Adelaide Dupont

ON FRIDAY SOMETHING FUNNY HAPPENED exemplifies the ability of the picture book to engage its audience through their everyday activities and something beyond. My copy came to me in the late 1980s from the centre I was then attending. And it fell out of my consciousness by 1993. Just before the funny Friday, the two children come over or they have their friends over, and there is a stand-up all-in pillow fight. The week in Prater's book begins on Sunday. If it is a Level One title it would probably appeal to 4-7 year olds. If you enjoy THE CAT IN THE HAT [Seuss] or Raymond Briggs' books; ON FRIDAY SOMETHING HAPPENED - I would warmly recommend it to the next generation. It shows people of a different language background [culturally and linguistically diverse] the norms and mores of a middle-class child-centred British household and its neighbourhood/community.

This book was the making of me back in the late 1980s. I especially appreciated learning much more about where words came from and the examples which are used. There are quizzes all through and the last part is about Australian English as it was in the 1970s.