Grobblechops by Elizabeth Lair and Jenny Lucander

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Is a retelling of a poem by Rumi, a renowned poet and philosopher who lived in ancient Persia. This is one of several of his poems which have been translated by the publishers Tiny Owl, and brought to life in engaging and thoughtful picture books for a new generation.  I love all the retellings, but this is my favourite so far.

On one level it is a story of a boy, called Amir, who is scared to go to bed, because of the monsters underneath it.  The boy’s dad gently encourages him to make friends with the monster, so he won’t be scared anymore. But, there is so much more to this story, there are other important messages that are being conveyed.

In the story the boy and his dad discover that fighting monsters doesn’t get them anywhere.  The dad encourages the monster to go off and play and says:

“when the grown-ups see how nicely you and little monster are playing, we’ll stop arguing and sit down for a cup of coffee to talk things over.”

The original pictures by Jenny Lucander beautifully capture the dialogue between the boy and his dad. They include many scenes children recognise. Whilst at the same time there is a distinctive ‘other world’ fell to the illustrations.  In her artwork Jenny has managed to create a unique monster which is both lovable and scary.

 

A truly special and unique bet-time story, which will help children deal with their night-time fears. It might also help children deal with their anxiety over making new friends.  It also has universal messages about acknowledging and making friends with your fears, and that fighting what you are afraid off is rarely the answer. This will resonate with children of all ages and adults.

Then you to Tiny Owl for sending me a review copy of this book.

You can find out more about the book and download a free poster on Tiny Owls website

The book is also available to buy from me at Readers that Care

Dare by Lorna Gutierrez and Polly Noakes

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Published by Tiny Owl Books.

 

Dare is one of those children’s stories, that even as an adult makes me smile every time I pick it up. Younger children will love the simple fun and inspiring poem by Loran Gutierrez, and noticing all the things the children from diverse backgrounds do. Older readers and adults will also pick up on the many positive messages about: being yourself, reaching out to others, standing up for what you believe in and daring to be you.

The illustrator Polly Noakes brings the story to life with her unique illustration style. I am already a big fan of the illustrator, but am more familiar with here drawing animals rather than people. Polly draws a wonderful group of diverse children that appear in the story doing all sorts of things, some of which challenge gender stereotypes. Such as a girl aspiring to be an astronaut and, a boy dressing up in a skirt. The girl anspiring to be an astronaut especially resonated with my daughter, as when she was younger she got very frustrated when all she saw in books about space (including some non-fiction books) were ones with boys or men

The core messages of this story will appeal to children and adults of all ages. It is a fun story to read aloud which also has important messages about: taking part, reaching out and, being yourself. It also invite’s the reader to appreciate quite times, and encourages children to be comfortable with their own company. Both of which are really important for fostering well-being, in a world often full of business and noise.

A fun, playful, heart-warming and empowering story that, I would highly recommend for every school and home library.

Here is the second half of the poem:

“Dare to be your own best friend
Dare to enjoy a silent night
Dare to be a shining light,
Dare to be who you truly are
A light in the dark
Be you a star”

Thank you to the publishers Tiny Owl for a review copy of this book. On their website they have a free International Womens’ Day poster to download. 

You can buy from me at Readers that Care or your local bookshop.

 

Stories with diverse characters: where children are doing everyday things

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Having taken a particular interest in stories that represent children from all sorts of backgrounds. I have noticed that it is only in some of them that the BAME (1) children are doing everyday things, and where their culture or background is not the focus of the story. In this blog post I wanted to highlight some stories that do this particularly well through four mini-reviews. Two of them are picture books and the others are illustrated short chapter books.

Jabari Jumps – Gia Cornwall
published by Walker Books

This story deals with a child’s first experience of doing something in a most delightful way. The story is about being scared to do something new, but then finding the courage to have a go. This is something any child or parent can identify with. Jabari, with gentle encouragement from his dad (who lets him take his time), finds he has the courage to overcome his fear, and to jump off the high diving board for the first time. Gia Cornwall has made great use of soft and bright colours in her illustrations, which are really effective in helping to convey the feelings in the moment. These include scenes by the poolside, and mini-snapshots of Jabri as he takes each small step to the high board.  This is sure to inspire children of all ages to have a go.

Lulu Loves Flowers – Anna McQuinn and Rosalind Beardshaw
published by Alanna MAX books.

This is one of several Lulu stories.  It takes you through the steps Lulu, and her mother take to grow some flowers, fruit and vegetables from seed, in a way that even very young children will be able to relate to. Then they share what they have grown at the end with Lulu’s friends.  I have found that many young children are fascinated by things that grow. Anna McQuinn has taken a common theme and added her own special twist.  These include: a lovely connection with the nursery rhyme: ‘Mary Mary Quite Contrary’ and; a visit to the library to look up the flowers they want to grow. There is plenty for young children to spot in the illustrations and talk about. Hopefully this will inspire more children and their parents to have ago at gardening too.

Great Telephone Mix-up – Sally Nicholls and Sheena Dempsey
published by Barrington and Stoke

My son read this when he was in year 2. It was one of his favourite Little Gem stories a collection of stories with different authors and illustrators for children aged 6 to 9 years, published by Barrington Stoke. They also have Dyslexia friendly font and pages, but are great for children of all reading abilities.

At the start of the story the telephone lines go down in the village. You are then introduced to each character and/or family in the village. The colourful illustrations of Sheena Dempsey really bring the characters to life. It’s clever as the physical features of the characters aren’t actually mentioned in the story so you need to look at the pictures to find out, although the names might give you a bit of clue.  The BAME (1) characters are two adults, called Jai and Aditi, which again is a clever touch. They are not the only ‘reflecting realities’ characters in the book. It’s surprising how rarely you see any children or adults in a picture book wearing glasses. It is great to have a grandma wearing glasses. And some read haired people that are just part of the story, and their hair colour isn’t used to convey a message.

The next day the phone lines are reconnected, some brilliant conversations between the characters follow. Soon you realise the phone lines have been mixed up, and different villagers are getting other people’s calls. My son thought this was really funny. What follows is a brilliant piece of storytelling where the reader and the characters are trying to work out who’s message’s they are getting. This leads to them helping each other, and understanding their neighbours a little better.

Mint Choc Chip at the Market Café – Jonathan Meres and Hannah Coulson
Published by Barrington and Stoke

Another great book in the Little Gem collection, by Barrington and Stoke. I would recommend this  for slightly older children aged 7+ years,

At the start of the story the main character Priya tells the reader three of her favourite weekly things to do: football on Tuesday, science club on Friday and helping at her parent’s pet stall in the local market on Saturday.  It is a heart-warming story. Priya learns that unexpected events do not necessarily lead to disaster, and that having an ice-cream with her Nana-ji (Nana) can always make her feel better. I especially like the bit where the girl and her Nana-ji go to the Café for an ice-cream, which is beautifully brought to life by Hannah Coulson’s illustrations. I also really like that when Priya and Nana-ji are talking in the Cafe you get hints of the girl living in two cultures, but this is just part of the conversation. For example when Priya recalls her mum making Kulfi.

“Because Nana-ji always said there was not problem that couldn’t be solved by a delicious bowl of ice-cream”

(1) BAME – Black, Asian, and ethnic minority people

You can buy the books from me at Readers that Care, or a good local bookshop.

You can find out more Barrington Stokes Little Gems here

Small independent publisher  Alanna Max Books have more great stories with diverse characters.

 

 

 

Early years: laying the foundations for reading for pleasure: one boy’s story

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My son has been extremely lucky to have 3 and half years of excellent teaching from his teachers, and I could not have asked for more from any of them. Anyone observing his engagement with reading, now aged 8 years, who rightly come to the conclusion that not only can he read, that he is a child who want to read and when he finds the right book he clearly takes pleasure from doing so. Some people may also assume that he was always going to be a ‘reader’. However, I believe that there were a few significant things that happened in school and at home in his first two years of school, which laid the foundations which made it possible for him to become the reader he is today.

When my son was in reception, he very much liked routine, and this was something his reception teacher clearly understood. So when it came to talking about the transition to year 1. She made sure that my son’s new teacher had some similar routines to her.  What was interesting was the similarity in those routines, concerned the way books were used at the beginning and end of each day. What I only realised much later was that same routine’s that had enabled my son to feel comfortable with school, to connect to school and to build connections with other children had together with regular reading aloud at home been fundamental in laying the foundations for reading for pleasure.

When my son started school, he had a few favourite books, including a book on recycling (which was aimed at older kids). He was however often more interested in watching Number Jacks or telling us all about recycling or the planets in space than he was listening to a story. He could not hold a pencil, and when he started he had little knowledge of phonics. However, thanks to the support of his brilliant reception teacher and some of his new friends he was able to adapt to life in school. The teaching of phonics was very good and this combined with us signing him up at home for Reading Eggs, meant he made steady progress with his phonics. Before, long he said: ‘mummy it’s just like maths there is a code to crack’.

But, this isn’t a blog post about the teaching of reading skills or literacy in the early years. It’s about how a partnership of school and home, which consistently prioritised reading aloud and ‘informal’ regular spaces to share and enjoy books, won a boy round that wasn’t yet (when he started school) entirely convinced that stories were relevant to him.

Books relevant to children at the start of each day – time to explore and share

Both his reception and year 1 teacher started their school day in the same way.  With books next to the children where they sat. For reception this was books on the carpet. On my son’s first day his teacher made sure he had a book on recycling next to the place where he was to sit. I could have hugged her!  In year 1, his teacher had a book shelf from which children could select their books at the start of the day. One of my son’s favourite books was Miles Kelly’s 100 Facts About Planet Earth. He and a few other kids in his class spent weeks looking over that book. Several of the children in his year 1 and 2 class brought in their own books to share. This worked really well for my son as one of the older kids loved non-fiction and brought some of those to share.

Afternoon Read Aloud

Both teachers read a story aloud at the same time in the afternoon most days. Which meant my son knew for two consecutive years, that that time of day was story-time. About Easter of reception the topic was: things that grow. One of his favourite books at the time was: ‘What’s This? –  a seed’s story’, published by Barefoot Books. I gave a copy to his teacher who shared it in story-time.  We continued this into year 1. I was bit nervous about what he was going to make of a dinosaur topic, as he has never shown the slightest bit of interest in them. In the summer holidays after reception he had really enjoyed being read the Mr Men books (drawn to them initially as they were numbered on the side and all ordered in a case). I found a book called: ‘Mr Men Adventures with Dinosaurs’ and gave a copy to his year 1 teacher, so she could share it at story-time and he could look at it with his friends.

Reading Aloud at home, and sharing this with his sister

For two consecutive years (reception to end year 1) we read picture books aloud most nights to my son and his sister (who was two and half year’s older). This was as well as the book they read themselves. In reception two of my son’s favourite books to have read aloud were: ‘Wendel and the Robot’, by Chris Riddell, and ‘Boy who turned off the Sun’, by Paul Brown. When my son was in year 1, they started to develop books in common that they both loved. Both children have always been very particular about the books they like, so it was fascinating to see which books they both enjoyed. These included: ‘Errol the Squirrel’ by Hannah Shaw, and ‘The Day the Crayon’s Quit’.  I have blogged about some of them here. Had my daughter not had such a challenging year 3 (year my son was in reception) it is possible she would have stopped being interested in being read picture books earlier. But, sharing picture books together at home is something I think they both have hugely benefited from, and which I would highly recommend to any family.

There was of course so much more each of his teachers did, we did, and my son did to get him to where he is now with his reading.  But, with the benefit of hindsight I firmly believe that it was these relatively simple things, repeated consistently over several years, that convinced my son that reading could be meaningful to him. However, as I had already discovered a few years earlier with his sister, making good reading progress and enjoying being read stories aloud is not a guarantee that a child is going to successfully make the transition from school readers to independent reading. However, it does make it more likely! He did go through a wobbly phase with his reading from June of year 1 to November of year 2. And I wasn’t quite sure which way things were going to go. But, at that time I had not understood as clearly as I do now the importance of ‘reading communities ‘in developing readers, and that they can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Had  I understand this I may not have been so nervous, about whether he would be able to negotiate the next stage in his reading journey. We were also lucky in the summer of 2017 to find in a relatively short space of time three book that really meant something to my son, that he read to us. Two of which were almost accidental finds, and one of which (the coding book) was given to my kids by his Yorkshire granddad.

 

 

Awe-inspiring non-fiction – discover and explore the wonders of our planet.

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For almost 15 years of my adult life I read  mainly non-fiction. Then three years ago I discovered middle grade fiction and have read mainly fiction since. However, a Reading Rocks ( Twitter: @_Reading_Rocks) chat for non-fiction November got me thinking about the way’s we engage with non-fiction texts and that non-fiction is often not talked about as much as fiction. Looking into a selection of recent non-fiction books I am discovered that many are expanding the boundaries of  ‘more traditional’ non-fiction, creating some truly awesome books that you will want to return to time and time again . For someone that also loves picture books, modern day fiction with its blurring of curious facts and information with awe-inspiring illustrations and photographs is a real treat. I kick-start my non-fiction discovery with 3 fabulous books that explore planet earth and some of the creatures we share it with.

Natural Wonders of the World – Molly Oldfield and Federi Bordoni

Get set to travel to some of the most awe-inspiring places on earth.

Molly Oldfield introduces her book:

“I love to travel and explore I wanted to create a book that is like a passport to the world, filled with pages that take you to the most incredible natural wonders on Earth. Get ready for adventures”

This is a coffee table style non-fiction book, with huge pictures, of animals, plants and trees and double page spreads featuring some of the most amazing landscapes in the world. It also has an annotated map, to show you where in the world you can find them and an index. Making this a really versatile book that will appeal to many sorts of readers.

There are facts about some intriguing creatures, including the Christmas Island crabs, Tenrecs of Madagascar, birds of paradise in Papua New Guinea. But, it is the landscapes this book takes you to that really excited me.  For each landscape featured in the book you get information about the physical features, how they look and some information about how they are formed. There are also some great size comparison so you can get an idea of the size of some of these natural wonders, such as the Crystals are:  ‘so big that people can walk along them!’ or a spring that is ‘deeper than a ten-storey building’. You also get snippets of stories about people discovering the landscapes and some examples of helping wildlife too. Here are two examples:

Molly Oldfield describes the moment when two brothers, who were working in a mine, discovered some giant crystals in Mexico:

“Imagine how the brother must have felt when hard at work, they suddenly broke through a wall into a magical space filled with enormous, ancient crystals!”  p21

Crabs on Christmas Island, in the South Pacific:

“The people of Christmas Island are careful during the migration. The crabs are ushered towards tunnels called crab grids that go underneath the roads so they don’t get squashed. A crab sized bridge has even been built on one road” p24

There is so much to explore in this book. To help you to begin to do that I have made a list of 6 things to find.
NaturalWonderminiQuiz.

Fanatical About Frogs – by Own Davey

I have to confess this is the first of Owen Davey’s fabulous non-fiction books, published by Flying Eye Books that I have seen. I will be definitely be looking up the others after seeing this! What I love about this particular book is that it chooses a creature that most children and adults know little about. Which means it will both introduce animal lovers to a new creature and potentially appeal to children that would not normally pick up a book about animals.  It takes a classic non-fiction topic of exploring the characteristics and behaviour of a particular animal, in this case frogs and toads and through a unique layout and truly amazing illustrations transforms it into something truly special. That you are going to want to dip into time and time again.

In what is mainly bite-sized information I learnt so much about frogs, with those eye-catching illustrations drawing you in to look closer every time. This includes: how they catch their prey, regulate their body temperatures, the different croaks and calls they make. There is lots of variety in the presentation of the information, from almost full-page pictures, labelled diagram of the features of a frog, and a page of the life cycle of a frog. With detailed, accurate and precise information, and truly amazing artwork, Owen Davey’s books set the gold standard for a new generation of non-fiction books. There is a contents page and index, making it easy to explore this great book.

 

We Build Our Homes – by Laura Knowles and Chris Madden

A little different to the other two non-fiction books. This is written more like narrative fiction, with a different bird, insect or animal on each two-page spread telling it’s storey of how it builds it’s nest or home. The soft coloured and textured illustrations give a warm feel to the book, and bring the animal homes to life, leaving you in awe about what creatures on our planet can create. It includes: some unique bird’s nests, each using different materials and techniques, a peep into the world of bees, ants, wasps and spiders and animals such as: Gopher tortoises, moles, polar bears and beavers. A timely reminder that we are not the only creatures on Earth to create amazing things, and that we may even have things to learn from them.

At the end there is a simple map of the World and a mini fact files on the bird, insect and mammal builders, which adds another dimension to this book. The book gives three different ways to explore the way creatures build their homes: first person narrative, detailed illustrations and the fact files. Giving different children the opportunity to engage with this intriguing topic in a way that suits them, and plenty of scope to explore different ways of presenting non-fiction information.

 

Thank you to Flying Eye Books for a review copy of Fanatical About Frogs, the other two books I bought my own copies.

 

 

Maisie’s Scrapbook by Samuel Nash and Jo Loring-Fisher

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Maisie’s scrapbook is a gentle but inspiring story about a girl who is brought up by parents from two different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. In many respects it is a simple story, about the little things in life. From playing hide and seek with her mum to watching the stars and the sunset with her dad. Her two parents, nurture, play and chat to their daughter, helping her blend two cultures and become her own person. It is cleverly linked to the passing of the seasons, which gives lots of emotion and atmosphere.  The colourful collage like illustrations by Jo Loring-Fisher are wonderful and really bring the tale to life.  The fact that the story progresses over different seasons has enabled the illustrator to make good use of a range of warm and bright colours, which add so much more to the story’s message. It is quite a tricky story to review as the subtle interplay between the words and the text give it it’s own special magic.

It is great to see a mixed race family doing ordinary things together. It is also a celebration of a parents love for their child, and how both parents and their child often ‘grow’ together in their understanding of themselves and their place in the world.  This is a story that will resonate across cultures and with all sorts of  families. There are also some wider messages. These includes celebrating differences, whilst also recognising that people can be different but work towards the same goal in a mutually supportive way, in this case bringing up their own child.  It would make a heart-warming addition to any home or school library, and I would highly recommend it for any child or parent.

I also wanted to see what a mixed race family made of this story. So I leant it to a mum called Emily. She is white and her husband is from Jamaica (where he was born and raised), they have a mixed-race toddler.

Emily’s review:

“Maisie’s Scrapbook is a refreshing read for the young and old. Maisie’s parents have grown up in very different cultures, this story highlights some of the cultural contrasts faced by mixed race partnerships.  Although Maisie is adventurous; she’s grounded by the love of her parents. They have different cultural references and they use different words to describe the same thing, ‘Mama says tomato. Dada says aamo’, but they love and nag her in the same way. “

“I enjoyed the way the author portrays the differences between the parents through the eyes of Maisie and how each parent contributes to raising her to be herself. The illustrations are beautiful and compliment the story well. Hopefully more stories like Maisie’s will help a generation of mixed children feel more visible.”

 

Thank you to Lantana Publishing for a review copy. You can find out more about their books here.
You can find out more about the author Samuel Narh here.
You can find out more about the illustrator Jo Loring-Fisher here.
You can buy it direct from Lanta publishing or  me at Readers that Care or  a good local independent bookshop.

Trees and weird creatures – some quotes for writing inspiration

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A teacher in the fabulous bookish twitter community I am part off, recently posted this question:

“We are using this picture as a writing stimulus. Y6 children thinking hard about the effect of the reader. Looking for extracts from books of strange, unfamiliar creatures (harmless or dangerous) and/or forest descriptions (again peaceful or scary)”

 

Trees and Suspense

All three extracts feature trees or a tree, and some great suspense writing . In Celine Kieran”s Wild trilogy, MUP is on here way back home from visiting her sick Aunt; as she drifts in and out of sleep in the car she sees through the window witches in the trees.  In Kathleen Fidler’s the Boy with a Bronze Axe, they are not sure what’s lurking in the water in a cave they’re exploring. later they discover it is a tree trunk!  Finally in Barbara Henderson’s Punch a young boy is running away from a fire and climbs up a pine tree, but then something starts to climb up after him.

“outside the night was streaming past, Mup had slumped against the door with her face tilted to the sky, and she was looking up through the branches of the roadside trees, the trees were falling away as the car sped by, and there were witches in the branches and they were following the car.
Mup wasn’t startled – half asleep as she was, with the taste of warm custard in her mouth – but she frowned up aT the witches with an inkling that something wasn’t right……….….Mup was filled with the knowledge that she was awake, and there were witches in the trees, following the car.
There were men witches and women witches, and they leapt from branch to branch, racing along at tremendous speed. They were nothing but shadows among shadows, so that Mup had to strain her eyes to see them……….Then one of the witches jumped the gap between the two trunks, her silhouette dark against the fine grey of the sky. She descended in a falling arc, her clothes blown back like ragged black wings. As her pale hands reached for the branches of the next tree, she looked down into……”
p10-11  The Wild Magic Trilogy: Begone the Raggedy Witches by Celine Kiernan
It was Brockan who first saw the strange thing in the water below the ledge. “Oh look! What’s that?” he cried in terror, clutching at Tenko. “What’s that dark thing, waving terrible arms? Is it the spirit of the cave come to snatch us?”
He turned to run and would have fallen into the water below if Tenko had not grabbed him. Tenko’s heart had leaped and thudded for a second, but he saw the object did not move any nearer to them. All at once he knew what is was.
“Stay here!” he said to the other two. “I am going to have a closer look.”
……………Tenko crouched down, crawling nearer and nearer to it as he would creep up on an enemy. One of its arms was outstretched towards him. Suddenly Tenko dealt it a blow with his axe. There was splintering sound but the arm did not move. Tenko stood up and gave a cry of joy.
“Come here! Come here!” He shouted. ” It is what I thought.” Kali and Brockan came slowly timidly, not quite sure of their safety.
“What is it Tenko?” Kali whispered, Even her low voice echoed mysteriously round the cave.
“It’s a tree!”  Tenko shouted triumphantly.
They drew closer staring.
P69 The Boy with the Bronze Axe, Kathleen Fidler.
A young boy called Phineas is running away from a his boss, after he accidentally started a fire. 
“ A sob rips through my lungs and my vision blurs, a mix of smoke and despair; until more flutterings and rustlings disturb me and the trunk sways alarmingly. I hold my breath. There is no mistaking it.
Someone is climbing my tree.
Someone heavy.
I cling to the trunk as tight as I can and I peer down, and my blood freezes.
Through the dense needle branches. I recognise the subtle stripes of a prisoners clothes.”
p12 Punch by Barbara Henderson

Some ginormous and rather unusual spiders:

In the Christmas holidays I read Dan Smith’s Below Zero. Which features some brilliant robotic spiders that get rather out of control, but to find out the reasons why they do you will have to read the book!  Then my son suggested I include the giant spider in Larklight.
“At the back of the room there were three large bays………Right now HAL and ROY were empty, but the bay with ED above it was home to something that was one of the most amazing things Zak had ever seen. But, also one of the scariest.
The Spider were slightly bigger than a two-seater Smart car, and was made of a flat oval casing, about a metre and a half deep that housed the robot’s ‘brain’. On top of that, the bulk of the body was a ribbed dome, like a bloated tick that had filled itself with too much blood. It had four legs, each joined in six places, giving it a look of a weird grey metal spider. Close to the front, it had four narrow arms designed to accept interchangeable attachments. For now the arms were tipped with pincers.”
P91   Below Zeor by Dan Smith
“Down in the hall, the monstrous spider squeezed it’s prickly ball of a body in through the door with a faint scraping sound. A cluster of black eyes glittered like wet grapes at the front end. Above them a shabby brown bowler hat was perched upon it’s spines. Beneath, hairy mouth-parts twitched and fidgeted. It tilted itself upwards, and saw me starring down at it.
“The names Webster ‘ it said, lifting it’s hat with one huge claw. I’m expected.”
P27-p28  Larklight by Philip Reeve and illustrated by David Wyatt
Some follow-on ideas:
Think about what sort of spider you would create. What size would it be? Is it a friendly spider or a monster?
Can you draw what Dan Smiths robot spider looked like? What features of your own might you add?
What other stories do you know that feature a spider or spiders?

 

Friendly, spoon collecting Alien’s

And finally but by no means least is my son’s favourite creature from Cakes in Space, written by Phillip Reeve and illustrated by Sarah McIntyre. Astra IS in a spaceship, with her family, which is travelling from earth to the planet Nova Mundi in deep space. They were all put to sleep in little sleeping pods. But, astra wakes up whilst everyone else is sleeping. she has already dealt with some rather unsual cake monsters.
“ It was a monster alright, but a different sort of montster: a squat plump one in a grease-stained spacesuit like a grubby chimney pot, with a nest of eyes on stalks poking out of it’s helmet.“
“Ploogah stofie!” Shouted the creature, it’s voice loud and buzzy on her helmet radio. “Britxit Floop”.
“I am sorry said Astra. I don’t understand.”
Astra remembered her mum and dad telling her that there were not such things as aliens. But, then they’d probably thought there were no such things as a man-eating fairy cakes, either. She was going to have lots to tell them when the woke up.”
P105-p107 Cakes in Space by Philip Reeve and illustrated by Sarah McIntyre

 

Maverick Early Readers – Engaging and Fun

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I have been following Maverick Publishing growing early reader collection with considerable interest. What immediately struck me about the illustrations, was how bold, colourful and full of ‘character’ they were. And how they were more like the kind of pictures you find in a good quality picture book than the pictures you often see in reading scheme books. The combination of fun and often original stories with eye-catching pictures really helps to engage the reader. Whilst each book look like it might be part of a collection. I love that there are many authors and illustrators. And I am especially excited by the later, and it was something my observant son was quick to spot. Despite the fact that my son is now in year 3 and a very competent reader I asked him last term to help me review some of the Maverick Readers. I also enlisted the help of some friends who have emerging readers of various ages.

Lorraine Pemberton (Twitter @merryboookworm) said:

“My son is picky when it comes to books.  He enjoys reading, but he will not tolerate what he calls ‘boring books’– if there is a whiff of Biff, Chip and Kipper about them, then quite frankly, it is easier to stick pins in my eyes than it is to get him to read.  Interestingly, in school he was initially labelled a reluctant reader, but it swiftly became apparent to me that this was because the ‘mandatory’ school readers didn’t grab his attention.”

“He wants real stories – the sort that capture the imagination, make him laugh and have interesting story lines: in short, books that encourage reading for pleasure.  These Maverick Early Readers do exactly that.”

Dog in a Dress and Run, Tom, Run (Band Red)  
By Katie Dale and illustrated by Giusi Capizzi

A book with a picture of a dog wearing a dress was going to get my attention. This is in part because one of our families favourite all time picture books is ‘Dog’s Don’t Do Ballet’ by Anna Kemp and Sara Ogilvie, where there is a Dog wearing a tutu on the front cover. So I was curious to see what an early reader with a few words might say! At this level there are two short stories. Each introducing a different letter, which are W and I. I love everything about the introduction to the story. The fact that the’ familiar words’ were shown as labels to mini-pictures. Which is much more eye-catching and less daunting than the usual lists. Clear guidance for parents and letter shapes to trace with your finger, the later of which my son would have loved when he was learning to read. My son enjoyed both stories and he especially liked Run Tom Run. The simple message of the story that ‘you can still have fun and not win’ was one he identified with and I think enjoying the outdoors himself he identified with a boy who was getting wet and muddy. Would make a great addition to any school or home collection.

 

   

Can I have My Ball Back?  (Yellow Banded Reader)
By Alice Hemming and illustrated by Ed Myer

When I was looking through Mavericks website, and they now have a website dedicated to their Early Readers, you can view it here.  It was helpful to see pictures of inside the books which is really usesful when you are looking for a story or stories that may interest a particular child. What struck me was how unique it was to have an early reader that included ‘factory like diagrams’ as part of the illustrations. One of my son’s favourite picture books when he was younger was Eroll the Squirrel, by Hannah Shaw where a squirrel accidentally ends up in a packet of nuts, and my son loved the ‘diagram page’ which showed how he ended up there. In fact it was this page that got him hooked into listening to the story. In this story Grandad has an inventing shed. And when the neighbours ball hits the shed for the second time all the inventions started to go wrong, and my son loved spotting what was going wrong. So much potential for this Yellow reader for guided reading, which will help engage any reader. For those that already like books the illustrations are so much more fun than the average reader, so they are less likely to get bored. And for kids that do not have much exposure to being read aloud  picture books, it would help them to begin to discover the detail in pictures and the fun of doing so.

  

I Don’t Care said Bear (Blue Banded Reader)
By Katie Dale and illustrated by Kathyrn Selbert

At this stage the stories are still quite basic. But for some kids that started out being fairly positive with phonics it is as early as this they can start losing interest. I believe that one of the reasons for this is that they fail to have empathy with the characters. And some stories are so much better at building empathy than others. With the clever used of speech bubbles this story encourages the reader to have empathy brilliantly. It’s a wonderful story about a bear who doesn’t want to help his friends, but learns the errors of his ways. A read aloud of the Little Red Hen would make a great follow up to this story. It could also promote some interesting discussions on what happens when the ice melts?

Hocus Pocus Diplodocus  (Turquoise Band)
By Steve Howson and illustrated by Kate Daubney

Lorraine Pemberton (Twitter @merryboookworm) had this to say about this book:

“One of his favourites is ‘Hocus Pocus Diplodocus’.  The story is hugely entertaining – what’s not to like about a dinosaur magician who can make things disappear? – and the full-colour illustrations are bright, interesting and complement the story superbly.  My son has read this book a number of times now, and it still makes him laugh; in fact, I caught him talking to his Nanna about it during one of their weekly telephone chats!  He also loves the quiz at the back, which he sees as a fun activity rather than a method of checking understanding, so it’s a win-win all round.”

Thank you to Maverick books for a couple of free books.  And for Lorraine for agreeing to provide a review of Hocus Pocus Diplodocus’ which she bought from my ‘Reader that Care’ book shop on Abe books . See here. You might also be interested in the review she did of Maverick books on her blog, 

Lot’s of great information on Maverick Publishing dedicated Early Readers website, see here.

Caged – a wordless picture book that makes you think

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I am a big fan of wordless picture books so was delighted to be given the opportunity to review Caged, written and illustrated by Duncan Annand and publishers Tiny Owl. Through simple but very effective drawings it explores issues of greed, freedom, our connection to nature, and the courage shown by individuals to help others. It is a book that would be great to share, either as a group or as individual’s that then feed back their responses. I also felt it might work particular well with children aged 9+years. Not having the right group of kids myself  I asked Shenaz Bagshaw to help. She shared the book with a couple of groups of year 5’s at St James CE Primary School in Northampton. The children loved the book. One of the main reasons was: “because it makes you think”. This is one of the clever things about this wordless picture book, it actively invites the reader to try and work out what is happening and to question.

The pictures are a wonderful combination of line drawings in black and white. These contrast with a single blue bird and the multi-coloured parrots. Some things the children said when Shenaz ‘read’ the first part of the story with them were:

  • “Why is the bird blue, and everything else just outlined?”
  • “The man’s clothes look like Willy Wonker”

From these two comments there are so many things you could explore and discuss further.

Along with spot on observations and descriptions of what they saw. There were some interesting questions raised by the kids about what they were seeing as the story unfolded:

  • “Are the men knocking down the trees to make paper from the wood?”
  • “The circle on the ground looks like a helipad – a helicopter is coming to collect the wood.”

What I love about these questions is how different ‘eyes’ can see different things in the same picture and also how as the story unfolded they were inspired to do try and work out both what was happening and why it was.

“At first they thought the men got rich from selling the wood, (they thought they must be rich because they were wearing posh clothes), but later they thought that they were clearing the trees to make space for the aviary and to destroy the colourful birds habit to make them easier to trap”. Shenaz Bagshaw

In the last stage of the story here are some of the comments the children made. I have omitted some comments as I don’t want to give away completely how the story ends!  After reading it they commented that “one person or bird can make a big difference.” 

  • “They have alcohol – they are celebrating capturing the birds.”
  • “The blue bird sits on the cage and it brakes  – he must be heavy!”
  •  “One bird saves maybe 50 birds……”

There is some great information and resources, about Caged, including a free downloadable freedom poster  on Tiny Owls website. Including some quotes from authors about why wordless books are so powerful:

“Wordless picture books give a starting point to create and invent a story, giving readers the confidence to embroider what they are saying. ” Elizabeth Laird 

 

 

 

 

Bird Migration: Remarkable Journeys, Narrative Non-fiction at it’s very best.

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This blog post reviews two books:

Moonbird – A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 – Philip Hoose

Farrar Straus Giroux books for young readers

The Peregrines Journey – A Story of Migration – Madeleine Dunphy and Kristen Kest

Published by Web of Life Children’s books

  

Moonbird is about a remarkable superbird who has flown the distance equivalent  to the moon and half-way back again in its life time.  When I first read this book 8 years ago I remember being in awe of the migration journeys this bird (and other birds) make each and every year. It is one of my favourite all time non-fiction books. I have always been curious about how birds can navigate their way to such precise locations. This book doesn’t answer these questions. But, it did give me a fascinating insight into the annual journey of a rufa red knot (known as B95), a robin-sized shorebird. It opened my eyes to the multiple challenges it faces on its migration, and in particular finding enough food to give it enough energy for long flights. I gained an appreciation of the importance of stepping stones, key places that birds stop on their migration route where they can feed and re-fuel to be able to successfully complete the next stage of their journey. And how vulnerable these places are to changes , which are threatening the very existence of the red knot.

Since I discovered Moonbird I have been looking for a picture book that would communicate to a younger audience the excitement of a birds migration journey. I found some quite good ones, but they did not follow or capture the magic of the journey in quite the same as Moonbird, until I discovered the Peregrines Journey: A Story of Migration, by Madeleine Dunphy and illustrated by Kristin Kest. What a gem of a book it is. It covers the Peregrine Falcons 8,000 Mile journey from Alaska (where it raises it chicks in Summer) to Argentina where it spends the winter. Kristen Kest beautifully captures with bold distinctive colours the different environments the Peregrine passes through. Madeleine’s Dunphy has the ability to make you feel like you are experiencing things from Peregrine’s perspective, with just the right detail to be informative and realistic. And the combination of author and illustrator create a story that flows beautifully, like the very best of narrative non-fiction should do.

Please note:

The Peregrine Falcon is a bird of prey so it eats other animals, including birds, and the red knot (but not in this story). How might you might ask can I possibly love both stories! Well the Moonbird won me over to rooting for and loving the very small red knot bird. But, I have always been fascinated and in awe of the birds of prey.  In the story there are a couple of time’s that the Peregrine eats other birds, such as a Dove and a Pigeon, though you don’t see the eating part just the intent. Which may upset some younger children who do not yet understand that every animal or bird eats something to survive.

More about ‘Moonbird’:

The core of the book focuses on the journey the bird B95 makes in one year. With a combination of prose written as you were actually were the bird, backed up with detailed information of the scientists involved, with pictures, maps and information boxes, this is the ultimate in non-fiction for young adults and adults. It also includes detail about how the scientists learnt about the red knot, tagged and tracked them and by doing this discovered just how far this remarkable survivor B95 or ‘Moonbird’ had travelled. It concludes with a final chapter on what people are doing to save the red knot and an Appendix with ways you can help.  I would highly recommend this for anyone aged 12 years and above, including adults.

The start of an epic journey:

“Meet B95, One of the world’s premier athletes. Weighing a mere four ounces, he’s flown more than 325,000 miles in his life – the distance to the moon and nearly halfway back again. He flies at mountaintop height along ancient routes that lead him to his breading grounds and back”.

The reader is taken on the birds amazing journey. From Tierra del Fuego (where he spends October to February) an archipelago (group of islands) off the coast of South America to Mingan Archipelago in Quebec, Canada. After capturing your attention with what it might feel like to be a small migratory shorebird about to embark on a long journey, and the need for it to stuff itself with food, such as worms, muscles, and tiny crustaceans to store reserves and propel its flight on it’s long journey.

  

“The only way for us to know for sure whether B95 has made it safely from Delaware Bay to the Arctic Circle this year is for someone to spot him after his breeding time ends and he and other red knots stream back south to a stopover site.” P73

More about the Peregrine’s Journey:

In a relatively small number of words and beautiful whole page pictures you get a unique insight into the awe-inspiring journey this bird of prey makes each year. You are taken through the birds experiences of flying, feeding, drinking, resting and watching as well as some of it’s stopping of places. I would recommend this for children aged 6 years to adult. But, for younger children do remember this is a bird of prey so it eats other birds and animals.

“She also has very good eyesight…. To her the mountains and rivers are like maps and street signs. These landmarks help her know where she is.” P7

“Today, she bathes in a desert pool in New Mexico. She splashes around dipping her head in and out of the water until every feather is wet. One by one she carefully preens each feather with her beak.” P14