bacon! became a successful book in both England and the United States;^[28] Hutchins has become known for the work.^[29] 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."^[20] 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.^[20] The American Library Association 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."^[30] 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.^[31]

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!.^[32] 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".^[33] 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.^[34]

See also

	Bacon portal
	Books portal
	Children's literature portal
	Education portal

• Children's literature canon
• Children's literature criticism
• List of children's classic books
• List of children's literature authors
• List of illustrators
• List of publishers of children's books

Endnotes

1. ^{^} Secondary source references consulted to assist in summarising information for Plot section include Brodt 1987,^[35] Elleman 1976,^[30] and McElmeel 1990.^[20]

References

1. ^ Gunning, Thomas G. (1997). Best Books for Beginning Readers. Allyn & Bacon. p. 95. ISBN 978-0205267842. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Brown, Mavis (2006). Foundation Blocks: Personal, Social and Emotional Development. Curriculum Corporation. p. 37. ISBN 1863667881. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Stirling, Diane; Linda McKay, Georgia Archibald, Shelley Berg (2000). Character Education Connections: For School, Home and Community. National Professional Resources Inc. p. 19. ISBN 1887943285. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} Ashcroft, Kate; John Lee (1999). Improving Teaching and Learning In the Core Curriculum. Routledge. p. 62. ISBN 0750708131. 
5. ^ Saxby, Maurice (1998). Books in the Life of a Child: Bridges to Literature & Learning. Palgrave MacMillan. p. 217. ISBN 0732945208. 
6. ^ Hillbrick, Andrea (2004). Tuning in with Task Cards: Middle Primary. Australia: Curriculum Corporation. p. 74. ISBN 1863667482. 
7. ^ Datta, Manjula (2001). Bilinguality and Literacy: Principles and Practice. Continuum. p. 68. ISBN 0826448402. 
8. ^ Palmer, Joy; Joanna C. Birch (2004). Geography in the Early Years. Routledge. p. 196. ISBN 0415320704. 
9. ^ Gains, Pat (2000). Belair Early Years: Stories. Belair Publications Ltd. p. 57. ISBN 0947882472. 
10. ^ Baskwill, Jane (2010). Books as Bridges: Using Text to Connect Home and School Literacy and Learning. Pembroke Publishers. p. 25. ISBN 1551382504. 
11. ^ Munn, Kara (2005). Funny Photo Alphabet: Teaching Guide. Blake Publishing. p. 31. ISBN 1865099082. 
12. ^ Rodriguez, Eleanor Renée; James A. Bellanca (2006). What Is It About Me You Can't Teach?: An Instructional Guide for the Urban Educator. Corwin Press. p. 64. ISBN 1412937647. 
13. ^ Whordley, Derek; Rebecca J. Doster (1983). Humanics National Preschool Assessment Handbook. Humanics Ltd Partners. p. 189. ISBN 0893340979. 
14. ^ Schiller, Pamela Byrne; Pat Phipps (2002). The Complete Daily Curriculum for Early Childhood. Gryphon House. p. 176. ISBN 0876592280. 
15. ^ Donoghue, Mildred R. (2008). Language Arts: Integrating Skills for Classroom Teaching. Sage Publications, Inc. p. 408. ISBN 1412940494. 
16. ^ Blackford, Barbara J.; Helen Cappleman, Betty Cramer (1991). Success in Reading and Writing. GoodYear Books. p. 109. ISBN 0673360008. 
17. ^ Preller, James (2001). The Big Book of Picture-Book Authors & Illustrators: Grades K-3. Scholastic Professional Books. p. 64. ISBN 0439201543. 
18. ^ "Author - Pat Hutchins". Author Extras (HarperCollins). 2010. http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/17047/Pat_Hutchins/index.aspx?authorID=17047. Retrieved 2010-10-24. 
19. ^ Styles, Morag; Eve Bearne, Victor Watson (1994). The Prose and the Passion: Children and Their Reading. Cassell. p. 123. ISBN 0304327727. 
20. ^ ^{a b c d} McElmeel, Sharron L. (1990). An Author a Month (for Nickels). Teacher Ideas Press. p. 40. ISBN 0872878279. 
21. ^ LCCN 75-935
22. ^ LCCN 77-096
23. ^ Whitebread, David; Penelope Coltman (2008). Teaching and Learning in the Early Years. Routledge. p. 397. ISBN 0415424798. 
24. ^ OCLC 9016468
25. ^ OCLC 149134584
26. ^ OCLC 319500298
27. ^ OCLC 547192948
28. ^ "Festival features authors from England to Midway Island". Redlands Daily Facts (Los Angeles Newspaper Group: MediaNews Group). January 27, 2003. 
29. ^ Pentony, Adele (November 21, 2003). Greater London, Kent, and Surrey Counties Publications (Newsquest Media Group Ltd). 
30. ^ ^{a b} Elleman, Barbara; Capsule reviews prepared by the American Library Assn. (3 September 1976). "About Books: A Funny Book Is Not So Hard To Find". The Tuscaloosa News (Tuscaloosa, Alabama): p. 13. 
31. ^ Coley, Joan (August 24, 1982). "Children: See Dick and Jane Read". The Washington Post (The Washington Post Company): p. B5. 
32. ^ Landsberg, Michele (November 5, 1989). "All in the Family". The Washington Post (The Washington Post Company): p. 23. 
33. ^ Tebutt, Carmel (November 27, 2005). "Love of books a lifetime gift: minister -Premier's Reading Challenge". The Sun-Herald (Sydney, Australia: John Fairfax Publications Pty Limited): p. 1; Section: Supplement. 
34. ^ McFarlane, Elizabeth (March 6, 2008). "Leave it to Captain Underpants - Parents". The Times (Times Newspapers Limited): pp. 2, 10; Section: Features. 
35. ^ Brodt, Bonita (July 5, 1987). "Tribune Books". Chicago Tribune: p. 5. 

External links

• Don't Forget the Bacon!, Harper Collins