Once Upon a Twice / Denise Doyen and Barry Moser
(Dragonfly Books, 2009)
This book has become a firm favourite since my son received it for Christmas.
Once Upon a Twice is a tale of caution. It’s a fable told not in the straightforward manner of most fables, but in a Carroll-ian, Dahl-ish way. In fact, it’s almost as if the BFG is telling the story. But after a few more years of language tutelage from Her Majester (boom tish), the Queen of England. And after developing more of an ear (boom tish) for poetry.
The mice are out at night-time. They are warned not to venture too far in the night, for fear of the moon in the sky and the eyes on the ground watching them.
But one mouse doesn’t listen, and appears to meet his doom as a result.
That’s the story in a nutshell. But it does not do the book justice. So here’s a taste of some of the words you’ll come across: scoutaprowl; runtunnel; preycautions; mouncelors; whispercroon; scritchscrambles; wanderyonder.
This book was given to my (almost three-year-old) son for Christmas. But while he enjoys listening to this story, it’s mostly because he enjoys listening to any story. He understands the gist of the tale, but the nonsense words are too nonsensey for him to break down and understand individually.
However, my (almost six-year-old) daughter adores this book. She was quite scared for the mouse during the first reading, but she quickly turned her mind to making sense of the words, and coming up with her own. She now reads the book to me!
Highly recommended for children aged five and up who adore nonsense words and aren’t too afraid of the darker side of fairy tales and fables. You can purchase Once Upon a Twice from Booktopia here, or from Book Depository here.
Have you read Once Upon a Twice? What did you think?
* The links in this post are affiliate links. If you click to purchase the item, I earn a little commission, but you don’t pay any extra.
Aw, this sounds lovely! Must put it on the birthday list 🙂
Yes, you must! It’s fab. Enjoy.
Love, love, love kids books that play with words like that! It’s such a bold move – one that can totally fall flat or fly high depending on the author’s skill. It’s one of the reasons I always loved Dahl, and you don’t often see that sense of playfulness these days, so kudos to the writer!
Definitely a bold move, and it pays off in spades in this one!
I’ve never heard of this book but it sounds like a good one (aside from the darker side of fairy tales because my son is a wee bit of a sensitive soul). #TeamIBOT
Yes, well after the first read-through (when the mouse’s future is known and the scary bits slightly less scary) it’s all okay.
Sounds like great book for a friend of ours. He would love this!
Glad to help! I hope he enjoys it.
Sounds like a great read and I just love the title!
Isn’t it great? One of those titles you read and think, dagnammit, I wish I’d come up with that first!
Sounds like a lovely book. Not read but sounds like one of those kids books you read time and time again.
And again and again and again …
This sounds like just the sort of book I’d add to our collection! Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Ooh ooh ooh! It looks like it’s right up our alley. I’ve never even heard of this book before. Thanks for the hot tip!
You’re welcome! I hope the girls love it!
Love the title of this book! Though my kids have all now grown, we still enjoy children’s books, will add this one to the list.
Excellent decision. This is the kind of book I would have searched back through my collection to find when I was older. x
I love nonsense words. Thanks Em. This would make an awesome birthday gift.
Yes, I’ll definitely be buying it for people!
Love a clever, nonsense book – makes it SO much easy for me o read (and re-read and re-read and re-read)
And re-read and re-read – this one’s a keeper!