Since King Bidgood has a repetitive pattern, students can begin making predictions as soon as the first sequence is read. The way the events unfold is not always obvious, though, until the page is turned, so there is plenty of opportunity toconfirm one’s predictions.

After the first sequence (the knight doing battle “with a boom, boom, boom”), students can be encouraged to make their own predictions from the code words the king offers (i.e. “with a yum, yum, yum,” “with a trout, trout, trout,” and “with a jig, jig, jig.”)

Students can also make predictions as to the success each courtier will have in getting King Bidgood to leave his bathtub.

This book is just different enough that making mental pictures of the text is so much fun, especially when compared to the illustrator’s concept of the story. When reading the book to students for the first time, read the page completely before turning the book; ask students to picture the scene in their minds; then turn the book around to show the students the illustrations (which as a Caldecott Honor book, are wonderful). The text gives good clues to help imagine the scenes:

“when the sun came up,” “when the sun got hot,” “when the sun sank low,” “when the night got dark,” “when the moon shone bright”

A king who won’t get out of his bathtub? — Is it an enormous, kingly tub? Does he wear his crown in the tub?

Picture the Knight, the Queen, the Duke...all who eventually end up in the tub too

What does it look like to “battle in the tub,” to “lunch in the tub,” to “fish in the tub,” to “dance in the tub.”

When you see a tricky word, break it into smaller parts that you already know. This will help you read the word more easily!

For example:

Bathtub — You might see bath and tub, then put them together = bathtub

Battle — You might notice bat and tle, then sound them out = battle

King — You might recognize -ing, just like in other words you know = King

Some words also have special letter teams that make sounds together:

Out — The ou makes the same sound as in shout

Queen — The Qu always sticks together, like in quick

Night — The igh makes a long i sound, like in light

By helping the students enter into the thoughts and feelings of the characters, they can begin to read the text with the feeling and meaning as the author meant.

Consider the page’s distress: “Help! Help!” cried the Page... “King Bidgood’s in the bathtub, and he won’t get out!” “Oh, who knows what to do?”

How would each character bid the King to get out of the tub? Do the illustrations give us a clue as to their approach? “Get out! It’s time to battle!” (the Knight); “Get out! It’s time to lunch!” (the Queen); “Get out! It’s time to fish!” (the Duke); “Get out for the Masquerade Ball!” (the Court)

How would the obviously delighted King respond to their commands? “Today we battle in the tub!” “Today we lunch in the tub!” “Today we fish in the tub!” “Today we dance in the tub!”

There will often still be a word or two that can not be figured out from the context or the illustrations. At this point, children can ask someone they trust to define the word for them OR they can learn the self-sufficient strategy of using a dictionary or thesaurus as a tool to understand new words. If your language program does not teach paper dictionary skills, be sure to teach those (alphabetical order, guide words, etc.), but for quick reference, add an online child’s dictionary / thesaurus to the desktop of the student computer in the classroom. In this way, students do not spend all of their reading time trying to figure out an unknown meaning.

What exactly is a king’s court – dictionary. Reading through the meanings to choose the most likely definition. This requires teaching and training so that the dictionary can be a tool for success.

What is a Masquerade ball? or a jig? – dictionary or thesaurus. Teaching students the difference between a dictionary (to obtain meanings) and a thesaurus (to find synonyms and antonyms) helps them know what tool will best suit their purposes.