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Posts Tagged with friendship

Great picture books exploring: friendship, sharing and worries.

Posted on October 1, 2019October 1, 2019 by melissacreate

 

Fair shares  by Pippa Goodhart and Anna Doherty

A heartwarming, fun and colourful picture book, with an important message about sharing. A bear and a hare both want a pear, but neither can reach them. In their attempt to do so they learn that ‘being fair’ doesn’t always mean ‘getting the same’.  I can see this being really popular with children aged 2 to 6 years and their parents/carers. The later whom will really appreciated the way it gives the reader more than one way to look at sharing. Great rhyming language, told in a way that young children will really be able to relate too, and an great twist at the end.

  The pictures are vibrant and colourful, making great use of orange, green and yellow. Ann Doherty the illustrator explains at the back page that that the art work was produced digitally, but she scanned textures she had made in pen and ink for the animals fur. The contrast between the two works brilliantly. There are also the most delightful end-pages.

You can find out more about publisher Tiny Owl the publisher and buy the book here. 

Thank you to Tiny Owl for a free copy of this book to review.

Oscar Seeks a Friend by Pawel Pawlak

Translated from Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones

A truly wonderful story about a friendship between a little girl and a Skeleton. The story has a delightful opening where a Skeleton has lost a tooth and is worried how he looks, then he finds a girl burying  a tooth.  It gently introduces the characters concerns and worries. As the story progresses they share experiences and show each other their worlds. The story is brought to life and transformed into a unique book by the colourful collage like pictures on every page. There are plenty of possibilities for children to be inspired to do their own art from these pictures. This book will help to open up conversations about friendship and encourage children to have the courage to reach out and  ask someone for something or to do something.  I am so glad that Lantana Publishing chose to translate this book from Polish so that English children can enjoy it too.

The book is published on 10th October. You can find out more about Lantana Publishing and buy the book here.

Also check out: Library Girl and Book Boys podcast interview with translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones.  In which Antonia tells us  that author and graphic artist Pawel Pawlak starts his ideas with the character and then the scene and the pictures usually come first  before the words. And Antonia talks about some of the challenges she faced translating the puns and hidden assumptions about Skeletons from Polish, and coming up with a new name for the character that would work in English.

Thank you to Lantana Publishing for a free copy this book to review, 

 

Thank Goodness for Bob by Mathew Morgan and Gabriel Aborozo

A story about a boy called Max, who has lot’s of worries and his dog Bob. In a way  children will really relate to the story explores some of the things kids worry about. It makes imaginative use of bubbles to put worries in. One day Max discovered Bob the dog is great at listening. And that by talking about his worries to someone that listens they do not feel as big anymore.  My favourites pages of the story is where the boy and the dog pop the worry bubbles together.  A great book to open up conversations about feelings and worries, but also great for a child to read alone, helping them to realise they are not the only one with worries and that sharing them with someone can help.

 

All the books are available from me at Readers that Care. And Oscar Seeks a friend is one of the hardback books available to my £40 a term members in my 2 for £10 termly offer.

 

A touching tale: Perijee and Me

A touching tale: Perijee and Me

Posted on June 2, 2016February 22, 2018 by melissacreate

Here is my blog’s first book review: Perijee and Me by Ross Montgomery.

A funny, heartwarming and thoughtful story, which I could not put down. Catlin is not looking forward to the lonely summer holidays or her parents finding out how she is really doing at school. She has dyslexia and has recently moved to an island that only her and her parents live on. Her loneliness and vulnerabilities are sensitively portrayed, and counterbalanced by her belief in kindness and a sense of hope.

One stormy night a ‘blob’ is washed up onto the beach. This alien creature takes on many forms, including at one point, mimicking Catlin’s very own bobble hat and yellow wellies. She befriend’s the alien and treats it rather like the baby brother she doesn’t have, showing it around the island and helping it to learn, including how to read a book (a clever twist).

When the alien, which she calls Perijee, gets scared, he goes on the rampage across Britain. Caitlin sets of after him to try and rescue him and get others to understand that he really isn’t a monster and that he is “kind and gentle”. She meet’s new people on the way. To discover who turns out to be friend or foe and if she succeeds in saving him you will have to read it!

The main narrative of the story is about Catlin and her relationship with others. But, you still get a strong sense of the landscape in which it is set and her sense of awe at it too, which is beautiful conveyed. At the beginning of the books she is on the island:

 “If you opened your eyes wide enough you could see all the stars looking down on us like a city in the sky.”

And later when they travelled up river on a boat towards the Thames:

  “…now a maze of chimney’s and skyscrapers jutted out of the water ahead of us, each one….It was beautiful.”

I like the fact that just when you think you know what is happening in the story there are some clever twists in the tale.

It is a story, which can be interpreted on many levels. It is about self-discovery friendship, the power of kindness and ultimately finding what you need. It also deals with the consequences of parents ignoring their children and not listening, making this a great book for adult’s as well as children! Thirdly, there are some much wider society messages, which could prompt some interesting discussions on for example exploring where fear comes from and how individuals and communities respond to both fear and the unknown. A great read, that you will want to share and read more than once.

Thanks to @KidLitReaders twitter group for introducing me to this great book and our fab discussion we had about it.

 

 

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