Never Put Your Giraffe in a Scarf - A Cautionary Tale by Tamsyn Murray

 

First, a confession: I broke my own rule. As you can clearly see, my giraffes are wearing scarves. But I can justify my mistake - where I live, 99% of the giraffes could wear scarves without a single problem. It's only when you go towards the Midlands and the North that giraffes might get a bit of stick for their accessories. Why? Because in a southern accent, giraffe and scarf can be made to rhyme. In a northern accent (see also American), they can't. And before you know it, you have hoards of disgruntled parents (OK, two so far) complaining that your rhyming picture book DOESN'T ACTUALLY RHYME.

What I should have done, of course, is put my giraffes in the bath. That rhyme works no matter what accent you use (although I'm struggling somewhat with South African). And I suppose that's the point of this cautionary tale - if you're grabbed by the unshakeable urge to rhyme, make sure it works universally (don't worry about Mars - they don't understand the concept of rhyming there). In fact, I try to deter my students from writing rhyming picture books - they're a hard sell because obviously publishers need to ensure a text translates to as many territories as possible and rhymes rarely translate well into other languages. In the case of Snug As A Bug, they don't translate at all - the only co-editions of this little picture book are US and Australia. Even then, I get tentative enquiries from parents in California asking if I can suggest a way to make geeraff rhyme with scarff. I mumbled a bit about British charm and hid for three days.

So learn from my mistake, all you picture book writers: if you must make your picture rhyme, never put your giraffe in a scarf.

You're welcome.