Teach-Early-Years-14.1

I HEARD A BIRD (Scallywag Press, paperback, £7.99) I Heard a Bird is the fourth and final title in Rob Ramsden’s beautiful In the Garden series, which encourages children to relate to the natural world around them. The narrative is deceptively simple: a young girl hears a bird, which is scared away by some cats fighting. As she tries to find it again, she becomes aware of all kinds of tiny, lovely sounds, from the rustling of a tree’s leaves, to a scurrying mouse and a hopping, flopping frog. Eventually, she closes her eyes and finds a silent space. She hears her own breathing and her heart beating, and in this mindful moment, rediscovers her bird. Ramsden’s illustrations are delightful, and he chooses his language carefully for what is essentially a meditation, the alliteration and internal rhymes making each page a gentle joy to read aloud. Once you’ve shared it with your little ones, why not take them outside, with blankets or mats to lie on, and see how quiet they can be? What can they hear around them? READ ALL ABOUT IT! Have you seen these fantastic publications? Spiro (Scribble, paperback, £7.99) Do you know the all- important recipe for success? According to Spiro, it’s 11% hunger, 34% trying again, 53% giving it another shot, and 2% luck. Plus, quite a bit of spider silk… Anna McGregor shows rather than tells: cause and effect is a key story component, with text and pictures working together to suggest more than first meets the eye. Spiro’s neon body makes a visual splash, and changes in viewpoint add to the humour and suspense. One Button and the Sea (Scallywag Press, hardback, £12.99) “Grandpa, tell me the story again of when we went to sea...” Powered by something wild and fundamentally significant, this beautifully illustrated picture book prompts us to think about loss and change. It may be read as an allegory about refugees or interpreted in ways that speak to other experiences and concerns. But, infused as it is with wisdom and charm, it’s easy to enjoy and is essentially uplifting. A Lot of Silly: A Book of Rhymes and Nonsense (Gecko Press, hardback, £16.99) Most of Joy Cowley’s poems rhyme; a few don’t. Some restrain themselves to four lines of absurdity; others are longer. Many evoke more than just a giggle on their way to unexpected destinations, and a handful are recognisably tall stories or jokes. But they are all, as advertised, most gloriously silly. David Barrow’s illustrations match the timeless exuberance of the text. BUNNY’S MOST FABULOUS HOLIDAY EVER (Scallywag Press) Explore differences with activities based on Brian Fitzgerald’s funny tale of unlikely friendship… Talk to children about the story. Why do they think Bunny likes to holiday on her own? Why is it such a problem for her to have a messy, noisy neighbour? Do friends have to be the same in every way, or can there be fun in differences? Bring out a box full of blocks, bricks and other building materials, all mixed up together, and ask the children to come up with a tidier method of arranging them. Are there any advantages to sorting them by size, colour or any other way? What would the children’s ideal holiday be? Can they come up with a list of “essentials” and “nice to have”s? A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO CHOOSING THE PERFECT PE T (Allen & Unwin, paperback, £7.99) “Every family should have a pet,” begins this book, earnestly. “A faithful friend to welcome into your hearts and home.” It’s a reasonable enough start, but things soon take an unexpected turn. People think kittens and puppies make great pets, but rhinos and tigers are much better. Not to mention crocodiles, with their “cheerful, happy-go-lucky personalities”. Expect a topsy-turvy world of well-meaning advice as author Alison Rutstein plays with the gap between what we know and what she’s telling us, while Tommy Doyle’s energetic artwork takes the joke to another level. Anyone old enough to twig that we’re not meant to trust the narrator will enjoy the interplay between words, pictures and subtext; and you could be surprised at the level of sophistication shown by your charges here, even if they don’t understand every nuance. Teachearlyyears.com 53