Home

Author and Illustrator: Alex T Smith
Publisher: Scholastic Children's Books, 2009

I discovered this book in a weekly library haul; shove as many books in a calico bag in between swimming lessons and getting the kids home for tea, library trip enroute, don't ask questions just try the book stash out, one by one, at home. The best books are read more than once, the very best books go on a re-loan, and exceptional books are returned, and a forever copy bought online within a week. I think I had ordered a forever copy of this book within an hour; as my now eight year old says, 'it's epic.'

Home is a book about friendship, and what it means to feel 'at home'. Four unlikely friends, live contently together, until their aspirations and interests in life lead them to yearn for different things; wanting to be a pirate, wanting to yodel in the mountains, a desire to live in a dark cave and aspirations of life in the big city, going to parties. The cartoon critters, a badger, bear, deer and rabbit, discuss, argue and then fight, eventually deciding to go their separate ways but all taking a physical piece of the share house with them; the floor, door, windows and door. Each animal is seen going off in a huff, determined to take their part of the house with them. Double page split images work to great effect here, with the landscape backdrop differing to exaggerate the different destinations of the characters. Eventually the creatures realise and admit they've made a mistake, find resolution and resolve to return and apologise to each other: fantastic! The perfect model of any friend and / or sibling relationship.  

This is a fast paced and witty book, feeling very original in its togetherness -separation and 
'reunification with adjustments' storyline. The tone of the book is very 'matter of fact' rather than urgent and concerned, which makes the story very funny, presenting the obscure events, such as the pompous and bossy badger wanting to 'boogie woogie' all night long, as everyday. I especially like the jibe, 'it was as if they had never seen a  badger boogie-woogie before!' emphasising how alien a new beginning is for the friends, away from each other, as they conclude that the new starts all have drawbacks, with the badger for example, finding that people in the city 'weren't friendly.'  As with most of his work Alex T Smith makes great use of societal references and stereotypes here; he's a great author-comedian in my mind. 

'Home' is full of the unexpected, and yet the message is one of familiarity and belonging. It's a great book for young children in that it promotes feeling secure and concludes that 'home' doesn't need to be a static 'thing', physically a house can change its shape and form but it's the relationships that drive the home that count. A great book to use for children moving house, and also for talking about attachments and belonging. Aside from all this, just a fantastic book to read aloud. Assign each character an accent and have fun performing this one- it's pure comedy, laugh out loud. 

Shark in the Park!

Author and Illustrator: Nick Sharratt
Publisher: First published 2000 by Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd, featured edition published by Picture Corgi, 2007

I've long thought this book is the perfect five minute light relief for any nursery class, but today this book managed to captivate two seven year olds (Alf and his mate), a tired five year old, poorly three year old and distracted one year old, at a very busy (late) World Book Day event. Talk about working hard! 

It's a very short book, with straightforward (and very effective) structure; an introduction, three 'sightings' and a funny 'outro'. The formulaic action rhyme which charts young boy, Timothy's, moves as he tracks a shark in the park with his new telescope, gets preschoolers moving ( looking up, looking down, looking all around). This is accompanied by an opportunity for a shout, in that Timothy spies a shark in his telescope viewfinder and sets about alerting people, 'there's a shark in the park!' 

The story is fun and well humoured. Timothy spies a shark in the circular viewfinder, this is a cut-away in the page; when the page turns over the black shark fin is revealed to be part of the anatomy of a cat ( its ear), a crow ( its wing) and my favourite, Timothy's dad's quiff. The reveal is amusing, unexpected, and doesn't tire. 

The book illustrations are incredibly bright, well defined and very characteristic of Sharratt. There's plenty to capture the interest of toddlers here, with the inclusion of kites flying in the distance, worms and snails popping up, lots to spot and amuse beyoung the foreground pictures. 

There's a real economy with words in this book, simple four line rhymes mainly, with plenty of dramatic breathe-inhaling exclamations. Speech bubbles are used to bring in the voice of the wrongly 'accused' sharks. There's a fun, cheekiness about the main character, as he smiles and giggles about his mistakes. 

All in all, a fantastic five minute toddler fix, but also a chirpy little book that makes the whole family smile.