Author shows kids a GNU way to SEA words

By Jennifer A. Webb, diocesan features editor

[reprinted with permission from the Catholic Universe Bulletin, May 2, 1997]

One might think that explaining the difference between puns and homonyms to grade-schoolers is akin to singing lullabies to drowsy infants.

Unless the teacher is Brian J. Cleary, a Lakewood children's author who revels in the English language and dryly slips into the silliness of his youthful audience. Then the lesson becomes an introduction to tile jokes and absurdities of his four books.

In each book, Cleary uses puns {words that look alike but have different meanings) and homonyms {words pronounced the same but have different meanings -- but you knew that) in four-line stanzas.

On file surface, the sentences make little sense: "My dad predicts the weather and he TOAD my sister once, 'It looks a lot like REINDEER, so be sure to wear your pumps."

When the words are read out loud, their meanings become clear. That's what St. Mary of the Falls principal Pat Shields likes about Cleary's books. On April 8, Cleary spoke to 260 students at the Olmsted Falls Catholic elemenatry school, then repeated the talks that afternoon for 307 students at St. Mary in Berea.
"These are books that want to be read out loud," Shields said, "These are books kids share with each other, and I think that's important."

Cleary, 37, grew up in Rocky River and attended St. Christopher School there. As the third eldest of nine children, he would read to his siblings and found himself appreciating children's literature as a high school student at St. Ignatius and a college student at John Carroll University.

Since his 1989 graduation from John Carroll, he has been a card editor at American Greetings. He also freelances writing work for magazines, the David Letterman show and other publications. He has written copy for more than 100 "Garfield" and "Ziggy" comic strips.

He wrote four books that were published in 1996 after being rejected 22 times. Their titles are cities to the word plays contained in each; "Give Me Bach My Shubert," "It Looks a Lot Like Reindeer," 'Jamaica Sandwich," and "You Never Sausage Love." Four more books were recently sent to 11 publishers for review.

A member of St. Clement Parish, Cleary lives in Lakewood with his wife, a Cleveland teacher, and three daughters. He took a vacation day froth work to speak at the schools, at the invitation of Jackie Napover, a former librarian and mother of a St. Mary of the Falls student.

"He makes learning fun," Napover said of Cleary, "They're learning and they don't realize it."

Cleary said the clue to some of his riddles is in using the same consonant at the end of one word and at the beginning of tile next.

"Our cat is kind DOVE SHELLFISH,
and thinks the world is hers,
She finds a comfy spot and then
we pet TURTLE SHEEP purrs,"
Some of the jokes are hard to gel especially for tile younger children. But that's what makes the books appealing to Cleary, who thinks children will work to understand tile meaning of words if they know there's a joke behind them.

"It's perfectly OK if you don't understand every single one of them," Cleary told the primary students at St. Mary of the Falls. "For one thing, I make a lot of corny jokes, and you have to be 40 years old to get some of them."

Cleary said the key to getting kids to read more is to provide hooks that appeal to their sense of humor.

"Kids increase their vocabulary when they have a vested interest in finding out what the word means, because they'll get the joke better," he said.

Cleary speaks from experience. He struggled through elementary and high school, but he enjoyed writing rhymed ditties "akin to poetry,' and the 'sappy stuff in high school. The experience helped him grow as a writer, he said.

"You have to get it out of your system," Cleary said.

It's paying off. Earlier this month, he was awarded a children's choice award from the Children's Book Council and the International Reading Association, which asked children to name their favorite books. "Give Me Bach My Shubert" placed in the top 100, and it outsold the others by 20 percent, he said. His publisher told him each book sold about 1,000 copies.

He encouraged the children to read and learn new words to use when they write. He told them reading and writing are important because they extend their world of possibilities.

"You're probably not old enough to play center field for the Cleveland Indians, but you could write a story in which you make yourself the centerfielder for the Cleveland Indians," he told a fourth grader. "Within that world of reading and writing, all sorts of things can happen. I think that's kind of neat."