Posted on: 30/06/2018
We live in a dangerous world, don’t we? In times of the Neanderthals, early man battled with the elements, lack of food and wild animals: all threats to life and limb. Since then, wonderful inventions, discoveries and changes to how societies are run have all but cancelled out many risks but, in turn, have perhaps created different, unprecedented risks or, at least, further challenges. Take antibiotics: life-saving infection treatment… but now so over-used that there is the risk that infections mutate into resistant strains thus rendering our weapon against infection useless. The invention of motorised vehicles, whilst no-doubt a useful one, has meant that roads are busier and, ergo, riskier… you get the idea: living is simply risky no matter how evolved things are.
For children, risk-assessments, DBS checks, training in safeguarding and adult-child ratios… things that, not so long ago, didn’t even exist are all procedures that have been established in order to manage risk. So, in reality, it would appear that our children are safer than ever. But is our risk-averse culture actually putting our children at risk? What of the schools that have reportedly stopped taking children on trips for fear of something happening? Are we actually cossetting our children and young people so much that whilst we appear to be keeping children safer than ever, we are actually doing quite the opposite and growing adults of the future that are unable to actually manage risks?
In early June, Ofsted’s Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman, during her speech at the 2018 Pre-school Learning Alliance conference, discussed (amongst other things including developing a love of reading, the importance of oracy and the somewhat controversial ‘Bold Beginnings’ document) ‘school readiness’. In this part of her speech, she focused not on literacy and language but physical development and the importance of encouraging children to be busy and active and letting children do what children do best. (sic) Running, jumping, skipping, scooting and climbing. And it is here that she makes direct reference to the topic of risk:
Again, a plea here. Of course we expect you to take risk seriously and to supervise children properly. But, equally, don’t take away the climbing frame in case someone falls or avoid journeys to the park for fear of crossing the road. Some level of risk is part of a proper childhood. And without it, we stifle children’s natural inquisitiveness and their opportunities to learn.
And we could not agree more with this sentiment.
You may now be wondering, however, what this has got to do with children’s literature. Well, the texts that we have selected for this month’s literature review all have either an element of risk as part of the plot or stories within (as in ‘Suffragette’); were perhaps a risk in terms of what the author has set out to achieve or – in the case of ‘Baby Monkey, Private Eye’ - may lead a child to take a risk with their reading. These four utterly brilliant new books are: Billy and the Beast, by Nadia Shireen; Baby Monkey, Private Eye, by Brian Selznick and David Serlin; Boy Underwater, by Adam Baron and Suffragete, by David Roberts.
If you would like to read the full transcript of Spielman’s speech it can be found online here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/amanda-spielman-at-the-pre-school-learning-alliance-annual-conference
Picture Book
Billy and the Beast, by Nadia Shireen (Penguin Random House, 31st May 2018)
Billy is described as ‘a hero for our times’ and, indeed she is! For she’s a girl who takes an enormous risk: in the familiar setting of a forest, Billy and her side-kick Fatcat stomp, crunch, splash and jump through the forest (which has rather a nice synchronicity with Spielman’s plea, don’t you think?) before meeting Hedgehog and Fox and saying Hello to the mice…And Hello to the adorable little bunny rabbits on what was a perfectly lovely day only briefly interrupted by a TERRIBLE RUMBLE… which was just Fatcat’s tummy. After rummaging around in her hair, she locates a doughnut and on they walk, back through the forest…to find that Hedgehog, Fox, the mice and the adorable little bunny rabbits have all disappeared! Why? A TERRIBLE BEAST who is making TERRIBLE SOUP has captured all of the animals before capturing Billy and Fatcat.
Taking in the scene, Billy is met with Hedgehog on a cake stand, Fox in a Box, Boil in the Bag Bunnies and Spicy Mice, each in their own jars… it doesn’t take a huge leap of the imagination at this point to work out what the Terrible Beast is up to. So Billy, deciding that she can’t just stand by and let the Terrible Beast eat everyone up realises that she must think fast. Risking her own life, she bravely takes on The Beast, using quick-thinking into tricking him into selecting alternative ingredients for his Terrible Soup. This done, she realises that The Beast is about to drop her good friend Fatcat into the bubbling pot… how will she defeat him? The ending sees the not so adorable little bunny rabbits coming into their own… a brilliant read about friendship, courage and a risk that pays off.
Graphic Novel for Younger Readers
Baby Monkey, Private Eye, by Brian Selznick and David Serlin (Harper Collins Children’s Books, 1st March 2018)
Now, we know that we usually only review books that have been published within roughly a month of our blog going live but we felt that we’d missed the boat by not including this text when it was first published because it is so clever. It features Baby Monkey. But Who is Baby Monkey? He is a baby. He is a monkey. He has a job… What? Yes! A baby monkey who solves crimes. And so begins the most delightful graphic novel - something you’d expect from Brian Selznick, writer and illustrator of the delectable, The Invention of Hugo Cabret – which in 2008 won the Caldecott Medal- being just one of a great deal of his other works. But this is new territory for Selznick’s husband Serlin (writer and editor of numerous books and articles for adults, and historian who teaches at the University of California in San Diego) as he makes his first foray into the world of children’s literature. It is both simple and complex; straightforward and detailed with few words but multiple links, references and images. And whilst a baby – who struggles to put on even his own pants (as in the American for ‘trousers’) may seem silly, he is actually very clever, taking the risks that he does to solve a great many crimes: The Case of the Missing Jewels in chapter 1; The Case of the Missing Pizza in chapter 2 and The Case of the Missing Nose, as in chapter 3.
Each case is solved by Baby Monkey, by first looking for clues then writing notes, to eating his snack (which changes each time) before putting on his ‘pants’ which, through a sequence of hilarious illustrations captioned with groans and grunts, he struggles to work out just how to put them on. Once all of this is done, Now Baby Monkey is ready! In chapter 4, by the time someone arrives at his office claiming that their spaceship has been stolen, the pattern of repetition starts to change slightly as, in between his usual preparations and active crime- solving, he needs to take a little nap. Woken up by the astronaut, Baby Monkey is ready… but this time, he almost forgets to put his pants on. The fifth and final chapter sees Baby Monkey solving his most challenging and risky crime yet: to find a missing baby…
The pattern is reflected in the illustrations too: each chapter has very similar pictures on the face of it but when you look – really look – in the way Baby Monkey Private Eye must be doing when he is private-eyeing, you can see that each time there are subtle changes to Baby Monkey’s office: the pictures on the wall, the crime books he is reading and the bust that sits on his desk change to reflect the current crime. So, there is an opera theme (complete with references to Wagner’s Ring Cycle) seeing as it is an opera singer whose jewels are missing; an Italian theme when Baby Monkey is solving the missing pizza case. These are referenced in detail in the supplementary section at the back of the book titled: Key to Baby Monkey’s Office, which is such a clever way to engage children with the idea of making connections from a text to cultural and historical references. We also love that when the astronaut’s helmet is removed in order to thank Baby Monkey for locating her spaceship, an illustration that looks very like it could be Mae Jemison is revealed – another wonderful springboard from which children could make a connection.
This book – especially the repeated sequence of Baby Monkey’s dressing-related struggle - had us all guffawing but we do have one other risk-related thought on this book: one of the youngest small people associated with The Literacy Tree, who has been struggling with confidence as a reader, experienced the thrill of reading – with ease – a chapter book for the first time. A huge risk for her, this has proved to be something of a watershed as now she is beginning to guzzle wordier novels for early readers, thanks to this amazing author/illustrator team.
This would be a perfect read-aloud book for EYFS and perfect for children in Year 1 and 2 to read independently, especially the more reluctant reader.
Novel
Boy Underwater, by Adam Baron (Harper Collins Children’s Books, 1st June 2018)
This new novel from London-based Adam Baron – who usually pens works for adults – was originally started for his own children. And, as one might expect with the water reference, it is deep. The plot is a risky one as it broaches several subjects that are often taboo when it comes to children: grief, death, marital break-up and mental health issues. But we would always say that an author who has taken this risk and a teacher who is willing to risk reading aloud or using a text like this with their class should be lauded (just see our literature review from March when we refer to Matt de la Pena on the subject of the darker side of literature and how important this is). So gut-wrenching and real yet so cleverly written that it would be utter relatable to a child as the main protagonist – Cymbeline Igloo – is hilariously funny even in the most adverse and tense of moments throughout the novel. Although we have read the entire book from cover to cover (and did so in a matter of hours, such a guzzler of a book this one is), here is a brief synopsis without the big ‘reveal’:
Nine year old Cymbeline lives with his mother – Janet Igloo –and it is just the two of them as Cymbeline’s dad died when the child was very young. Named after the Shakespeare play of the same name, the boy lives a nice, normal (slightly eccentric name notwithstanding) life. He has friends, he is third- best footballer in Year 4 (joint) and, in general, is good at sport. But he has never – not ever – been swimming. His mum has always made excuses as to why she can’t take him and he has simply never been. So (and you can probably begin to see at this point at least in part what the significance of the title might be) when he learns that Year 4 will start swimming lessons the following week, he panics slightly. This panic grows when he finds himself challenging another boy to a race in front of the rest of the class. But how hard can it be? He’s sporty, he’s googled how to swim…except, when he’s pushed into the pool and sinks to the bottom, he is saved by the awesome Veronique… and, problem is, because he never got round to telling his mum (because he didn’t dare) that he was swimming and so couldn’t buy a pair of suitable trunks, he realises that the pair he is wearing that belonged to his father are far too big and have come completely off in the water. Although naked, shocked and thoroughly embarrassed, he is unhurt but things take a darker turn when his mum is called to the pool to take him home: she appears to hugely overreact to her son’s accident, alternating between pleading for forgiveness at never having taking him swimming to sobbing uncontrollably. And then, the next morning, she has gone.
A dark and utterly compelling exploration of secrets kept from children and the idea that we as adults perhaps avoid the risk of hurting and worrying children by protecting them from the truth but, in doing so, perhaps we could actually cause more worry and hurt than we ever intended. Here is an extract from towards the end of the novel that we feel is especially profound:
Do grown-ups tell you stuff? The real stuff that’s bad sometimes, really bad maybe, all the stuff that happens in life? Real life? … Maybe they just tell you some of it. They paint a picture you can live in, a copy of real life, but with stuff left out… They shouldn’t leave things out. They just shouldn’t. They have to paint it all, the whole thing, and they shouldn’t be afraid of that. If they hold us tight enough, so tight we know they love us, it won’t matter what they say. Their love will get us through it.
We defy you to read this without shedding a tear! Ideal for children in year 4, provided that they are a mature year 4 child, and up.
Non-fiction
Suffragette: The Battle for Equality, by David Roberts (Two Hoots, 31st May 2018)
We already love all things David Roberts, whose accolades include collaborations with Andrea Beaty, Julia Donaldson, Philip Ardagh and his own sister, Lynn Roberts, so we were very excited when we learned that he was to publish something that he had not only illustrated but written too. With a foreword by the erudite BBC presenter Lauren Laverne, we are taken through stories of courage, daring and strength of mind that makes this book – coupled as it is with sumptuous illustrations, as one might expect from someone of Roberts’ calibre – quite exquisite.
After first defining ‘suffrage’ (the right to vote in political elections) this wonderful book explores the difference between ‘suffragist’ and ‘suffragette’ and how the whole movement grew out of the iniquity that was the prevention of women voting in the UK. Written in chronological order, we learn how The Acorn Becomes a Mighty Oak following Mary Smith’s petition in 1832 right through to the Acid, Ink and Fire Bombs of 1911. Beyond the more famous of historical recounts of Pankhurst, Fawcett and Drummond, we learn of many others that were part of this fight that actually spanned almost 100 years, including the stories of the many men who were also suffragists.
The suffragettes were not only the believers in giving women votes as with the suffragists but the ones who would campaign in a rather more forceful way. On pages 40 and 41, the –ist and the –ette are explained through the making of a direct comparison between the two. Born out of this was the slogan, Deeds, not Words, which Roberts describes as being A phrase that would encourage and motivate; a rallying cry to women everywhere that the time for politely talking about votes for women was over. Also included is the sheet music and song words for ‘The March of the Women’ – a song that was written for and dedicated to the Women’s Social and Political Union, with the intention of motivating the women further.
And such was the fierce determination of the women involved that they were fully prepared to make sacrifices in order to be heard: breaking rules and crossing lines were, they realised, the only way of being heard. In keeping with our theme of risk, anyone supporting this movement was taking huge risks including imprisonment. However, refusing to have their spirit quashed, many imprisoned suffragettes continued to fight from behind bars by going on hunger strike, which was punished with the torturous practice that was force-feeding.
The book’s final page lists the dates on which countries around the world first granted full suffrage (and, in some cases partial suffrage initially) to women… it is a stark reminder of how lucky we are and of just what these brave women went through when we see that some countries only granted its women full suffrage within the last twenty years.
In the words immortalised by Millicent Garrett Fawcett:
Courage Calls to courage everywhere, and its voice cannot be denied.
Timed perfectly for the centenary that celebrates 100 years of suffrage for women with a reported 50,000 marching in the UK on Sunday the 10th of June, this is ideal for children who are learning about the suffragette movement or about World War One.
Posted in: Literature Review
