Fred and the Fantastic Tub - Tub by Zeb Soanes and illustrated by Anja Uhren. "Music,"Grandpa continued, "is a language everyone can understand. With the many troubles in the world, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all just stop and listen to something beautiful.". Fred's Grandpa is talking about the elusive and rare Tub-tub plant which only blooms once every 200 years and legend has it that it produces "music so beautiful even the birds in the trees stop singing to hear it". Fred is staying with Grandpa for the summer holiday while here dad works at the hospital, and botanist Grandpa has an adventure planned. The story was written by Zeb Soanes to accompany an orchestra to an inclusive narrated adventure that would inspire children to explore sound regardless of their musical ability, while the author was inspired by Blue Planet and the plight of animals and plants and biodiversity, and the effects of plastic on it. It's a lovely story, with building excitement as Fred and Grandpa set off in his flying machine built for the journey to the legendary island of Papa Nupi where they hope to find the Tub-tub plant, by following the notes of the great plant hunter James Tradescant. No more spoilers, as I highly recommend this as a read aloud bedtime story. But suffice to say the cat is called Sir David Attenborough, which I thought was great. And the story does tackle the big issue of plastic pollution. This would be a perfect resource for starting work on the environment and plastic pollution in school. Published by @graffeg on 10/3/2022 . Find out more here - https://graffeg.com/collections/books-1/products/fred-and-the-fantastic-tub-tub
Me, in the Middle by Annette Demetriou and Angela Mayers. Miss Clark and the children are learning about families, so she draws a huge chalk map on the playground. All the children run to England when she asks them to find where they live. But when she asks them to find where their parents came from they spread out across the map. Georgie doesn't know where to stand so she stays put in the middle of the ocean, with some of the other children laughing at her. They think she shouldn't stand in Africa because she has pale skin. She feels different so she works on her family tree at home with mum and dad. The higher they go up the tree, the more countries they have to include, it was beautiful, with Georgie in the middle. The next day she explains it to her class, how her family are from Spain, Portugal, Scotland and Uganda. They visit the park with Miss Clark and talk about how the trees are all different, a bit like all of our family trees, some wide and branching and some narrow and tall, and some short, like Ben's, as no-one knew who came before his grandparents. This lovely story about belonging, is great for sharing and talking about how we are all different and have families from all around the world, sometimes all mixed up, and that's ok. Published by @owletpress on 1st March 2022. Find out more here - https://www.owletpress.com/product-page/me-in-the-middle
My name is Why by Lemn Sissay. The bestselling autobiographical account of the poet's childhood, including the case notes from his fostering and adoption, which were only revealed to him in 2015, almost 50 years after he was born and put into the care of The Authority. It's an incredibly fascinating story, exposing the inhumanity of the care system and the humanity of one social worker. Lemn describes papers zipping from typewriters into files, from files into folders, filed under S in great metal cabinets, secret meetings, decisions made about where to "put" him. But it's also a beautiful, lyrical tale, starkly condemning the Authority, of how a baby was stolen, imprisoned, and how it was all kept secret, and then revealed to that baby as he reads the papers, and write his thoughts down here.
Read it if you work with children and families.
'How do you do it? said night.
'How do you wake and shine?'
'I keep it simple,' said light.
'One day at a time.'
Lemn Sissay
Published by @canongate. Find out more here - https://canongate.co.uk/books/2450-my-name-is-why
Gold from the Stone by Lemn Sissay. Following on from reading his autobiography, I had to pick this from my daughter's bulging bookshelves. It's a collection of new and old material from the author who wrote his first poetry book whilst in care aged 17, getting it printed and selling it on the doorstep to the miners and millworkers of Wigan where he grew up. Lemn Sissay is well-known for performing his poetry in front of football fans, at the London Olympics, as well as on TV, radio and in sculpture. He says "I have been blessed with living my entire life as a poet. A life based on word of mouth above all. The life of a poet, and yet it only feels like it's beginning now." This book contains material from five of his previous collections plus new poems, in which he tackles themes like racism and rejection, but there's a sprinkling of hope and humour in there too, and you can sort of hear him performing it aloud as you read it. Published by @canongate in 2017. Find out more here - https://canongate.co.uk/books/2368-gold-from-the-stone-new-and-selected-poems/
Ebb and Flo and their new friend by Jane Simmons. Newly published by @graffeg, this original title from 1999 by the author and illustrator Jane Simmons, is a lovely tale reminiscent of warm summer holidays. That would be nice right now as I'm sitting listening to the wind howonh and the doors rattling as Storm Eunice batters the UK as I write this. Ebb (canine friend) and Flo human friend) sit in the little boat as usual when suddenly with a "beep, beep,beep" a bird sits down in Ebb's favourite spot. She wants to be friends with Ebb and follows the dog everywhere, but Ebb isn't so sure. Days later, and Bird has disappeared, Ebb breathing a sigh of relief. Only she feels strange without her friend, and misses Bird. Will they be reunited? You'll have to read it to find out. Beautiful warm illustrations capture Ebb and Flo's expressions and the warmth of summer perfectly. Published by @graffeg on 24 March 2022 . Find out more here - https://graffeg.com/collections/childrens-books/products/copy-of-fletcher-and-the-rockpool
So how will you sleep? by Annabel Gardiner and illustrated by Samantha Thorley. A little treasure of a book, perfect for bedtime, with gentle rhyming text. We discover where animals sleep, from the upside down bat and the balancing koala to the great blue whale in the ocean and the polar bear in his snow cave. Published by @austinmacauley. Find out more here - https://www.austinmacauley.com/book/so-how-will-you-sleep
A Sky full of kindness by Rob Ryan. An adventure following two birds as they become parents for the first time. The soon-to-be-mum bird has a dream and goes off on an adventure to find the meaning of it, helped omg the way by the oldest bird in the world, a pelican and lots of other birds she meets along the way. Beautifully created in papercut. I am in awe of how something like this is created, it's beautiful. Published by @hodderandstoughton on . Find out more here - https://shop.robryanstudio.com/products/a-sky-full-of-kindness
Morning breaks in the elevator by Lemn Sissay. Morning Breaks in the Elevator by Lemn Sissay. A little collection published in 1999. Published by @canongate. Find out more here - https://canongate.co.uk/books/189-morning-breaks-in-the-elevator/
The Word Bird by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Abbie Cameron. This beautiful lyrical story, with rhyming text, is written by a zoologist who studied bats and whales and worked at the BBC natural history unit (wow!). The text has become part of the illustrations - the large words glide and circle round the birds, and the illustrations part of the text - an ostrich is pictures turning to the next page. I love the marsh and the bird hide, where we see a bittern, avocet, swans and different types of duck. From the same author / illustrator pair - "Animal Surprises" and "Into the Blue". The only thing that would make this better would be to show us in the back, on a fold-out page for example, the names of all the birds illustrated. Perfect for budding birdwatchers and springwatchers. Published by @graffeg. Find out more here - https://graffeg.com/collections/childrens-books/products/the-word-bird
Bill Bryson's African Diary. A lovely little short book about Bill's trip to Kenya with the charity Care International, who work all around the world to end poverty and enable people to live in dignity and security. Anyway, I've always liked Bill Bryson's writing style, it's humorous and witty but tackles this situation with humanity and sensitivity. He meets people benefitting from the charity's work, in various parts of the country. And there's a very funny account of why he's now terrified to travel in a small plane ever again. Published by @doubleday. Find out more here - https://www.careinternational.org.uk/
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