3-Year-Old Taryn reads "Delilah Darling is in the Library"
6:06
Feb. 21st, 2013
Tags: Delilah Darling
Added: 6 months ago
From: moserfamily
Views: 60
My name is Queen Delilah.
I come from a land far, far away.
Only my mother likes to keep it secret.
She always says, "But Delilah, darling, you were born here!"
And.
"No, Delilah. You cannot wear a crown to school. You are not the Queen."
That is nonsense, I'm afraid.
If you don't believe me, ask my brother, Smallboy, only you won't understand him.
He only speaks Far Away Language.
And don't ask Daddy, because he's busy!
Now this is Gigi. She is my Old Pear.
An Old Pear is someone who tries to look after you until your mother comes home.
She is French, which is a place in France.
Gigi says, "Come Delilah, my little cabbage. Let us go to the library."
Oh, good.
I love looking at books.
And smelling them.
And shutting them like this ...
Snap!
When I get to the end.
The library is full of extremely interesting books.
Some have pictures.
Some have words.
And this one has a squashed baked bean on page 5.
But do you know? It's not a bit like the library in my faraway land.
Where I come from, they always give you free sticky buns.
Small Boy is hungry.
So I ask Gigi, "When will they bring the buns?"
And she says, "What is buns? I am not understanding. Ask that librarian."
So, me and Small Boy go and ask Library Anne, but she says, "No food in here, please."
And I say, "Really?? Where I come from, everyone eats in the library.
"There is a man who walks round with a big tray and he shouts, 'Who wants a bun?'"
"Shhh!" says Library Anne.
But everybody says, "Ooh, are these buns?
"Are they free? We want buns!"
"Now, that ... " says Library Anne.
"Is why we don't shout in the library."
Library Anne says, "I don't know where you come from, young lady, but we have different rules in this library."
I tell her I come from a land far far away.
"Well, run along and find a nice book about it," she says.
So I run along, but Library Anne says, "No running in the library, please!"
Which is odd, because where I come from everyone runs in the library.
Anyway, I try to find a book about the land where I came from.
But I can't.
Anyone would think that it didn't exist.
Then Smallboy says, "Try up there!" in Far Away Language.
So I start to climb.
But Library Anne says, "Goodness, come down! That is not how we fetch a book!"
I say, "Oh, I'm sorry.
"Only I couldn't find the trapeze.
"Where I come from, there is a trapeze to reach the too-high books."
"Hey, I like the trapeze idea," says Misses Woolly Hat.
"I'm short. I never get to read the too-high books."
Library Anne says, "There are more sensible ways of reaching books.
"I will help you find the book properly."
"Now," she says. "Tell me the name of the land where you come from."
Only I can't, because it's very hard to say.
Smallboy tells her in Far Away Language, but she doesn't understand.
So I explain that we come from a tiny little island between Jafrica and Smindia.
Only Library Anne has never heard of such places.
Library Anne opens a big book and says, "Here is a map of the world.
"Can you point to where you come from?"
But would you believe it?
The person who drew the map forgot to put it on.
So I gave Library Anne a map I made to show her what the world is really like.
Here it is.
A map of the land where I come from.
You can't read its name because it's under my drawing of a Jafrican smelliphant.
Which is a bit like a Smindian oliphant only smellier.
"Where I come from, we have our own animals, our own rules and everything.
"We even have our own song called 'Hooray For Queen Delilah', which I wrote."
"I'd love to hear that!" says Misses Woolly Hat.
So I stand on a chair and sing it.
Misses Woolly Hat joins in.
Hooray for Queen Delilah! So beautiful, so brave!
Hurrah for Queen Delilah! The Kingdom she will save!
Oh, shout hoorah! Oh, shout hooray!
Shout out, loud and strong, hooray for Queen Delilah!
Who wrote this lovely song!
Tra la!
Library Anne says, "I wish I lived far far away ... Please stop singing!"
Then she says, "Would you like to borrow a book before you leave?"
Where I come from, we don't borrow books and leave!
We all bring our blankets and bears and a beautiful princess reads to us until we fall asleep!
"Buns! Blankets! Bears! That's how to run a library," says everyone.
"There are days," says Library Anne. "When I wish I was an astronaut."
"Delilah Darling," says Gigi, "I think it's time to say au revoir."
We go home.
I tell my mother about the library.
It was extremely fun.
And I borrowed a lovely book called "Tropical Diseases."
But it was nothing like the library in the land where I come from.
"But, Delilah Darling," she says. "You come from here! We all do."
We don't, though. She's just pretending.
Funny old thing.
"Oh, Mother." I sigh. "Sometimes I think you're living in a world of your own."
Yes, I know I'm holding my library book upside down.
Where I come from, that's how everybody reads.
---
From amazon.com:
'My name is Queen Delilah and I come from a land far, far away, really I do.' My mother says, 'Really you don't, darling.' But if Delilah did rule the world, what a fun place it would be! Except she would be the first to tell you that she's not naughty at all - you see, Delilah is a queen in her own country and the rules are quite different there! Her first adventure finds her in the library creating utter chaos, much to the despair of the librarian, Library Anne, but to the huge delight of everyone else!
---
From telegraph.co.uk:
Delilah Darling is in the Library (2007) by Jeanne Willis, illustrated by Rosie Reeve, features a little girl whose grandiose fantasies try the patience of the librarian (or Library Anne, as Delilah calls her). "Where I come from," Delilah announces, "we don't borrow books and leave! We all bring blankets and bears and a beautiful princess reads to us until we fall asleep."
---
From washingtonpost.com:
DELILAH D. AT THE LIBRARY
By Jeanne Willis Illustrated by Rosie Reeve Clarion. $16 (ages 4-8)
Little Delilah D. is a queen, too, although her mother is a bit dim about what that entails: "No Delilah. You cannot wear a crown to school." She also lives to the hilt Billy Bloom's credo, " Reality is for everybody else," inhabiting her own Faraway Land and chatting with her baby brother in Faraway Language. This all makes for a fun but fraught experience when the babysitter takes her to the library. Delilah does find books extremely interesting -- "Some have pictures, some have words and this one has a squashed baked bean on page 5." But the library is simply not up to Faraway Land standards. Where are the free cupcakes? The trapeze to reach the high books? The people running and shouting and singing? The atlas that shows Faraway Land, "a tiny little island between Jafrica and Smindia"? And where Delilah comes from, kids don't borrow library books and leave, as exasperated Library Anne recommends. "We all bring our blankets and toys, and a beautiful princess reads to us until we fall asleep." Not to worry, though: A book on tropical diseases proves "lovely." Rosie Reeve's sprightly pictures capture Delilah's blithe self-confidence nicely.
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