John Patrick Norman McHennessy is a lovely story which is written and illustrated by John Burningham and was originally published in the year 1987. This uniquely illustrated story tells us about a boy, John Patrick Norman McHennessy, who hurries off along the road to learn. He looks forward to learn everyday but incidents on the way delay him from getting to school. He is greeted each time by a strict teacher who does not listen to him or believe his reasons for arriving late but instead punishes him. However, the story takes an unexpected turn, when the teacher is stuck in a similar situation.
I did a Read Aloud (RA) of this book in two classes during our LiS session and the children felt that ‘the road to learn’ means going to school. As John Burningham’s characters arrived dramatically on each page, the children noted how John Patrick escaped from each of these situations.They agreed that John Patrick is a smart boy but also felt that he was scared of his teacher.
Interestingly, the hilarious illustrations of the teacher keep the reader from feeling too sad for John Patrick, who is being punished. The children laughed at the teacher’s illustrations when he would get angry. Throughout the story, they were actively engaged and they understood John Patrick’s predicament as they have themselves often been at the receiving end of punishments from school teachers, tuition teachers or parents.
These responses transported me back to my own school days and brought back memories of ink markings on my face for answering incorrectly during dictations, and bruised knees for coming late or not being able to give satisfactory explanations for not bringing a new book. This story bound me and the children together and opened up feelings of sadness for the boy who was being punished and a feeling of hopelessness that times have still not changed.
Many children felt that John Patrick will leave the teacher alone to learn his lesson and were happy when they saw the ending. The ending also put the children in a state of dilemma about whether the boy’s reaction was appropriate or not. We discussed the right to education without fear. One shy girl approved of the boy’s decision to leave the teacher alone to deal with his situation. Others believed that the teacher deserved what he got as he had not believed John Patrick. All the children asserted firmly that they may have not seen a lion or a crocodile on the road but they have seen snakes and dogs. They believed John Patrick and his reasons for coming late to school and agreed that such things can happen.
At the end, the children summarized that he only received punishment in school but in the midst of nature, he learnt how to save himself from dangerous situations. Their responses and support for John Patrick and disdain for the teacher made me retrospect and as a teacher raised a question in my mind about whether we want this feeling of disdain and fear for teachers to continue.