Boo Boo’s Book List: Froodle

Froodle is a made-up word. It is also Boo Boo’s newest favorite book. 

Froodle is about a little brown bird who is tired of saying the same thing every day. Here a peep, there a peep, everywhere a peep, peep. One day she says something different: “Froodle spoodle!”

This nonconformism sparks controversy among the neighborhood’s aviary class, which includes a crow, a dove and a cardinal, who have been dutifully sticking to their respective scripts: caw, coo and chip. 

Eventually the birds all go off-script, some drama from the crow notwithstanding, and everyone lives happily ever after, each to the tune of their own tweet. In fact, in Froodle, author and illustrator Antoinette Portis alters the morning soundscape entirely. Flodden, yots, bleemish and ots, they say. Not your typical birdsong! Even the neighborhood dogs and cats join the linguistic rebellion. Meow and woof? How about Shmoodle and skerpoodle instead!  

Boo Boo loves this book. Not only does it have animals, but it has animals that are speaking his language. He knows what flodden and shmoodle mean. He says these words all the time. He must have found it refreshing to read something in his own tongue, because we have read Froodle once a day since it came in the mail a few weeks ago. My mom saw it and knew it would be a hit and sent it from Kansas City, wrapped in love. 

The book currently resides in the good-night book basket on our bedside table. Whether he can see it or not, any time Boo Boo gets within a five-foot radius of the book and the Froodle alarm sounds.

“Foodle?” He asks as I cook dinner.

“Foodle,” He says when we’re drawing.

“Foodle.”  He urges when I’m on the toilet.  

Some nights I’ll start off with another book, hoping that he’ll give Froodle a rest for just one night, but Boo Boo’s a toddler now and his once reliably nonexistent memory is a thing of the past–as extinct as his convenient lack of mobility. 

“Foodle!” He exclaims as soon as I’ve finished a book. He says the word nonstop when he’s requesting the book, but also when we’re reading the book. The Little Brown Bird says “Froodle” once in the whole book, and to Boo Boo that one time is the whole book.