No Jumping On The Bed
Author: Tedd Arnold; Illustrator: Tedd Arnold
It’s bedtime, and young Walter is enjoying a few good-natured bounces on his bed when dad walks in with the eternal parental edict flying from his lips: ‘No more jumping on the bed!’ ‘One day,’ he cryptically warns, ‘it’ll crash right through the floor!’
Walter obediently goes to sleep, but when he hears the kid upstairs jumping on his bed, Walter decides to take just one more bounce…
And wouldn’t you know it - CRASH! - down through the floor he goes!
Walter’s downward journey through seven floors of New York apartment building brings him into sharp contact with lots of humorous characters and many belongings that all plummet through the building with him. There’s Miss Hattie and her delicious spaghetti and meatballs, Aunt Batty and her sticky stamp collection, Mr. Hanratty and his colorful paint cans, all falling through floor after floor.
It isn’t until Walter’s bed crashes through to the basement, where things are dark and quiet, that he finally realizes it was all a dream.
Except that the kid upstairs is jumping on his bead again, and Walter hears a CRACK…
No Jumping On The Bed is one of the funniest children’s books around. The words are written at a rapid, hectic pace that keeps things moving as Walter’s bed falls down, down, down. The further he falls, the more stuff falls with him, until the paragraphs, and pictures, are simply choked with plummeting people and their possessions. Kids love to listen to the laundry list of falling items and will usually start trying to recite them along with you; a sure sign that they’re involved and engaged with the story.
Tedd Arnolds pictures are bright and colorful and filled with minute details. These details, from the expression on the TV monster’s face as the television falls through the floor to the images on Aunt Batty’s stamps, give pre-literate students plenty to focus on and talk about without the need for being able to decode the words. Pre-Readers and Early Readers can use the pictures alone to tell or retell the story.
The use of rhyming words for all of the building’s inhabitants creates a fun, lilting story and make some of the more difficult details easier for kids to remember.
Lastly, this book goes a long way towards helping pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students learn about cause and effect. Whole discussions on the subject can generate from this one text, whose lovable characters, vibrant illustrations, and whimsical story make all that learning seem like just a lot of fun.
Read-Aloud Tips
- As Walter falls through each floor, he takes more and more of his neighbors, and their belongings, down with him. As this list of falling objects grows longer, try reading through it as fast as you can. Kids will love this, trying to keep up with your fast pace and enjoying the novelty of your rapid reading. And although they don’t know it, you’re also modelling an important lesson: the idea that you can change the way you read a sentence based on what that sentence is trying to express.
Comprehension Questions
- Look at the front cover. What is the boy doing? Does it look like he is having fun? What do you think his parents would say if they saw him jumping on his bed?
- Have you ever jumped on your bed? How did mom and dad react when they caught you?
- Why do you think moms and dads don’t like kids jumping on beds?
Post-reading
- After he crashes through to the basement, Walter finds himself back in his bedroom and everything is fine. What do you think this means?
- Where do you think Walter got the idea to dream about crashing down through the floor?
- At the very end of the story, Walter hears a crash and Delbert’s bed comes falling through his ceiling. Do think this really happened, or is Walter dreaming again?
- Do you think Walter will ever jump on the bed again?
Literacy Activities
Writing
- Each time Walter falls through someone’s apartment, that person and some of their things go falling down with him. Imagine that your bedroom is right underneath Walter’s. What sorts of things would fall with him through your floor?
Draw a picture of you and Walter falling with some of the things from your room. Label yourself and Walter and the items that are falling down with you! - Make a list of things that fell through the apartment building with Walter. Flip through the pictures in the book for ideas.
- The story ends with Delbert’s bed crashing through Walter’s ceiling. Based on what you know from reading this story, what do you think is going to happen next?
Draw a picture and write a sentence about what the next page in this story might look like.
Phonemic Awareness
- Name Game: The names of the characters in this story all rhyme: Miss Hattie, Mr. Matty, Aunt Batty, Patty and Natty and Fatty Cat, Mr. Hanratty,and Maestro Ferlingatti. Practice saying the names of the characters together (flip through the pictures to jog your child’s memory) until your child hears the rhyming sounds. Now pick a new rhyme and come up with the rhyming character names to match.
Example: Miss Holly … Mr. Molly, Aunt Bolly, Polly and Nolly and Folly Cat, Mr. Hanrolly, and Maestro Ferlingolly.
- Five Little Monkeys: This story often reminds students of the nursery rhyme, ‘Five Little Monkeys.’ If your child already knows this funny rhyme, practice saying it together. if they don’t know it, download and teach them the words and fingerplay instructions for ‘Five Little Monkeys’.
For a fun twist, challenge your child to change the rhyme to a different animal, i.e., Five Little Chickens Jumping on the Bed, or Five Little Elephants Jumping on the Bed.
Phonics
- Walter’s Falling Alphabet Book: As Walter tumbles through the building, he takes all sorts of stuff with him. Help your children to create an alphabet book of items Falling through the house. Choose a letter and label a page with that letter (upper and lower case) at the top. Now have your child flip through the book looking for things that start with that letter. When they find something in a picture, have them draw it on their page.
Other options for this activity include: (1) create a whole alohabet book, then as your child spots something interesting in the book, they can find the right letter and draw it in; (2) rather than limit the activity to things in No Jumping On The Bed, let your child think of things for each letter that might have fallen with Walter during his dream.
Fun
- Act It Out! As a parent, myself, I’m slightly horrified to even suggest it, but why not let your child play a game of Jumping On the Bed? It’s terrible, I know, but the truth is the bed isn’t going to fall through the floor and your child is sure to act out and play all sorts of ideas from the story if you make this one, single concession to the rule. :)
- Map It! Walter lives in an apartment building with lots of other people living underneath him. Lots of kids, especially those that have never lived in an apartment building, are facinated bythe 3-D-ness of this story, by the idea of rooms stacked up like blocks.
Take advantage of that facination by helping your child draw a map of your house. If your house has more than one floor, or a basement or attic, pay special attention to helping your child figure out what is directly above, and directly below, their own room. Label all the rooms on the map and your child can hang it up on their wall!
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