Posted on: 31/12/2021
January can often be a bit of a difficult time: if you are a celebrator of Christmas then you may feel a sense of anti- climax; the days can feel impossibly long and are often dull and grey (perhaps not if you happen to be one of our international members!…) but there can also be something so shiny and exciting about January, too. If you are partial to making a New Year’s resolution or two then you may be feeling a sense of purpose: do you plan to completely clean or renovate your house? Have you made a fitness goal? Or have you simply vowed to sit down more frequently with a good book? Well, our sense of purpose, resolve and contentment can easily translate into our schools and classrooms and what better way to use literature to help with this? This first curated review of the year encompasses all these themes, and more: purpose; resolve; finding contentment; renewal; joy and defying gravity. And for those of you who love a sense of order and the fresh opportunities that this time of year might afford us, have you seen the fresh new look of our website and resources? Subtle but oh-so-pleasing changes. Happy New Year!
Flights of Fancy: Defying Gravity by Design and Evolution by Richard Dawkins, illustrated by Jana Lenzová, (Apollo, 11th November 2021)
Sophisticated, at times whimsical and utterly absorbing, this is perfect for young people not only into the mechanics of flying but also the natural world; myths and legends; the science at play…all things flight! We are asked at the very start, Do you sometimes dream you can fly like a bird? Dawkins goes on to say that this is a book about flying and all the different ways of defying gravity that have been discovered by humans over the centuries… Da Vinci’s dreams; belief in angels; magic carpets; the Greek equine legend of the winged Pegasus; the myth (and cautionary tale) of Icarus who – as we know – flew too close to the sun. We are then taken through flight from all angles: the benefits; how being small is optimal for being able to fly (makes sense: less weight = smaller gravitational pull); but also how to defy gravity, if you must be large and fly. The answer? Ensure that your total surface area is much bigger than it actually needs to be. We explore the difference between powered and unpowered flight; flying machines (including animals) that weigh more than the air that they soar through and flying machines that weigh less through cunning use of gas or heat.
This is exactly the kind of text that you will become completely lost in and it could be used as a reference book to support the studying of a number of different topics in school as well as supplement related text-based teaching.
Dancing with Daddy by Anitra Rowe Schulze, illustrated by Ziyue Chen (Two Lions, 1st December 2021)
Elsie can’t wait for the school ‘daddy and daughter dance’ and preparations begin in earnest: her mum takes her dress shopping; she chooses a dress and plans her hairstyle. Her sisters delight in both her choice and her joy when Elsie –non-verbal - uses her book to communicate that the dress is a special one. Indeed, she chose this particular dress over all the others as it matches daddy’s football shirt. She imagines what dancing will feel like: for Elsie has never been to a dance before. Then it begins to snow and she wonders whether the dance will have to be cancelled… but it isn’t! And dancing is every bit as good as Elsie has imagined: dad spins her in her chair and her dress floats through the air, swirling around her… then, when a slower song comes on, her sisters take a breather while daddy asks Elsie to dance. And so comes the most beautiful sequence of pictures. Reminiscent of similar illustrations depicting a father-daughter relationship in Ken Wilson-Max’s Astro Girl and the portrayal of a grandfather-granddaughter relationship in Allison Colpoys’ art-work for Joseph Coelho’s If All the World Were, Elsie is lifted out of her chair and dances – forehead pressed against her father’s - spinning and swirling; weightless and free. It was just like she had dreamed, except better. Such joy and contentment to be found in a dream realised!
The words lyrically waltz across the pages in this tender and heartfelt book that is not about disability but rather ability and resolving to experience something for the first time where the actuality exceeds expectations. A really important book in terms of children being able to see their own and others’ realities reflected and so beautifully written and illustrated, too. Perfect for a reception or key stage 1 class, particularly for your planned story session.
Eye Spy Animalz: A Peek-Through A to Z of Animals by Patrick George, (Patrick George, 30th October 2021)
This works so beautifully as an engaging text for pre-schoolers. And although there are several ‘alphabet books’, this is a bit different: as a reader ‘peeks through’ each cut-out, one must concentrate incredibly hard to predict what is coming rather than what is seen! For example, on the first page, where it starts rather predictably with I spy with my little eye, something beginning with A…, we can see an ant-hill (well, if we’ve the prior experience, we could predict that the innumerable pairs of googly-eyes are belonging to ants) and on the right-hand page, a ladybird perched on a leaf. So what might ‘A’ stand for??? When we turn the page, the die-cut leaf-shape of course flips over, revealing Anteater, his body formed of that same leaf-shape cut-out and eye pinched from one of the ants. The use of capital letters in order that each animal takes its name as a proper noun is a great way to expose children to the alphabet in capitals. It is also a brilliant text for developing children’s understanding of grapheme-phoneme correspondences; auditory discrimination and skills of prediction as it’s not always obvious what each creature might be! Patrick George is just so clever in that this is a text that is multi-faceted and has layer upon layer of exciting discoveries to be made.
With rich opportunities for exploring habitats, climate and adaptation as well as physical attributes of animals, the vocabulary development and knowledge and understanding of the world that could be gained from using this book in an EYFS setting makes it the perfect text for working with purpose as well as reading for pleasure.
