The latest viral music video is being turned into a children’s picture book.
“What Does the Fox Say?” is a catchy music video that’s been seen by more than 200 million people.
It was created by two Norwegian brothers, Bard and Vegard Ylvisaker, collectively known as Ylvis.
The video was meant to be silly and almost meaningless. But the tune was so darned catchy, it caught on, big-time.
Now, it will be a picture book called “What Does The Fox Say?”
Publisher Simon & Schuster is launching the book next month. It was written by Ylvis and has illustrations drawn by Svein Nyhus.
The brothers had thought of the idea of creating a picture book from their song even before they uploaded it to YouTube.
They realized that, as they were writing the song, they really were wondering: what does a fox say?
“Fox” isn’t the first viral video to become a picture book. A viral video about a shell named Marcel was turned into a picture book last year, and many blogs (online journals) have been turned into books and movies.
The book is scheduled to be launched in December.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Kathleen Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
The article explains that many videos have become picture books: “’Fox’ isn’t the first viral video to become a picture book. A viral video about a shell named Marcel was turned into a picture book last year, and many blogs (online journals) have been turned into books and movies.”
What YouTube video or movie would you choose to make into a picture book? Why?
Reading Prompt: Text Features
Picture books and YouTube videos have very different features. Explain how books and videos are similar/different using a t-chart.
How do you think a viewer/reader will understand “What Does a Fox Say” differently, depending on whether they read the book or watched the music video on YouTube?
Primary, Junior and Intermediate
Identify a variety of text features and explain how they help readers understand texts (OME, Reading: 2.3).
Grammar Feature: Collective Nouns
A collective noun refers to a group of people or things. For example, ‘Ylvis’ is the collective noun for Bard Ylvisaker and Vegard Ylvisaker.
Write sentences using each of these collective nouns:
1. class
2. government
3. company
4. team
5. family
6. army
7. group
