Refuge

 

2016, first published 2015  

pre-school, Key Stage 0, ages 1-4,  Booth Anne, Usher Sam, Christian, Nativity,   

This tells the story of Mary and Joseph fleeing to Egypt with Jesus after Joseph dreams they are in danger.  It is told from the point of view of the donkey that carries them.

The donkey’s voice is strong and he recognises the best in humans – the kindness of the innkeeper, the affection of the parents for the baby Jesus, the encouragement of the shepherds who watch them set off on their journey and the refuge the Egyptians offer.

As always with picture books for this age group there is some much extra story in the pictures. Facial expressions tell a lot: we see the tenderness in the face of Mary and Joseph, the wonder in the wise men, hope and fear as they travel, peace and relief as they arrive in Egypt, and kindness in the Egyptians.

The pictures are mainly grey scale.  Much of the action takes place at night. There are touches of yellow and the daytime pictures show a yellow sky. Yellow symbolises light and comfort in the penultimate double spread.

There is a mixture of pictures going across double spreads and isolated pictures integrated into the text on single pages.     

The text is sparse and the pictures dominate. It uses an adult font though it is large.

The story is fundamentally Christian though deals with a less familiar part of the nativity story. Even for those who do not hold the Christian faith this supplies a story important to many cultures.

 £1.00 from each copy sold goes to War Child. There is page at the end of the book, addressed to adults reading with the child, that explains about the work of War Child.  

There is also a QR code in the front of the book that takes you to a free audio version of the book.

  

A Walk in the Park by Anthony Browne

2013, first published 1977  

Mr Smith and his daughter Smudge take their dog Albert for a walk. Mrs Smythe and her son Charlie take their dog, Victoria for a walk.  Mr Smith and Smudge walk through a dreary neighbourhood with rubbish piled in front of dark little terraced houses.  Mrs Smythe and Charles walk past neat and tidy detached houses with bay windows. Even their clothing is different. 

The dogs do not hesitate to have fun and chase each other. Charlie and Smudge gradually get to know one another. Mr Smith and Mrs Smythe do not. 

There is a joke for the adults. Victoria chases Albert and Albert chases Victoria. 

As always with picture book for this age group there is some much more extra story in the pictures.  Not only do we have more detail but there are some quite extraordinary details. One double spread features four trees. The one on the far left has no leaves. The one on the far right is full of leaves. We see them growing in the two other pictures. This suggests that the trips to the park occur regularly over a period of time. When the children finally play together and “The whole world seemed happy” there are rainbows in the background. The final two pages show Charlie and Victoria arriving home.  Do they live near the park? On the opposite page Smudge and Albert have to walk through the middle of town to get back to their home.     

The text is sparse and the pictures dominate. It uses an adult font though it is large. This is a large format book.