Posted on: 18/02/2013
Each month we choose some recently published books to share with you. This month, we have been enjoying a collection of poems that will get you thinking and a new offering from Lauren Child (both are new-to-paperback), as well as a brand new American wordless picture book.
Although this has been available in hardback since last year, it is worth noting the release of the paperback edition of The Weight of Water as this is a book which needs as wide an audience as possible. This is a simple and beautiful book which attempts to grapple with the weighty topic of immigration; a topic it somehow makes accessible in the form of poetry.
The narrative is strong; a girl and her mother leave Poland for England in order to find her father who left them two years earlier. They arrive at Stansted airport with nothing but their clothes and make their way to Coventry. The poems illustrate the emotional turmoil they experience through their search and dealing with issues of acceptance as told through the eyes of the young girl, who is also finding out what it is like to be a normal girl. Crossan does not hold back with her emotional punches – the poem ‘Pale’ tells a tale of being left out in the playground for being ‘too-white’, and ‘Mute’ similarly explores how her Mama’s long vowel sounds scare the older patients.
Many of the poems could be used individually with classes – each one has an individual story and its own depth, but the power here lies in the collection and the story they reveal of a girl who shows who she really is, through her talent for swimming and being able to command the weight of water.
The Shrimpton family are known for two things: their flamboyance and their eccentricity. All they want to do is to stand out from the crowd and be noticed. That is, except for Maude Shrimpton, who revels in being a wallflower and likes to blend in. All Maude wants for her birthday is a simple goldfish, but that isn’t enough for her unconventional family. No, for them only a tiger will do. At last, it seems, as their ostentation makes them more than noticeable to the hungry feline, Maude’s not-so-noticeableness ends up working to her advantage.
In this beautiful picture book from Lauren Child and Trisha Krauss, it is the illustrations, choice of palette and contrast of shapes and patterns that make it really stand out from the crowd; cleverly and humorously blending Maude into the background as her dresses match the wallpaper behind. We think this book will be a hit with families (and Maudes) everywhere.
We love wordless picture books at The Literacy Tree, both for their universal appeal and their potential for use in the classroom, and it’s easy to see why we couldn’t resist this new release from Henry Cole. Stunning pencil-drawn illustrations, reminiscent of those in Tan’s ‘The Arrival’ and Selznick’s ‘The Invention of Hugo Cabret’, beautifully and simply narrate this tale.
‘Unspoken’ recounts the story of a young farm-girl’s courage and bravery. Upon discovering a runaway slave hiding in the barn, she is initially scared and surprised. Soon, however, moved by the stranger’s desperation, she faces a difficult decision. As the two characters both face compelling journeys, they are ultimately united by their humanity.
Cole tells this tale with subtlety, honesty and sincerity and we see endless possibilities for using this text with children, both in unpicking the visual narrative and in the inferences to be drawn from its individual images.
