Posted on: 10/06/2013
Each month we pick some recently published books to share with you. This month we have the latest offering from one of our favourite author/illustrator collaborations, and two very different books about boys in boats!
A WhaleThis beautifully illustrated picture book, by Julie Fogliano and Erin E. Stead, is all about those things that you can miss while you’re busy looking for something else and the virtue of patience.
The unnamed protagonist and his trusty canine sidekick set off on an adventure that takes them across the ocean in their desperate search to find a whale, but it is the things they see along the way that will really captivate young readers, and the subtlety of the illustration. From pelicans to creepy crawlies, from shapes in clouds to sprawling seascapes, it is what the boy sees on his journey that really stays with us.
This book is a good example of why picture books are vital in the development of early inference skills, as it’s not always what you’re told is happening, but what you observe in the stunning visuals, as the whale they are hunting sits just inches below their little boat, unbeknownst to the two central characters. We can’t wait to see more from this author/illustrator collaboration.
From a boy and a dog in a boat to a something for a slightly older reader. This time, however, they are not in search of a whale and have with them only a suitcase, a comic book, and a ukulele, oh, and it’s the bear who’s doing the rowing.
The story begins as the boy charters a boat and its captain to take him across to the other side of the water. As the hours, days and weeks pass, eventually tedium is exchanged for adventure with sea monsters, storms, and even a ghost ship.
Similarly to themes touched upon in ‘If You Want to See a Whale’, this book explores the pleasure of the journey and the importance of the things you will see and do along the way, and not the final destination. As well as the physical journey being undertaken, we also chart the tender friendship that forms between the two central characters, who, on the surface, have very little in common.
Although, by Shelton’s own admission, the ending will leave readers divided, it will certainly leave you feeling uplifted and delivers action and adventure balanced with quirky humour alongside a wealth of delightful illustrations.
Some magical collaborations exist in the world of children’s publishing and the combination of McKean and Almond has to be one of the ultimate partnerships. This exquisitely told and illustrated tale feels like it is one of old; it has all the features of an established folktale or myth. Inhabiting a world created by a group of cake-eating, snoozing gods with “gaps and holes in it”, three children, Harry, Sue and Ben, realise that they could indeed play god’ themselves and so they start to make the missing animals in the world, using just twigs, clay and grass. Firstly a mouse thing comes to life, and, excited by this, they create a chirpy thing and finally a twisty legless thing. However, not content with these creatures, Harry and Sue create a fearsome wolf and as this tale twists deeper, there are consequences for the three children – have they dabbled with powers too great?
This mythical and magical graphic tale raises questions that could be a wonderful starting point for discussion about power, imagination and creation in the classroom, as well as being a wonderful book that has an age-less quality to it that should be a classic for years to come.
