Brambly Hedge: Autumn Story

Author and Illustrator: Jill Barklem

Publisher: HarperCollins 1980

Acquired: School Fayre

My daughter, Edie, (approaching 4 years of age) plonked Autumn Story on my lap today and said, 'I know it's long, but we've got all day'. Well what can you say to that?!

The book isn't 'long' per say, just quite wordy and descriptive, but that's part of the charm. The Brambly Hedge books are, to me, a hybrid between The Beatrix Potter Collection and The Thomas the Tank Engine series. They capture the essence of the British countryside in incredibly intricate illustrations like Potter, in attention to rural traditions, native animals, birdlife, insect life, flora and fauna just like Potter, and they're written in this slightly stiff, posh voice which hoots of Received Pronunciation. Characters are introduced by their titles, Mr Apple, Lady Woodmouse, Wilfred, and this espouses a sense of position and place in the social class hierarchy. Potter was slightly less oblique in doing this I'd say, some of her characters have more of an accent (Jemima Puddleduck) or aspire to great things (Mrs Tabitha Twitchit). And the similarity to The Rev W Awdry's Thomas the Tank Engine Series? In a similar vein to Brambly Hedge, I can read these books aloud and completely switch off to the story, sleep talk them almost. It's possible to read both series of these books so mechanically and yet still my children seem to enjoy them and beg for more! I have long thought that reading Thomas the Tank Engine at any time of the night or day would cure even a hardened insomniac.     

I will be lynched for gender specification here, but Brambly Hedge are really Thomas the Tank Engine for girls. Not to say that only boys like Thomas, and only girls like Brambly Hedge, not at all true, Bert (5) really likes a later book in the Brambly series called The High Hills (1986), but in general, I find the aesthetics and themes of Brambly Hedge really appeal to my daughter, while the aesthetic and narratives of Thomas continue to enthral my son. Again, the two series have much in common: both are about old alliances, community, teamwork, togetherness, friendship and work; both have exciting adventure elements, generally where something goes wrong and needs fixing, or someone gets lost of left behind and needs finding, or an item needs retrieving (against the clock). In Brambly Hedge: Autumn Story for example, field-mouse Primose accidentally strays too far; search parties are sent for her, but she remains resourceful and fortunate, and stumbles on other helpful mouse communities and is eventually reunited with her family.   

What I really like about these books, as does Edie who sat telling me all about this today, is the attention to food, clothes (the materials used), the weather, the smells. The books have quite a sensory appeal, being description rich, vocabulary rich. I also like that they appeal to girls (at least mine!) and have a strong adventure theme, and positive representations of female characters surviving on their own, being skilled and knowledgeable. The tone of the books are a little dated,  particularly in terms of dialogue whereby the characters address each other by name a lot and helpfully talk to themselves allowing the plot to develop. 

All in all, a good quaint 'summer's day in the garden' kind of read. 

If you like this book you might also like:  The Tale of The Flopsy Bunnies by Beatrix Potter

Tom and the Island of Dinosaurs

Author and Illustrator: Ian Beck
Publisher: First published 1993 through Doubleday, featured edition Picture Corgi, Random House 1995

For me this book has all the ingredients of a perfect children's picture book. Firstly (and in no order of priority), plenty of adventure, excitement and a good rescue mission storyline. Secondly, sumptuous illustrations with a lot of texture, depth of perspective and landscapes that feel very epic. Thirdly, whimsical characters- a boy who commands his own hot air balloon (and in the subsequent sequel, a raft), a girl on a desert island saving dinosaurs, and a grandfather, living in a lighthouse and ready to listen to his grandson's stories. As plot devices go, Ian Beck has created a plethora, all pitched beautifully at the curious minds of children; at every turn there's a new idea to fuel the fantasy, a volcano erupting, magic flowers to attract dinosaurs, a struggling baby dinosaur to help. What this achieves is a very gender neutral book, with plenty of fixes in the story to interest across gendered reading norms. My daughter (3) for example, loves the idea of a message in a bottle, the rescue itself, and dinosaur protector and architect of the plan, being a female lead. My son (5), loves the exploding volcanoes and the idea of character Tom, braving the elements alone to perform a daring rescue.  

As I said in my review of Benedict Blathwayt's The Little Red Train series, it's rare to find in children's literature, a writer who writes as well as he illustrates, but in Ian Beck we have that very thing. Beck uses lots of hatching techniques, mainly through exposed cross hatching, dipping and ticking penwork to create very textured, layered pictures. He is generous with his picture-per-page ratio and there are plenty of big double spreads in this book that wow; my children particularly like the dramatic volcano erupting page in this title. Beck has a real talent for drawing sea, cloud and smoke especially, which offers a lot of depth and movement to the page, his work is really captivating. 

To find fault with this title I would suggest that the type-font or type set of the book is dated, I think it's written in Times New Roman, which I find hard to read personally. And while I like the pace of the book, as the story always grips my children, there is a lot going on, and such a complicated plot in a very compact exposition, might be confusing to some. The plot is a little frenetic, very fantastical and takes a confident reader to interpret which sections of the narrative to emphasise. When 7 year old Alf read Tom and the Island of Dinosaurs to his siblings a few days ago, it sounded like there was an exclamation mark after every sentence end, as to him, every moment in the book was remarkable and worthy of expression. (And I would agree). 

In all, a hugely enjoyable book, perfectly matched at the 3-6 year old market, and I'm sure it's inspired many a dream in our house; my middle two children have certainly role played at saving dinosaurs (with the carpet as the sea) following reading this book.  

The Story of Titanic For Children

Author/ Editor: Joe Fullman and Alexandra Koken
Publisher: Carlton Books Ltd, 2015

It's always a joy to see a child with their arms around a book, having not been told to choose or find a book...though bedtime, with The Titanic (again!) When will Alf's obsession with this book end?
We've had 'The Story of Titanic For Children' for a good 18 months now, and I can safely say it's the boys' ( 7 years and 5 years) favourite non- fiction. The book is a sort of scrapbook encyclopaedia of The Titanic, from the building of, to the legacy of 'the unsinkable ship.' Each page is a colourful double page spread under a differing theme, such as 'loading', 'manning' , 'powering' et.al. Particularly interesting are the overviews on passenger social class and where this placed passengers in relation to the ship's quarters (and their likelihood of survival). 
It seems the secret to the success of this book ( with my children), besides this being a captivating, horrifying and real-life tragedy that simply fascinates, is the personalisation of the stor/ies and themes. Each page offers a photo or two and short paragraph on how individuals were associated with the Titanic and what fate had in store for them, so for example, in 'First Class' we read how The Countess of Rothes steered lifeboat 8 to safety, and became friends with Able Seaman Thomas Jones ever after. Alf's current favourite snippet of story is that of Eva Hart, who was a seven year old on board The Titanic, as he can relate to her, being seven himself. 

As you can see, the pages are laid out like a pin board with pin images in some of the pictures, this makes the arrangement of the page very inviting and novel, with photo excerpts interspliced with poster images and artefacts of that time. There's also little clues and suggestions as to who or what is to 'blame' for the sinking of The Titanic;  lookout boy Fredrich Fleet, whose binoculars were locked in a cupboard thanks to Second Officer David Blair being transferred to The Olympic? First Officer William Murdoch for taking evasive action and giving the order to turn the ship away from the iceberg, leaving it to hit side on rather than dead centre? Alf and Bert revel in this guessing game and opportunity to exercise their own opinion, they have even recreated the 'side on' 'straight on' impact using bubble icebergs and toy boats in the bath. 

Now don't get me wrong, this is a great book, but inevitably it's a morbid story of a tragic disaster. The page 'A Ship Destroyed' has a graphic image of dead men in the water, so maybe not suited to the more faint hearted. This sort of macabre and gruesome drama does seem though, to really appeal to children of 5years and upwards. So much so that Alf persistently bought this book into class for  'silent reading' for a lot of last year. After a good few months his teacher stopped me in the playground and politely requested I send Alf in with 'something less diaster based.' He agreed and scooted off upstairs to find a new 'independent reading book.' He came down a few minutes with 'Pompeii' !! 

I will leave you with a fantastic clip from a National Geographic documentry, that Alf and Bert have watched over and over again, helping them to support their theories and foundation knowledge obtained from this hugely recommended book: The Stroy of Titanic for Children. 

Titanic Sinking CGI Video: National Geographic