Tag Archives: chickachickaboomboom

Conversation: Cabin In the Woods

100 Day Project, Uncategorized, ,

As previously surmised on this very site, there are probably tens of thousands of alphabet-type books in existence. There are probably a double dozen published each year in the USA. Some past favorites of mine include a Where’s Waldo type hunt in the illustrations, a jazz rhythm primer, and teaching about the natural history of Hawaii.

When a market is saturated with what has been said, eventually you can say something about what has been said before and add to the conversation of what exactly the market has tolerated, what it means, what it says about us as a culture, a society, and the human experience as it is understood in this moment.

Cabin In the Woods put both of these concepts together and gave audiences a commentary on killing teenagers in a movie, stereotype roles, rituals both arcane and corporate, and the most hilarious exchange (”Am I on speakerphone?”) that illuminated the humanity behind the people who typically hold NPC signifier positions. It was not the final word.

Time marches on, seasons change, tastes change, social mores change, more derivative works are added to the total library of human creation; there is always more to be said.

Cabin In the Woods is a horror movie, first and last. Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom (referenced elsewhere on this blog) is an alphabet book. Both take the structure of expectation of their genre, tick the required boxes, and then hang something new on the skeleton of what is needed to succeed.

Horror movies need horror, and they need to say something horrible or reveal a horribleness about us or at least say something in a horrifying way. Alphabet books need to be about the alphabet or at least include the letters in the currently accepted order or acknowledge that there is an order they will proceed to ignore for the good reasons they go on to state in the work itself.

Alphabet book? Needs alphabet.

Horror movie? Needs horror.

Rhythm: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

100 Day Project, Uncategorized, Writing, , , , ,

One of the seminal alphabet learning books in the last century was, without a doubt, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. I have waited a lifetime to be able to write that sentence.


Every year there’s probably around a couple hundred alphabet books or language basics books published in the world. They won’t change. In the USA at least, the alphabet is pretty set.


Each of these books must be different in order to hit the market and that difference is something value added. For children’s books for tiny humans that are such basic building blocks of tiny-human knowledge, there are certain things that can make them stand out:

  1. Audience participation
  2. A story
  3. Playing with the construction of a children’s book in general

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom has all three. While the book has a story, starring kids being daring, silly, and having just a little more hope than sense, it’s 1 and 3 that make the book a classic. By “construction of a children’s book” I mean interesting page turns, something in the illustrations that make the story re-readable (think Where’s Waldo), or a novel rhythm. Years before I was commanded to learn to read music (long story) Chicka Chicka Boom Boom introduced me to the wonderfully unexpected stops and starts of jazz without the complication of a wind section, or my ongoing rivalry with the trumpets (short story but not the place).


As for 1. Audience participation, the title of the work is meant to be read but the refrain is a delight to shout. Usually with a crowd.


Most of us are introduced to music on a bone-deep level, even if it isn’t via formal study. We can read prose and poetry, in the way we can hear the sounds that also have been sung to, or around us.


To mix up your rhythm, listen to music. Steal with wild, respectful abandon. Listen to your words in a voice that is not your own, even if only in the confines of your own head.