Archipelago

ARCHIPELAGO

by Matthew Swanson Illustrations by Robbi Behr

Bobbledy Books 100 South Queen Street Chestertown, MD 21620 www.bobbledybooks.com ISBN: 978-1-4507-8219-7 Copyright Š 2013 All rights reserved.

by Matthew Swanson Illustrations by Robbi Behr

ARCHIPELAGO seems like a hard word to say, but really it isn’t. It has five syllables, one for each of the fingers on your left hand.

Say it slowly, emphasizing the first and third syllables.

AR-kuh-PEL-uh-go

go

k

AR

uh

h u

PEL

It’s a nice word, isn’t it?

Can you think of anything that rhymes with archipelago?

Neither can I.

An archipelago is a string of islands. HAWAII is an archipelago. Have you been to Hawaii?

huh-WAH-ee

I haven’t.

There once was a Hawaiian King named KAMEHAMEHA. He united all the islands of Hawaii, which makes sense, since they’re all part of the same archipelago.

kuh-MAY-huh-MAY-huh

I think Kamehameha is the best name in the world.

What’s your favorite name?

kuh MAY huh MAY huh

The first time I heard the word archipelago, I thought it was a kind of dinosaur, the kind with a long neck and wrinkly kneecaps, the kind that walks really slowly but will always catch you in the end.

I was glad to find out that it was only a string of islands.

The dinosaur I was thinking of is called an APATOSAURUS.

ah-PAT-uh-SORE-us

ah PAT uh SORE us

tie-RAN-uh-SORE-us

pen-tuh-SAIR-uh-tops

hip-sih-LO-fuh-don

You can say apatosaurus, too.

You really can.

To explore an archipelago, you need a boat.

For example, you could use a CATAMARAN.

CAT-uh-muh-ran

CAT uh muh ran

You could also use a dinghy or a sloop or a junk or a hydrofoil . . .

DING-ee

SLOOP

JUHNGK

HYE-druh-foyl

. . . depending on how much of a rush you’re in.

Or you could use a BILIBILI, a boat that’s found on an archipelago named Fiji.

You don’t need an M to spell bilibili, but you need an M to say it.

m-BILL-ee-m-BILL-ee

mmMMM-BILL-ee-mmMMM-

Just hum a bit before you start.

BILL-ee

It kind of tickles, doesn’t it?

A bilibili is a raft made out of bamboo.

It moves with the current down a stream, and you steer it with a long bamboo pole.

Have you heard of Japan? Japan is full of bamboo.

Japan is also an archipelago. So is New Zealand.

KONICHIWA

KOH-NEE-CHEE-WAH

juh-PAN

noo-ZEE-land

G’DAY

guh-DYE

There is teriyaki in Japan. There are marsupials in New Zealand.

can-guh-ROO

koh-AH-luh

BAN-dih-coot WAHM-bat

mar-SOO-pee-uhl A MARSUPIAL is an animal with a pouch, like a kangaroo or koala bear.

TERIYAKI is a sweet soy sauce.

tair-ee-YAH-kee

chi-POTE-lay mahr-uh-NAHR-uh

mah-SAH-luh

Sometimes, marsupials live on archipelagos.

Marsupials almost never eat teriyaki.

More for me, I say.

I’ve never been to New Zealand or Japan, but on Tuesday, I ate some teriyaki and saw a koala in the zoo.

oh-RANG-uh-tan JAG-wahr

rye-NAHS-er-us

hip-uh-POT-uh-muhs

ANT-ee-tur

CROCK-uh-dial

Have you ever been to the zoo? You don’t need my help with the word zoo.

Just think of all the words you know already.

hullabaloo • lollygag • colloquial • onomAtopoeia gargantuan • quandAry • asunder • flibbertigibbet ameliorate • ululation • salubrious • loquacious perspicacious • DODECAHEDRON • TRISKAIDEKAPHOBIA scalawag • platitude • riposte • lackadaisical mangle • rigamarole • Reprobate • serendipitous disheveled • STROOBLY • punctilious • bloviate syzygy • indubitable • hornswoggle borborygmi

Just think of all the words you still have to learn.

Sometimes you read a book because it has a good story, and sometimes you read a book because you like the pictures.

Why did you read this book?

Did you learn anything useful?

Did you like the words?

Did you like the pictures?

This book is kind of like an archipelago, a string of words and pictures clustered together with empty space between them . . .

ISLANDS

SITTING IN THE SEA.

THE END

OUR FAVORITE words a foolish person

confused or upset

NIN-kuhm-poop

dis-kuhm-BOB-yuh-late-ed to walk from place to place

purr-AM-byuh-late

dismal or gloomy

unruly or disobedient

ub-STREP-er-us luh-GOO-bree-us

YOUR FAVORITE words

Every day you hear new words. Here’s a place to store the ones you like best.

WHO WE ARE Matthew Swanson wrote the words for this book. Robbi Behr drew the pictures. They live together with their three kids, one orange cat, and one blue dog in the hayloft of an old barn on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Matthew is a writer and dad who loves words but almost always spells them wrong. The longest word he knows is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis, but whenever he tries to say it, he gets a cramp. He has never been to Hawaii because he’s pretty sure they wouldn’t let him be king.

Robbi is an illustrator and mom who knows lots of words but always seems to forget them at critical moments. As a result, her favorite words are “like,” “um,” and “you know.” Most of the time, she wishes she were a marsupial so that it would be easier to keep track of her kids.

Yearlong memberships to Bobbledy Books (five books, one album, and a birthday card) are available for $60.

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Also by Bobbledy Books: The Girl with Frogs in Her Ears Bobby and the Robots Gorillas in the Kitchen

For stories, pictures, and other fun, go to

www.bobbledybooks.com

THANKS TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO CONTRIBUTED WORDS TO THIS BOOK:

Lucy Shepard, Declan McGough, Hudson McGough, Sophia Sommers, Abigail Sommers, Don Schulz, Nate Budington, Nancy Robson, Peter Mackenzie, Amy Baughcum, Conrad Oakey, Kelly Perotti, Jesse Post, Cate Williamson, Jodi Swartz, Kyle Scott, Emma Sovich, Erica Hyman Kates, Matt Thomas, Rebecca Weiskind-Dey, Annie Power, Lindsey Ellis, Will Crane, Emily Eldredge, Shannon Trezzino, Tilly Pelczar, Holly Kohler, Bob Ortiz, Melinda Bookwalter, and Stu Cawley.

Words are wonderful

There are so many words that you might not ever learn them all. But why not learn as many as you can? Some are short and easy to say. Some are long and fill your mouth with mumbles. But you can learn any word in the world if you chop it into little pieces first. This book is full of words窶馬ames of places and kinds of boats and things to eat and dinosaurs.

And each and every one of them is wonderful.

bobbledy bOoKS Read. Write. Draw. Sing.

Bobbledy Books is a club for kids who like to read, write, draw, and sing. Members get books and music in the mail and the chance to have their own book published.

Go to bobbledybooks.com to learn more.

ISBN 978-1-4507-8219-7

9 781450 782197