Me...

Author and Illustrator: Emma Dodd
Publisher: Templar Publishing, 2010 as a free edition Bookstart book

The Templar Publishing books by Emma Dodd (in hardback) are the perfect books to give to new parents (titles include You..., Sometimes... and When..., and as above, Me...), and more importantly I think, as there's a real dearth in books for this market, they're perfect books for 'newly placed' adoptees (and as presents for new adoptive parents). Why? because these books espouse a rhetoric of unconditional love, a wholly important message for all young children, but adoptees especially, as feeling safe, secure and loved is a huge part of attachment building. 
What is particularly interesting about the messages in these books, are that the protagonists (generally a young animal, so for example, in Me..., it's a penguin chick) are not 'straightforward' . In Me... the baby penguin is feels very small and insignificant compared to his colony counterparts and the world around him; he says, 'the world is big, but I am small, and several incantations of this beat out throughout the book. At the end of the story he feels reassured, 'I may be small, but I can see, the biggest thing to you is me':   

In Sometimes...a baby elephant is exploring the world, and occasionally he finds himself  pitching his behaviour incorrectly, so squirting water and scaring flamingos away for example. While his behaviour is 'sometimes' a challenge, the parent elephant is always there, and loves him in the face of everything and for all of his behaviours. There's an acceptance here that the young are learning, and learning means making mistakes, and that consequently, it's okay to make mistakes. These messages of commitment, acceptance, love and security are important offerings to all children, but again, to vulnerable children foremost, no matter what their age. 

Just as the latest Bookstart free book for children is launched (Every Bunny Dance) and entered our house via the library this week, I wanted to thank Bookstart especially for this previous title. Me...came out in 2010 and has been treasured in our house. Me... is a lovely, soothing bedtime read, very calming, quiet and sincere. These Emma Dodd books are prefect of young babies and toddlers, with the latter titles including texture on the pages, such as shiny silvery paper representing 'water' for the elephant to wallow in and spray. The illustrations are simple, with small colour palettes used and various artistry techniques (eg. What looks like sponging, crayon and collage to me (but I might be wrong), and these techniques give the illustrations depth and visual texture (particularly in setting the scene of this vast and frozen Antarctica in Me...). 

To conclude, perfectly themed, attractive looking books to buy for friends and family on the birth or adoption of children. Highly recommended. 

If you like this book, you may also like: No Matter What by Debi Gilori

Henry and Mudge: The First Book

Author: Cynthia Rylant
Illustrator: Sucie Stevenson
Publisher: Simon Spotlight, 1987, edition featured Aladdin Paperbacks 1990

I know very little about this author (I just looked her up: Cynthia Rylant) and very little about the educational context of this 'ready-to-read' series of books ( Henry and Mudge), but I absolutely love this book, and I'm cherishing passing it on to my children. 

Henry and Mudge: The First Book is about a young boy, Henry, who feels lonely. He has no siblings nor friends in his neighbourhood; he asks his parents for a dog. His parents agree, so along comes Mudge, a puppy. This puppy grows into a huge drooling heavy-weight of a dog and a lovely friendship between boy and dog is forged, seemingly impenetrable. There's a humourous 'growing up' moment in the story when we see all the collars Mudge grows out of, before meeting giant Mudge himself. This sweet, charming story is so well written, it reads aloud so effortlessly as an adult, and with its many moments of pause and reflection, it reads easily to the child as well. Bert read the series when four and a half years old, and he was a fair to good reader at the time. It's an ideal book as part of the Summer Reading Challenge, as one of many in an American early years reading scheme.

Now what I especially like about this man and beast relationship, is that it's shown to be reciporcal, so dog Mudge, loves Henry as much as Henry adores Mudge. They spend all their time together, sharing the same bed, smelling each other, lying on each other. 

Henry gains confidence through having Mudge, described concisely yet poetically: 

Rylant's economy with words is Orwellian. She gets across the idea perfectly, with no unnecessary exposition. As an early reader these books are perfect, very short smart 
sentences, interesting vocabulary but most importantly a gripping story. I remember my heart beating in my head reading these books as a child, wondering if Henry will find Mudge once Mudge goes missing in the wood. Rylant sets up this moment of loss and worry so nicely, showing how the landscape suddenly seems big and empty, showing the desperation in Henry as he shouts and shouts for his dog. The pastel watercolour and pen illustrations feel a tiny bit dated, but mainly thanks to dad's handlebar moustache (though admittedly back as a fashion faux pas again currently). Saying this, I like how Sucie Stevenson has captured a sense of flow in the tree detail and the idea of a vast lonely sky with the formation of birds migrating overhead in the Mudge being lost scene. 

The ending of the book is also suprisingly solemn, with Rylant reminding the reader about the fear and loss Henry felt when Mudge was missing. As such, this story really stays with children; after reading it yesterday Bert asked if we could get a dog (fairly predictable), recalling how Mudge was Henry's best friend. He said that in the story Henry had learnt how much he loved Mudge, especially when he was gone. Loyalty, and valuing friendship then, is a theme children take from this book. 

Letterland: ABC

Authors: Lyn Wendon, Domenica de Rosa and Lisa Holt
Illustrations: Geri Livingston
( Based on characters originated by Lyn Wendon)
Publisher: Letterland International ltd, Cambridge, 2009: originally published in 1985

I bought this for Alf in his preschool year, before I knew about 'The Jolly Phonics' reading and writing scheme, that seems so widely rolled out in primary schools in the UK (disclaimer: I'm not a primary school teacher, so excuse my naivity here if this is not the case). I wanted to teach Alf 'letters'  (I knew nothing of 'phonics' at this point) so recalled this book from my own preschool childhood.  We read a few pages of this, from time to time, but 
Alf wasn't really taken. Bert positively despised this book. He said it was 'boring' and there was 'no story'. I felt fairly ambivalent, with the exception of a few tweaks to the letter- character names (I swear 'Harry Hat Man' used to be 'Hairy Hat Man') I had remembered the book fairly well, and still found page after page of the book's rhetorical questions a bit frustrating: 'If you want to buy a hat, please ask Harry very quietly. Why? because he hates noise.' (Ah!)And then along came my daughter, Edie (3); she can't put this book down! I suppose this has taught me, children differ in their reading and learning interests and styles hugely, so alternatives to the standard or popular scheme of its day has a place.

Letterland features a letter per double page spread, with three small paragraphs of exposition. This description usually tells the reader about where the letter lives or what he/she does (so Harry Hat Man lives in a house with a hat on rather than a roof on top), any unusual features he/ she has or does when meeting another Letterland character or when 
he/ she 'makes their sound', and finally the text offers explanation about the letter's capital form.

Interestingly, what Edie seems to like about the book the most, is indeed this fairly naff (sorry Letterland!) incredibly contrived ditty on each page, about how the capital letter is the lowercase version 'in disguise' or 'doing a trick'. Harry Hat Man for example, feels happy so 'does a handstand -with his hat on!' ( wince!)  What Edie seems to like, and what, through my very limited exposure to Jolly Phonics, other schemes seem to lack, is letter shape and size information. The big black letters let her trace the shape of the letter with her hand (physical exploration), and she then searches for repetition of the letter both aurally (through naming the objects in the 'I spy' style page eg. 'hedgehog', 'hay' and 'horse' ) and visually, through searching the text for  'h' words. This multi-sensory package really seems to stimulate her interest, and she is now matching the letters across texts by laying out the double spread Letterland alphabet at the back of the book. 

I'm not sure the letter characters are 'loveable' ( re-reading this as an adult) but they certainly are memorable. Edie especially likes the moody 'Quarrelsome Queen' and the idea of her taking 'Uppy Umberella' everywhere she goes. 

The ritualistic, formulaic page layout for every letter, again really works for Edie (3), she loves the repetition: for an adult, being presented with this book over and over again this week, leaves you reading in a fairly trance like state! But like I say, returning to 'Latterland' might well still have a place.