Du Iz Tak is a fun read for children

“This is a French book,” said one child confidently.

The rest of the children turned to him and said, “no,” most emphatically.

The librarian read on. “Vooback.” “What? What is this? It’s so weird. This is not my language.

Is this a book about a plant or what? Is the bug’s name Icky? What kind of book is this? Is this a language?” they asked.

Du Iz Tak uses an invented language to tell the story of a plant growing from a shoot.

Two damselflies watch it grow and comment on its growth. As the plant grows, the insects invent more creative ways to use the plant. Insects bring a ladder and build a tree house that is attacked by a spider and a bird.

The illustrations are small to add to the bugs’ perspective.

Most of the pages are white space.

While searching for meaning in the story, children note certain types of linear progression.

They realise seasons are changing in the story, and they note how this affects the plant. They note a cocoon going through its stages.

“This is the weirdest language I ever heard,” one child says again.

Reading this book to your child or your students if you’re a teacher will show you a lot about how children process language.

Girls were much more willing to “interpret” the bugs’ language.

They accepted it was a language. Boys were more perplexed and annoyed with the story. Boys became more visual and relied on the interpreting the pictures to understand the story. Girls worked with language more than boys.

All children tried to construct the story by asking themselves questions. “Are the bugs knocking?” Girls felt the book was “interesting and fun.” Boys said it was confusing.” One girl deemed Du Iz Tak as “unique.” Only a couple of boys said they didn’t like the story.

“I don’t get the point of the book,” said one boy.

“It’s about bugs’ lives. It’s about the seasons. It’s about how plants grow,” the girls said.

Children decided the book was about many things. One decided it was a about a baby shower for a cocoon.

They used their imagination to ground them, and then they decided to construct the story from the pictures and finally they tackled the language.

When asked about observations they could make about the language, girls said they have punctuation like question marks.

All the children realised words were repeated. Using their imagination, they actually translated lines: “Here’s your baby shower”, “Ok”, “so let’s climb up the ladder.” One boy realised the language had a syntax.

He pointed out, “The sentences have an order to them.” Boys continuously wondered about the purpose of the book and girls weren’t put off at all by the boys’ distress. Interestingly enough, by the end of the book, children accepted the invented language as an actual language: bug language.

In the end, one boy said, “This is the weirdest language I ever heard.” Du Iz Tak is a fun read for children. It sharpens comprehension and analytical skills at a young age.

Parents and teachers will find it a very useful book in determining how children approach language.