"Tell it Backwards"

Like most three year olds, G loves stories.  If she had her way someone would be either reading her a book or making up a story for her at all times.

And, again like most three year olds, she likes to hear her favourite books over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

But when even she starts to get tired of the repetition, she asks of a little variation on the familiar.  Lately she has a new request.  "Read it backwards." 

When you read "The Little Red Hen" normally it's a story about a hen who finds a grain of wheat and makes it into bread without anybody's help, and then eats the bread also with nobody's help.

But when you read it backwards it's the story of a hen who wakes up and invites all her friends to eat bread for breakfast with her.  They say no thank you, but she likes the bread so much she decides to make another loaf.  Then she sells some flour to the mill in exchange for some grain, and offers the grain to her friends.  They say no thank you again so she ends her day by doing some gardening.

Normally "The Little Engine that Could" is the story of a broken down train that is eventually rescued by a little blue engine who takes them over the mountain.

But when you read it backwards it's the story of a blue engine who abandons her train after bringing it over the mountain.  No other engines will help, until the dolls and toys fix a broken down engine which takes them back home.

And when you read "The Cat in the Hat" backwards it is exactly the same.