Timothy Crumble Explores Bodnant Garden by Anne Forrest (illustrated by Laura Stenhouse)

 

2021 

fluent reader, upper primary, Key Stage 2, ages 7-9, fairy story, activity book, Bodnant Garden, Forrest Anne, Stenhouse Laura, environment,   

Timothy Crumble’s family have an annual ticket to Bodnant Garden so he regularly visits, sometimes accompanied by his cousins.

The stories introduce the child to the garden itself and feature the redwood trees, the laburnum arch, the huge oak tree and some of the people who work there.  There are some subtle references to climate change and other environmental concerns. There is also some fantasy as the children spot fairies and trolls in the grounds. The text encourages the reader to exercise their imagination in the garden.

Each chapter ends with an activity page for readers to supply their own picture and write about their experiences at the garden.

Anne Forrest has worked with the National Trust on putting this book together. The stories have been read out to visiting children at Bodnant Garden.  

There are bios of Anne Forrest and Laura Stenhouse at the back of the book.

The test is 101 pages long and uses blocked text but with a large plain font.    

Find your copy here  

Note, this is an affiliate link and a small portion of what you pay, at no extra cost to you,  may go to Bridge House Publishing.  

 

 

My Furry Foster Family, Apple and Annie the Hamster Duo by Debbi Michiko Florence and Melanie Demmer

2020    

emergent reader, ages 7-9, upper primary, animals, Florence  Debbi Michiko, Demmer Melanie,                                                

Kaita Takano and her family foster animals that are waiting to find their forever family.  They have themselves adopted a small dog. In this story they take on two hamsters that are waiting for a family to adopt them. They keep them in the spare room so that they won’t be disturbed by the family’s pet dog. Kaita’s friend Hannah helps Kaita to make toys for the little animals. But the stage Kaita has made enables the hamsters to climb out of their box. Dad helps to find them and to make a lid to stop them escaping again. Kata and Hannah make posters to advertise the animals and a family turns up to adopt them.

We have an engaging story here and also some hints about caring for pets well.   

The story is 65 pages long but the book has eight pages of other text at the end.  There are just five short chapters. The text is formatted ragged right. The font is large but with a serif and difficult ‘a’s an ‘g’s.

The main story and some of the notes are illustrated though illustrations are kept to a minimum and reinforce meaning rather than adding to the story. At the front of the book are some sketches of Kaita and her friends and family. These look as if they are Kaita’s work.      

At the end of the book there are activities for the reader, a useful glossary, some notes about the real Kaita and her experience of fostering animals and notes about the author and illustrator, the latter perhaps being aimed more at adults.        

There are other books in the My Furry Foster Family series.        

Find your copy here  

Note, this is an affiliate link and a small portion of what you pay, at no extra cost to you,  may go to Bridge House Publishing.  

Kintana and Captain’s Curse by Susan Brownrigg

 click on image to view on Amazon

2021     

The story is set around Nosy Boraha, Pirate Island and Madagascar. Susan Brownrigg introduces some real people: Captain Blackbeard, (Edward Teach), William Kidd, and Israel Hands, who in the book is Kintana’s father. Many of the animals mentioned are native to Madagascar –an island that has 25,000 different species, many of which are only found there.

We also have the normal ingredients of a pirate story; treasure, parrots and a man with a wooden leg.

There is plenty of pace.  The story just does not stop moving. The chapters are also short, almost all ending with a cliff-hanger.

There is also a domestic story of a sound relationship between a father and daughter who spend their time looking after animals and managing a pet shop. Kintana also befriends the naïve cabin boy, Bartholomew.  

The book is 174 pages long.  The text is blocked but double-spaced. The font, Kingfisher 10 -16, has a serif.  It is actually small in the book.  At the front of the book there are sketch maps of the two islands. There are also monochrome pictures of eight of the animals. Each chapter heading has a monochrome picture of a parrot and a skull and cross bones.

At the end of the book there are a useful glossary, a note from the author about some of the facts in the story, an author bio and some acknowledgments. These may be of more interest to adults than the chid reader though the glossary may be helpful to the young reader.                

The B on Your Thumb: 60 Poems to Boost Reading and Spelling by Colette Hillier (writer) Tor Freeman (illustrator)

2020

As the title suggests this book contains sixty poems. They are spread over eighty pages.  The text is highly illustrated. The illustrations entertain as does the text which is also informative and designed to aid with spelling and reading.

Many of the poems are about how letters and combinations of letters produce sounds.  

So we have:

·         S and H as in SHOUT

·         EE as inn SEES and TEETH

·         OU as in OUT

·         OI as in POINT

·         QU as in QUEUE and QUESTION

·         AI as in PAIR and RAIN

·         CH as in CHOCOLATE

·         A as in HEAD

·         OA as in GOAT

·         OO as in MOON

·         OW as in BROWN

·         AR as in CAR

·         IOUS as in FURIOUS

·         OUGH as in COUGH (Ah – do we need a little care with that one?)

·         ION as in STATION

·         ING as in THING

·         EAR as in WEAR (but also in EAR)

·         OUL as in SHOULD

·         Ea as in EAT

·         AY as in WAY

It also contains several pages about silent letters. It makes a secret number of “TEN” (OFTEN) and finds several secret animals e.g. HEN as in WHEN. It discusses the magic “e”. It also tackles some words that are often difficult to spell such as NECESSARY. There is a demonstration of to the “I before E except after C” rule.  There are some pages about homophones.

At the end of the book are details of further activities that could reinforce the knowledge and understanding of our quite demand English spelling system. There are suggestions at the beginning of how to use the book. Both sets of ideas are presented in a child-friendly way but may be actually dressed to a supportive adult.

Is this an educational book or a book to entertain children? It manages to be both in fact.   

The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton

This is the first story in Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree series. We are introduced to the main characters and the world of the Faraway Tree.  Each chapter contains a separate adventure.

Joe, Beth and Frannie (formerly Fanny) climb the magical tree several times and each time are taken to a different world. Some of the worlds are less pleasant. The lands move to and from the tree and the children must return before the land moves on. Getting stuck in a land is unpleasant and frightening. The children experience genuine xenophobia which after all is a real fear. Arguably this presents a balanced view of our interaction with other cultures. The tree is full of quirky characters - including Dame Slap, a corporal punishment enthusiast. In recent versions of the story she has been replaced by Dame Snap who has been softened somewhat. Joe throughout takes charge. He is always bossing the girls around. However, he is the oldest child so perhaps he would be in charge anyway. Even in newer versions some old-fashioned language exists. “I say!” “Do let’s.” This language is also decidedly middle class. Yet father is poor and “could not afford to do anything but walk there” (2). The cottage was five miles from the station. Beth makes the toffee for Moon-face. Females are domesticated(43).

Neither Blyton  nor her characters deal well with those who are different.  The clattering of the Saucepan Man’s saucepans make him somewhat deaf and he becomes a figure of fun (94-121).    

Comfort is as usual provided in the form of food. “They were so tired they could do nothing but tumble into their roughly-made beds” (3). Their big adventure starts when their mother sends them off with a picnic as a reward for all the help they have given 8). A later picnic is also described: “Mother cut sandwiches and put them in a bag with three cakes each. She sent Joe to pick some plums form the garden and told Beth to take two bottles of lemonade” (17). When they eventually find Joe, after his adventure with the Snowman, safe and sound in the cottage with Goldilocks and the three bears Goldilocks says “Come into the kitchen and we’ll all have some hot porridge and milk” (75). The actual feast she offers in the end is more lavish. Once the children and the inhabitants of the Faraway Tree get rid of the goblins Moon-Face declares: “We’ve got them all safe. My word I am hungry. What about having a  good meal?” (173). 

Perhaps more disturbingly the children are sent off on their own - a common trait in Blyton’s books - and immediately engage with strangers - in the form of elves and a goblin (12). Fantasy offers some distance and perhaps ironically when this book was first written in 1939, when World War II was imminent, “stranger danger” was not so much of an issue. Surprisingly their mother does not object to them going for tea with the strange Saucepan Man (102).                                                    

The story is loaded with fantasy. The children are warned early on that the forest is enchanted and there is even a hint that it might be dangerous (6). They meet the elves and the goblin the first time they go there. The second time they meet a talking rabbit (20). Fantasy also provides an escape but it may not always be welcome when the reality of being in a strange place kicks in. They cross the first threshold and then Beth refuses the call. “’What I’m worried about is getting home,’ said Beth. ‘Mother will be anxious if we’re not back before long. What shall we do Joe?’” (32) Tension mounts as they establish that the Faraway Tree is not quite touching the new land, Roundabout Land.   

The children soon learn about basic economics bordering on bribery: Moon-face will only let them use his special slide to get down the tree if they pay him in toffee (38-39). They also have to face the realities of war. The girls are brought into a conflict when they try to rescue Joe from the Snowman. “After all, if people are fighting you, you can’t do much but defend yourself” (67). Perhaps another reference to the conflict that is happening in Europe at the time that the story was first written comes as father bear comments: ”The white bears are cousins of ours, and have always been friendly - now they seem to be enemies” (76). They rob the old lady in Rocking Land admittedly accidentally but show little remorse:  Moon-Face says “ we can’t possibly give them back to that cross old woman in Rocking Land so we may as well put them to good use here” (115). They become greedy when they visit the land of Take-What-You-Want (114-137).

At times they confront danger and take risks. Their second adventure engages them with a land covered in snow and the dangerous Snowman (50-57). Later, the inhabitants of the Faraway tree are surrounded by goblins. The children have to get into the tree by going up the slippery-slip (161-65). There is some mitigation here. however. Moon-Face has not escaped via the slippery-slip because he does not want to leave his friends in danger. 

This first Faraway Tree story ends with a glorious birthday party for Beth. For a short while things go wrong and they are whisked away into a forbidding land. They get back to the Land of Birthdays and eventually to the Faraway Tree and home. The adventures have ended for the time being but the reader is left with hope: “Perhaps they will have more adventures one day” (210).