Flotsam

Author and Illustrator: David Wiesner
Publisher: Andersen Press, 2012, first published by Clarion Books, 2006

I can't put this book down, and I keep putting off it's inevitable return to the library. It's made it to my 'books to buy' list, and thus to this blog. 
A wordless book that tells a gripping story, this masterpiece of modern children's fiction, nay, art, is captivating. When an inquisitive boy finds a barnacle encrusted and battered old camera washed up on the beach, he runs to a 24 hour reprographics shop to develop the film inside the camera case. To his surprise the photographic film shows a whole underwater world, portrayed by Wiesner in these delightfully surreal watercolours that raised curious eyebrows with my children. The story then takes another inexplicable turn, as the developed photos reveal that the camera has been found many times before, bearing a photo in a photo in a photo. Now determined to add himself for posterity, the boy sets up his old fashioned selfie on the sand, with the waves crashing behind him, ready to reclaim the camera. 

While the story is beautiful, taking many exciting and unexpected twists and turns, the pictures that tell of this enchantment are simply enthralling. Deep, detailed, shadow rich, colour rich, sumptuous. My daughter literally tried to reach into the page to inspect the turtles. 

This is the sort of book that I normally pick up sceptically thinking 'all style and no substance' but with Flotsam, far from it, I was truly taken. The book says a huge amount, wordlessly. Much respect to David Weisner, I'll look out for more books by him. 

Share!

Author: Anthea Simmons

Illustrator: Georgie Birkett

Publisher: Andersen Press Ltd, 2010

This is my favourite picture book for preparing children for gaining a sibling. It's sweet, heartwarming and leaves me with a wry smile- everyone's happy, content siblings sharing all- what a dream!

So the story is a real repetitive mantra; little girl (preschool looking) has a number of possessions she loves, including a teddy, book of animals, number puzzle and snugly blanket, for each item, 'baby wants it too', and the reply on each page is, 'share' says mummy, cue to turn the page, 'so I do.' Following every incident of sharing, the baby messes up the item, have bent it, having chewed it, having 'soaked' it  'right through'. Expressions on the faces of the child and baby constantly change, with the baby upset, wanting the possession, becoming content or appeased when he has the item in his hands. The girl whereas, looks intent on keeping her possession or sceptical at handing it over, then annoyed with the baby's response to the item.    

The mantra then adjusts, with the little girl taking mummy's command to share literally, sharing her 'favourite treat for teatime', jam waffle, with baby, who, oh dear, 'has no teeth to chew.' The resulting sharing incident now, backfires each time on mum, with baby getting soggy after pouring milk from 'the cow mug' on himself, and paint chaos ensuing from sharing the easel. the big sister has an impish smile of her face in this section, with baby looking eager. 

The story then takes a final (cute) twist, with the siblings clearly enjoying sharing a bath, and their bedtime routine, and with baby now instigating the agreement to share. In the closing pages of the book the siblings are now 'laughing, laughing, laughing' together, and agree to share their mummy. It's a very happy (sugary yes!)  ending; my children love it and I like the sentiment and appreciate the subtle humour here. 

We've read this book so many times (being a family where a new sibling has arrived consecutively every two years) that the mantra is unbelievably well-ingrained, that the book has reached legendary status in our house and is now simply referred to as 'the share book' and gets suggested by the children for a book at bedtime if we've had a day of troubles, 'oh, mum, Alf is being mean- I think we need to get the share book out!' (like its a key reminder, a cure for all ills). 'Share says mummy!' has become my stern warning, constant reply, sarcastic response to all manner of sibling squabbles, nearly always receiving the same humorous reply, the children echoing (rather begrudgingly, despairingly) the other side of the mantra, 'so I do!' I've bought this book for countless friends who have had second or third babies. It feels like a rite of passage; pregnant for a second time?...you need this book!   

Leading on from that, and being an adopter myself, there's nothing in here that wouldn't work for introducing adopted siblings to each other too. The 'baby' in the book is conveniently toddler-like rather than a babe in arms (echoing a likely scenario of modern day adoption regarding age of placement). The mum doesn't look suitably frazzled though, and seems to waltz in happily for a cuddle with her perfectly clean and sleepy children at the end- again this raises a dry smile with me.   

In all then, illustrations bright, bold, simple, clear and tell a full story in themselves; lovely lyrical text, with plenty of exclamatory vex- so very tongue in cheek. A really great book for helping to prepare a child for an impending sibling arrival, or thereafter for simply encouraging sharing, and seeing the positive outcomes of a sharing sibling union.    

If you like this book, you're also likely to enjoy: When I First Met You Blue Kangaroo

BANANA!

Author and Illustrator: Ed Vere
Publisher: Puffin Books, first published in 2007, board book featured edition 2008

My eldest child, Alf, is 7 years old and loves a spot of drama: thanks Ed Vere, I feel you contributed to this. BANANA! came into our house when Alf was a few weeks old. With a sparse collection of children's books in the freshly painted nursery, we reached for this board book, again and again. At first we didn't really get it, the book nor the baby. The baby didn't do much but we thought we should probably read to it. The book didn't say much, but we thought we'd better read it. the basic synopsis- two monkeys, one banana, two words (banana (capitalised and followed by various modes of punctuation- !,?,!!) and please (followed by - ?) So instead we 'read' the pictures. This involved describing the pictures at first...no interest from baby. This then evolved into enacting the monkey's gestures (arms aloft, see picture below), making the blase whistling noise for monkey-not-noticing-pleading-monkey (again, see below)...sudden flicker of interest from baby.  

Okay, so there we had it, BANANA! was a book to be performed! 12 bright double page illustrations telling of the complex negotiation around the eating of one banana. Simple and effective. Sometimes my partner and I (newly doting parents might I add) took on reading roles; one of us would be monkey one (stripey red T shirt monkey) who takes to tussling for the banana with monkey two (stripey blue T shirt monkey). Except this would often end in a fight as red monkey, having the epic tantrum on page 5 (see below), was a far more interesting performance role to play compared to blue monkey, who's a bit of a goody goody, and is the first to agree to share. 

  

This book taught me many things. It's a masterclass in 'less is more'; short,colourful and economic with words. It taught me that a good story for young children, is about the performance and delivery as much as a narrative. BANANA! pushes the adult reader to interact with their audience; to imply, interpret, gesture, offer, initiate and model behaviours in order to tell the story (its an impossible book to simply read- too few words). Indeed BANANA! facilitates the basics of learning to read beautifully, asking that the reader interpret the pictures, recall events, and 'read the illustrations' in order to follow and impart the gist. BANANA! is funny, and engaging; it seems the bigger the read-aloud performance of this book, the more of a reaction you get from children. Having been a fan of the book for 7 years now, my version of the monkey tantrum is raucous, big movements, big facial expressions, gets lots of giggles. Its an enjoyable book and a joy to share. 

This book also has a huge amount of educational scope. It helps promote giving names to emotions, labelling and identifying different emotions even for children at a very young age. BANANA! is so simple I would suggest it's suitable for babies, toddlers even through to preschoolers, it might even have a place in a SEN library, and we certainly use this one to open discussion on emotions with regard to the children's adoption. Currently our baby of the house, George (20 months), stares in bewilderment at us, trying to fathom why we pretend cry when we read this book, why we storm off, why we smile at the end. It's a great book for being playful, role playing emotions, and as such is good for building attachment, for bonding, for showing parent-led emotions, and so I would also recommend this book as a resource for Theraplay. 

And finally, as if that doesn't pack a big enough punch for a 12 page board book, the final parting message of the book is to share, with the monkeys agreeing to disagree. This is a great way to end off a toddler board book, future proofing any sibling encounters along the way. And of course, throw a bit of maths in there for good measure too, as the monkeys and their banana halves mean "two halves make a whole"- fantastic, genius! For a book with just two words, BANANA! says so very much. 

BANANA! should also come with a warning though: my children frequently choose this title to 'read' to their youngest sibling, as it always raises a laugh: performance styles can vary and budding actors develop their own interpretation (usually the style known as 'over-the-top'. Given this, I wouldn't always choose this book at bedtime, as it has been known to 'hype' the children up. In all though, a big monkey thumbs up to Ed Vere for this humorous, clever offering. 

If you like this book, you might also like this 'performance' reliant board book: This is the Way by Charles Fuge

   

If I Could Be

Author: Pippa Goodhart
Illustrations: Nick Sharratt
If I Could Be is a double edition of the books You Choose and Just Imagine 
Publisher: You Choose first published by Doubleday in 2003, Just Imagine first published by Doubleday in 2012. If I Could Be first published by Doubleday in 2014. 

My three oldest children (7, 5 and 3) were sprawled out on their bellies on the landing this morning, 'choosing' together from this book, and discussing, with great excitement, their selections, so I felt If I Could Be deserved a post tonight. This book wouldn't be my first choice of bedtime story, but it is the first choice always, of Bert, 5 and increasingly Edie, 3. It isn't my choice, as basically the book involves giving children categories of goods or ideas to select from which generally involves a lot of procrastinating, thinking, changing of minds, and draws out bedtime no end! If you've got a lot of time on your hands, a long car journey maybe, and you want to stimulate discussion and get into the mindset of your child, this is the book for you. 

The first section of this double edition, You Choose, offers scenarios to choose from, generally stooped in everyday life: so based on what to wear, how to get there, what to eat and what to do. On each double page spread of this large hardback there's a bright background colour and busy page of images, with a question posed at the top. There's a tentative link through the themes, so choosing where you would live moves into what you would put in your house? At 5 years old, Bert has started to make relational choices, so for example he matches his choice of riding round in a VW Beetle on the transport page, to selecting a flower T shirt on the what to wear page, saying that people who drive beetles like flowers. This book is fantastic for getting children to argue, discuss, share their thoughts, claim ideas and express themselves. It can be frustrating for children with limited vocabulary though, unless you share as a very patient parent happy to point and smile and not impart you own ideas on every page. 

The second book in the double edition is Just Imagine: this one tends to have more fantasy scenarios, such as asking children to imagine being small, or not human, or being magical. In terms of building vocabulary this book is fantastic, as there's so much to see, label, infer, relate and categorise. While there may not be much to physically 'read' on each page, the book is promoting these basic reading skills all along. 

Nick Sharratt's illustrations work so hard in this book. They are all equally bold and bright, with no obvious a emphasise or stand out pictures. Control and decision making is really handed over to children with this book, making it suitable for building attachment relationships ( thumbs-up as adoption friendly though beware of the 'choosing your family' page; we emphasise the 'choosing friends' angle harder on this page). 

In all, a fun, exciting book that would make a good addition to any classroom, nursery, or home bookshelf. It's interactive angle means you need to choose wisely when to read. This is a noise- inducing book, and a book for sharing ideas ( not calming!) - prepare for sibling squabbles and fall-outs over claims to ideas, but equally prepare for being invited in on those funny and touching moments, such as when children suggest items or ideas for each other ('Edie would love those flip flops' suggested Bert this morning, 'and I would like a pet lion and three robot dogs please!' Edie replied). If I Could Be is like a ticket into your child's imagination, a mirror to shine at phases of child development; it promotes creativity, drama, independent thinking, matching skills, critical thinking, selecting...it's a very very useful book.  

Tig and Tog: The Discovery

Written and Illustrated by Sally Garland
Publisher: Top That, 2015

This is a lovely simple story in which dog friends Tig and Tog are playing in the park, Tig is initially reluctant to share her stick, but together the friends make an exciting discovery and work together to uncover more of the surprise in the ground. Tig and Tog have to use various tools to dig up their find. 3 year old Edie excitedly recalled that a wheelbarrow would be used, while 5 year old Bert remembered (with two pages to go) what the big find would be- a dinosaur skeleton!
The story builds up nicely, slowly and quietly, starting with the friends using very basic tools to dig at the ground, sticks in the mud, moving on to spades and then even diggers. The overriding message inTig and Tog: The Discovery is about achieving more when working together and sharing ideas and 'things' (in this case tools to dig, but possessions in general are inferred). That's a useful message to bring to squabbling siblings, or to open up discussion on themes of friendship, sharing and cooperation. My children like the back page of the book which shows a dinosaur skeleton on display, reading 'Found by Tig and Tog with a stick' though it's easy to miss on the outro sheet. 
This is a simple, quiet and charming book, with light watercolour style graphics, sweet but fairly unmemorable characters. The book appealed visually more to female Edie on first sight ( the gendered appropriation of light pastel shades had a hand here I think), but the narrative itself was well received by both 3-5year olds (boy and girl) sharing this story tonight.