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The Right Picture for the Wrong Reason

Chapter 1The rabbit card

Rebbi puts three picture cards on the table.

One shows a rabbit. One shows a bird. One shows a fish.

"I will read a clue," he says. "Choose the picture that fits. Then we will talk about the clue."

The boys are practicing together. It isn't a test. Nobody wins a prize for finishing first.

Yankel likes the rabbit. Its ears are enormous. One ear bends at the top.

Rebbi reads, "This animal has long ears and fur."

Yankel is looking at the bent ear, not listening to all the words. He puts his counter on the rabbit because he likes it best.

Rebbi shows the answer.

Rabbit.

Yankel grins. He got it right.

Chapter 2The question after right

"Which words helped you choose?" Rebbi asks.

Yankel looks at the rabbit again.

"That one."

"Yes. What did you hear in the clue?"

The clue has already gone past. Yankel remembers hearing animal. He doesn't remember the rest clearly.

He wants to say that the bent ear told him. But the clue did not say bent.

His friend, Berel, says he listened for long ears and fur.

That sounds like a good explanation. Yankel could repeat it as if it were his own reason.

He keeps his mouth closed for a moment.

Then he says, "I picked the rabbit because I liked the picture."

Chapter 3A right guess

Rebbi sits beside the table.

"So you guessed before using the clue."

Yankel nods.

"But it was right."

"It was. Now we can check why that picture fits."

Yankel looks at his counter. He nearly moves it off the rabbit. If the reason was wrong, perhaps the answer must be wrong too.

Rebbi asks him to leave it there while they listen again.

Long ears. Fur.

Yankel points to the rabbit's ears. Then he looks at the other cards.

The fish doesn't have fur. The bird has feathers, and its ears aren't drawn like the rabbit's.

The clue fits the rabbit for a reason that wasn't the reason Yankel used.

Chapter 4Not the same thing

"Do I know how to do it, then?" Yankel asks.

"You know how to check this clue now. Let's try another together."

The next cards show a cup, a shoe and a spoon.

Yankel likes the shoe. Its laces curl into a funny shape.

This time he keeps his counter in his hand while Rebbi reads.

"You can drink water from this."

Yankel looks at the shoe and then the cup.

"Cup."

"What helped?"

"Drink water. A shoe is for a foot."

Rebbi nods. Yankel puts the counter on the cup.

It is another correct choice. This time he can tell how he made it.

Chapter 5A clue he misses

On the next round, Yankel thinks about the rabbit's bent ear again. He misses part of the new clue.

He notices before putting down his counter.

"Could you read that again?"

Rebbi repeats it. Yankel listens and chooses.

Berel finishes sooner. Yankel doesn't move his counter just because Berel's is already on a card. He wants it beside the picture his own clue fits.

When the practice ends, the boys return the counters to the bowl.

The rabbit stays on the table. Yankel still likes it.

Chapter 6The answer at home

At home, Tatty asks about the school day.

"I got a rabbit right by guessing," Yankel says. "Then I learned which words made it right."

Tatty listens to the whole story.

"Did you have to pretend the right answer was wrong?"

"No. I had to tell how I picked it."

Yankel draws a rabbit with one bent ear. He gives it enormous slippers too.

Tatty asks whether the slippers belong to the school card.

"No. I added them."

He colors one slipper orange and one green. Nothing in the school clue had told him which colors to use. This is his own picture.

The drawing doesn't have to answer a clue. Here, he can choose the rabbit just because he likes it.

Chapter 7Before the counter

At the next practice, Rebbi sets out a new group of pictures.

Yankel notices his favorite one immediately.

Then he waits for the clue.

He might still miss a word. He might make a mistake. If he guesses, he can say so and check.

A right counter can show where he ended up. Listening and explaining can show how he got there.

Today, he wants to know both.