| Baa, baa, black sheep, Have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, Three bags full;One for my master, One for my dame, And one for the little boy That lives in our lane. |
What a Reader Is Asked to Know
About Life
- what a black sheep is
- what a master, a dame, and a little boy are
- what wool is, and that it comes from sheep
- that a lane is like a street or road
About Language
- that “baa baa” indicates the sound that sheep make
- the rhyme scheme
- recognizing that they are not true rhymes however they still work
About Literature
- that nursery rhymes often personify animals
- that sheep cannot actually verbally articulate what the three bags of wool are for
What a Reader Is Asked to Do
- recognize that nursery rhymes have a sing-song type melody to them
- realize that the rhyme scheme and melody may be more evident when read out loud
Who is the Implied Reader?
The implied reader for this nursery rhyme are children. More specifically this could be narrowed down to children that may have an interest in sheep, it would make sense that they would pick this particular piece of literature for their parent to read to them. As Jonathan Klassen said in “How to Read Children’s Literature,” that the implied reader could be anyone in the targeted age group, however the content of the particular literature in question goes deeper into the interests of children in relation to the topic. Hence a child that actively hates sheep is not the implied reader for this nursery rhyme.