The Sour Grape, by Jory John

0:00Hi, this is Lina and Dad. And today we're going to read another great story in this story called The Sour Grape. We absolutely love these stories by Jorrie John. We have read The Smart Cookie, The Bad Seed and now we're going to read The Sour Grape. And we're going to read this especially because we had a super nice email from Noah and Luca. Well, I think your mummy sent us an email and she said, Hi there, Luca and Noah from Melbourne, Australia, love listening to your stories and we keep listening every night at bedtime. Last time we sent you a request for Fluth which we did enjoy reading, didn't we? And we were super excited if you could maybe read another story. It is The Sour Grape by Jorrie John.

1:04We've also got a super nice voice message. Shall we hear it? Yes, we should. Hi, Lina and Dad. My name is Luca and I sister is called Noah. We live in Melbourne, Australia and we would like you to read The Sour Grape by Jorrie John. We listen to your stories every night and the last time we voice message you, we ask for Fluth. Bye, thank you. That was nice. Shall we read The Sour Grape? Because it's been asked for guys from Australia do we need to use an Australian voice? Do you think you would like to use your Australian voice that you've been practising? Good day mate. You have to say, you have to say more than just that though. Do you think you could do that? What do we say? I do we say we say let's read. Oh my gosh, you have been practising and that's really good. Okay, I think you should use it definitely. So Luca and Noah. There should that be The Sour Grape's voice.

2:05We could try The Sour Grape to have that voice if you would like. He's The Sour Grape. Shall we read The Sour Grape? I'll do it mate. This is not good. My voices have gone bad and yours have gone much better. My voices have gone sour like this grape. Can we read The Sour Grape? Yes we should. What do we say? What do we say? What do we say? We say let's read. Oh dear, this could be very, very bad. Sorry if you live in Australia. Okay, I can't do that for some reason. I can. I think you should do it then. Ready? Well, it's a raid. No, to do it. I should stop now. I'm a grape. Oh, that was terrible. That was terrible. That is your normal voice. That sounds exactly like you. I'm a grape. A sour grape.

3:05A sour grape. It's a... Shall we share it? Shall we share the eating? I just can't read what it says. If somebody upsets me, I'll remember it. And if somebody wrongs me, I won't forget it. If somebody insults me, I'll never ignore it. Nope. Is that something okay so far? Yeah. Are you sure? Yeah. I'm not sure, sure. See that banana over there? That banana slipped and bumped into me. So I'm holding a grudge. See that orange? That orange... That orange didn't call me back for a week. Grudge. See that lime? That lime burrowed. That lime borrowed my scarf and never returned it.

4:09Grudge. I suppose I've got a pretty thin skin for a grape. No, but he steps on this grape. Grrr. Granted. Granted. Granted. It wasn't always this way. Oh, that's so much better than mine. I don't... Some of the words I can do, and then other times, the voice just goes. I grew up in a close, knit bunch. Get it? What does it mean to a bunch of grapes? Wait, can I read the tiny little speech? I grew up in a close, knit bunch. There were about 3,000 of us in our little community. We were sweet to each other. You look... You look nice today. So do you. Not you, dude. No, you do.

5:10They're being very nice to each other. Pain, compliments and all sorts of stuff. Like grapes would. If they lived in a bunch of grapes. We all lived on a vine. Sure. It was a little bit claustrophobic, especially when we were trying to get ready in the morning. What does claustrophobic mean? Small. Sorry. What does claustrophobic mean? Small. It means like when there's no space. Like you're all crammed in together. So this one's getting ready for school or work or something's doing his hair in the mirror. And so on saying, are you done in there? Come on. But my family was ripe with humour, goodwill and warmth. And we did our very best with what we had. Are you going fishing? Are you going fishing? I think you're saying, are you going to finish that? Yeah. Because they're arguing over the food that they're eating. Well, do you think the voice is going so far? Good. Not bad. Yours are definitely better than mine. I think it's better than it was at the beginning.

6:11But I'm still not too sure. It's actually that good. Let's keep trying. Okay. Oh, they're out with the old fruits. Right, used to be my friend. They're not old fruits, you know, when they're shrubbled grapes. You know, you know that mouldy grape that was on the floor. You did, you did find a mouldy grape, didn't you? And it was all shrubbled. That's what they look like. Like raisins. Yeah. Raisins are basically the grapes that are shrubbled. Thank you. You're educating me. But I used to love people, used to say old fruit as a way to talk to you. At least one person did. I remember when I was a kid somebody used to go, oh, hello old fruit. Old bean. No, no one ever says that to you. I mean, I used to go inside of my coat and jump around on two feet. And people would call me the jumping bean. They did. They did. Because you were a little bean sometimes. My grandparents visited on weekends and we'd stroll in the sun and they'd teach us what

7:14they knew. They said that it takes a bunch to raise a seed. And they said that good grapes roll their own way in life. And they told us to be kind, forgiving, considerate and grateful. Okay, there's an old grape. There's two old grapes. I told us to be kind, forgiving, considerate and grateful. Or grapefruit. My grandpa said with a wink. Or grateful. A bubble. No matter what. Oh my goodness me. How do you use an old person's accent? I think you could do it. Wait, what does she say? Is there an old person in blueie? Yeah. Just copy that voice. Okay. Come on then. There's actually two old people. No matter what life throws at you and there will be a lot. Try it to stay sweet. What's the first book? A bubble. No matter what. Oh, I think I got it.

8:14I think a bubble. No matter what life throws at you. And there will be a lot. Try to stay sweet. My grandma said. My grandma said indeed. We all said. In response. Do you think he's going to be able to stay sweet? Or is he going to go sour? Sour. For a while I was the sweetest of the sweet. I said please. I said, what else do you say please? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I brushed aside lives little annoyances and I knew how good I had it. Oh no. He's ordering a hot dog from this giant apple and the apple squirted him with mustard. And he says no problem at all. No problem at all. No worry about it because he's nice and chilled out because he's not sour.

9:15He's a sweet grape. But then on. But then. And then. One day something changed in me. I love your voice. You're doing that voice is brilliant. It was my birthday. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. For. Weeks. I. I was. I was. I was. I was. I sent. I sent. I sent. Out invite. With. The date. Properly. O. Consumment only. Display. Displayed. There's lots of long words in here for some children to read. Get this. I had a ferris wheel. A magician. And hay rides.

10:15What do you think a hay ride is? A horse ride. horse right? I think yeah like all you just say on the back of a tractor or something. There is a tractor in the picture so I think I am correct. With hay in it. With a hay? Maybe they're having a ride on the hay and that's why it's quite... The magician. I had snacks upon snacks upon snacks. The highlight of the party though was going to be a fireworks display which would happen at sundown. Well it would have to happen at sundown otherwise it would be too light. You can't have fireworks in the daytime too. Yeah but if it was pitch black. Then that party is going on late if it's staying until pitch black. I stood out in front and waited for folks to arrive. I had a gigantic smile on my face. Oh no I think I know what's going to happen. No no no we're going to be coming. Oh waited. Everyone was a little late. It seemed no big deal. No big whoop. So I waited. A tumbleweed. Rolled by. A coyote howled in the distance.

11:23How? I can't do that. That was a good one. The sun. How did you do that? How did I howl? Yeah. I can't even do that with them that you feel like. What the growling? Yeah. Can you just learn and stuff if you want to try? I can almost do the duck. I don't know if there's going to be a duck in the story. I hope there is. That would be good. A coyote howled in the distance. In the sunset. The sun sank behind the hills and I waited. Oh no he's on his own. Do you think anyone's going to show? No. It is your birthday very soon isn't it? Yeah. I think I don't think we're going to have a fireworks display and I don't think there's going to be a coyote howling in the in the distance either. Nobody showed up and I mean nobody.

12:29I considered everybody I'd invited and only one thought came to mind. Grudge, grudge, grudge, grudge, grudge, grudge, grudge, grudge. By the time the fireworks show started with me as the sole spectator I was scowling. Of course you would be if nobody turned up. What if you accidentally put the wrong date though? And that's why nobody showed. After that my personality changed. Go. I became something else entirely. I went from a sweet grape to a bitter grape and then to a snappy grape. There's a little cut sitting in his chair. Oh move my chair. He's asking this kind of finally I became a sour grape. I'll start holding minor grudges that eventually became major grudges. Banana is a banana he's walking his pet dog and he's accidentally wrapped up the

13:37grape in the leaves. I don't think dogs eat bananas but the grape is very sour and he's like what only watch where you're going. I scaled so much that my face he got all squishy. There's an orange walking past this grape on his phone, minding his own business. You know what? Don't even bother calling me back. He says. I took my grumping us out on others. And then that little pair who was wearing scarf at the front of the store or a line. He's not thinking it's a bit. Oh it is a line. The line has still not returned his scarf and this grape is a banana. And that is just how it's been. Where is he? The mall. He's in the supermarket. And there's giant fruits everywhere buying their own fruits. That's quite funny. What are you what are you owing at? What have you seen?

14:44In the queue for this supermarket there's a giant watermelon. He's buying some baguettes and this little. No they're not buying fruits they're buying vegetable. Not be weird if you were a fruit you wouldn't buy more fruit or do you I suppose. And that's just how it's been because day after day week after week month after month grudge after grudge but something happened recently that changed my thinking. What do we think happened? I was getting ready to meet up with my friend Lenny. You know the only fellow who I know who is as sour as I am. Lenny and I usually go to the park where we sit on a bench and we rant about stuff. But just as I was heading out the door I bumped my knee after I bandaged myself up. I discovered I had a flat tire on my bike and then I missed the bus

15:46and then the next bus was late. And finally I got off put up the wrong stop. He's not having a good day. By the time I arrived at the park he was getting dark. Lenny was fuming and furious with a frown and a furrowed forehead. His face looked all squishy. Lenny is not happy. Lenny is saying we agree and meet up at exactly four o'clock. You off three hours late. Oh dear he's been sat on a park bench waiting for his friend for three hours. He must really wanted to have a sat and talk to him. I tried to explain why I was so late but Lenny wouldn't listen. He'd already made up his mind. He had formed a huge grudge and he would not budge. Oh my goodness me. Run. What did I say? I hoped that would be in this book. A duck. And what do we have in front of us? A duck. I couldn't believe it. I thought

16:53how unfair, how ridiculous, how similar to the way that I react. And then this duck on this page is next to him going... I guess maybe that's what the dog's doing. But he's going... I think our sour grape friend has realised that he is a sour grape these days. Lenny was pretty worked up. He was pacing back and forth, emitting occasional grumbles. His tone was bad. So I gave him a little space. And besides... There's one, two, three, four, four ducks. There's four ducks. Oh my gosh there is. How did I not see that? That woodpecker that was doing this. The pecking wood. There's actually sansukka woodpecker. What does it... What? It's wrong and... That does sound like a woodpecker. But what is it? It's a bird. No it is not

18:00what are you doing? It's... What is that noise? It's my nail, my finger tapping on my wall. I thought you were saying it is a woodpecker in my bedroom. Lenny... It's a bird because you... What is that? I know what it's a bird. Lenny was pretty worked up. He was pacing back and forth. And besides it was nice out. I noticed the sky changing colour. The melodic chirping of the birds and the evening breeze. The birds... You know that, the bird. That's like in like stays by the water that flies. Like is like a proper bird. You know like a pigeon. Like that. Is a king fish? A proper bird not a pigeon. No I said a proper bird like a pigeon. All birds are proper birds aren't they? No like proper birds. Not ducks, they're like water birds. Like a bird. Like a pigeon. What about a sparrow? Is that a proper bird?

19:07What does a sparrow do? What does it do? Like the same thing that all birds do. Like flies around and twit twit. What have a bird to do? Lenny, that stays by the water and doesn't actually swim in the water. It's a king fish. And it lives like in a tree next to the water? You are very clever. And I want to learn more about proper birds from you one day. Yeah. Besides it was getting nice out and I noticed the sky was changing color. The melodic chirping. Do you know every single time I get to this bit you start talking about something different? The chirping of the birds and the evening breeze and the buzz of the parks insects was coming alive at night. I suddenly felt grateful and peaceful and calm. Look at the bees. And you're interrupting me again. Have I been missing? I'd have been missing all this simple beauty because I was too busy

20:11complaining. Look at his robot. He does have a boat that kind of looks like a trainer or a sneaker. What are they called? Trainers in Australia. Do they call them sneakers? I think they do. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. He's rowing in a little robot all his own. Meanwhile, all Lenny he stormed off, muttering something about disrespect and a lack of consideration. I'm pretty sure I heard him at a... errrr... Two. I think our little great-prenders realized. He probably left his room. What on earth is that from? It's from Descendants. Okay, I knew I'd heard it somewhere. I don't know if he would be doing that he might do it. Because it's because it's from Descendants and it says disrespect and I've got

21:12the bit where it says this is all hands and neck. I'm getting tired of the disrespect. I love that you can just think of something completely not to do with what we're doing. Halfway through we're doing it. He's a very... it's funny when you do it. Our walk time and our pulled a dusty box from out underneath my bed. There were old family photos inside and I spotted myself in one of the pictures. It was so sweet. Sorry, I was so sweet. I knew that little grape from the photo was still a big part of me. Deep down. It would just take some work. But it sounds so funny that little grape. It would just take some work to get back to that grape again. And that was the exact moment. I think I was right. That was the exact moment I found the invitation. I'd sent out from my infamous birthday party. The one where nobody showed up. It said May 31st.

22:17Wait, wait a minute. Wait a minute. My birthday was on May 21st. I told everybody to come on the wrong day. It was all my fault. There's no 31st of May. Yeah. Yeah, they do. Yeah, they do. Either is even. Yeah, they do. It was all my fault and I realised nobody's perfect. Not even May. After that. It's gonna be May. You're the most distrapped full child. If that's not a word, but it should be. And it should be about. It should be. But it's so funny. I love it. After that day, I can't do the whole thing. Technically, you can invent a word. Can you actually know what? You didn't like a bed

23:19wasn't a thing before. Like who made the name bed? Yeah. I don't know how if you did invent a word, how you could have sandwiches. That's because somebody whose second name was sandwich invented it. It's true. It's true. The name was like Jonathan Sandwich or something. And I don't think it was Jonathan, but they wanted to make food and they thought of putting two pieces of bread either side, something. And it is made sure his name was Earl Sandwich or something or the Earl of Sandwich. Just. Oh, Sandwich. That's true. I never just because of some which is a thing now. It sounds funny. After that day, I started noticing other things too. Like how remaining that is a pair definitely remaining sour all the time is so draining. I'd wasted so much energy holding grudges that when I could have it is. I'd wasted so much energy holding grudges.

24:21I could have easily cleared the air after I first felt hurt. And yeah, I still get upset from my voice. The voice is going all over the place. It's time to time. You still get upset from time to time. He's going from, we've always still a girl for we've got to be so happy. But that's okay because now I talk and listen and I work things out. Instead of just walking away, my sourness, burr, my sourness is falling. My sourness is fading and I'm letting go of all my grudges. And hey, it's working. Grudgy grudges. Grudgy grudges. Oh, you just you're just full of the funniest phrases. Mr. Grinch. And he's a bad banana. He's bumped into this banana again and he's saying, don't worry, slip ups happen. Arm just cleared, you're okay. And the banana is saying,

25:24aww. Thanks. If he was still sour, this would be the song. Mr. Grinch. Mr. Grinch. He's a bad banana. Why has he got, what was the Grinch got to do? No, Mr. Grinch. Oh, Mr. Grinch. Sorry, but it's a bad banana. And then he's bumped. It is Grinch in the movie. He's bumped into his old friend, the lion. The scarf looks sublime to me. Why don't you keep it? Really? Oh, you're the best. Said his friend. He does look odd without it, because I've seen it on him too much. And it's his old, it wasn't an orange, it was a great orange. You, you, orange, you glad we got to catch up. And he's saying, I'm so grateful that we did.

26:24Sure, sometimes I still let out a little girl when I'm frustrated like this. But then, but then I move on and my face is less squishy too. And oh, don't worry, things are okay with Lenny again. Gosh, I'm sorry I'm late. You must be furious. And now it's the grapes turn to be waiting. No big deal, my friend. No big deal. And you know what, if you look at things the right kind of way and if you remember to be kind, consider it forgiving and grateful, then life can be pretty sweet. What do we have here? It looks like he's had another birthday party, maybe next year. With a banana. And a orange. And a pear. And a apple. And a grape. And a

27:30life can be pretty sweet. The end. And I can finally go back to a voice that I can normally do, because it's just my normal voice, but I did love doing that voice for the whole story. And that was the sour grape. What do you think the story was about? I would say being a grape. I would say not being sour. What is sour? What would you say sour is don't be sour? Sour. Like miserable grumpy. No, that's just moody. Moody. Could be being moody. Sour. Like if you always want everything to be your way, like, and like, that's good for life. I can't explain sour. Perfect. I think

28:33you explained it perfectly. Like the non-sufficient way of saying sour would be like, would be like, that's, you said it perfect. Would be like being, there's a motion for that anyway. Anyway, maybe boredom and envy at the same time. envy that's a good description as well. I only know that because of inside out too. That's good. It's a good way to learn different words if it's from a movie or from a book or from anything. I really liked reading that story. Thank you very much to Noah and Luca from Melbourne, Australia. And I'm very sorry about the voice I will need to practice more. I think you need to take over from me with the voices. Yay. I really liked reading that.

29:36What do we say to anyone who might have listened? Thanks for listening. Bye.