Tag Archives: Non-fiction

Just in time for Spring: The Book of Me by Adam Frost illustrated by Sarah Ray

The Book of Me by Adam Frost, illustrated by Sarah Ray

If you ran your school what would your rules be? What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you? Would you rather talk to animals or speak every language in the world? Answer these questions and much much more, with real life comparisons – how do you compare to an animal, another human, or even your parents? Collect your own data and enjoy ridiculous facts, hilarious quizzes and scribbling activities?

From the winner of the Best Book with Facts in the Blue Peter Book Award, comes this fantastically fun activity book. The Book of Me is much more than your average activity book; it gets the reader thinking about all sorts of things from fame to superpowers, from school to what kind of dad dancing goes on at home! With loads of facts about life on Earth, the universe and the ideal holiday destination (did you know 22.5 million people visit Niagara Falls every year?!) readers will learn all about the world around them – and best of all, it encourages them to think about how they feel about it too.

The book is full of quirky and often funny illustrations which are the ideal accompaniment to the text. With so many jokes and funny ideas, it’s sure to be a hit. It’s also a great way to get even the most reluctant reader on board with books. I have to say I laughed out loud at the bad dad jokes (for example: “Two goldfish are in a tank. One says to the other: Do you know how to drive this thing?!”). There’s opportunities for colouring, drawing and testing your knowledge with quizzes and is a great book to keep kids entertained on the go, so very well-timed for the Easter holidays. But watch out – with a Dad quiz test and a method of measuring how embarrassing mums are, parents will be kept on their toes too! The Book of Me is published today by Bloomsbury.

Find out more at www.adam-frost.com and www.sarahray.co.uk.

With thanks to Bloomsbury for sending me a copy to review.

A Super Saturday – at Oxford Literary Festival 2017!

1 Reply

Introducing Korky Paul at the FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival, Saturday 25th March.

The day dawned bright and fair. ‘Suited and booted’ wearing my favourite Dorothy-inspired book-ish shoes, I set off to the beautiful city of Oxford for the first day of the FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival. I had been asked to introduce none other than Korky Paul, illustrator of the fabulous Winnie the Witch books. On arriving, it was with great delight I spent an hour or so chatting with Korky and helping a real life Winnie the Witch get ready to entertain the audience!

With Winnie the Witch at Oxford Literary Festival

About 80 or so children and parents arrived, all hugely thrilled to meet Korky – and of course Winnie, who willingly posed for photos with them. After introducing Korky, I sat back and watched in wonder as he brought to life Winnie, Wilbur and all their wonderful adventures.

With prizes and stories along the way, everyone went away utterly delighted. Korky shared brilliant illustrations tips and was so encouraging of all the children and even read aloud one of the stories.

It really was a special morning. There are few things more inspiring than watching an illustrator at work, perfectly capturing the expression, movement and magic of a character everybody knows and loves!

“Seeing the World Through Children’s Books” with Elizabeth Laird, Gill Lewis and Anna Bassi, and Nikki Gamble

This was a great opportunity to hear from two renowned authors and the editor of the fantastic news magazine for children, The Week. Chaired by Nikki Gamble from Just Imagine, the discussion focused on why it is so important to write about the real world for children. Each member of the panel gave a brief talk about their work, starting with Anna Bassi, editor of The Week, a magazine for children which aims to make the news accessible for younger readers.

Anna talked about balancing new stories “with fun stuff so that children could see that the world is not all bad; it’s huge and interesting”. Having subscribed to The Week both at home and in the school library, I’ve always found it to be an excellent source of news for children and also full of interesting facts, competitions and great stories from around the world. It is also, most importantly, as Anna described “a safe place to read about serious stories”. I think the whole audience could appreciate the challenge of making news accessible for children in the current climate.

Gill Lewis, author of award winning wonderful books such as Sky Hawk and Scarlet Ibis, then shared her inspiration for her new book A Story Like the Wind (out next month), an incredible tale about refugees which Gill described as a “story about the power of stories”. She also spoke about Gorilla Dawn which focuses on the destruction of gorillas and their habitats through the mining of minerals for mobile phone technology.

Gill shared some wonderful insights into her writing, such as taking big events down to one narrative to make the story accessible for young readers. She talked about finding the character within the story to enable you to create a narrative and enable children to relate to the story. Gill described her writing as not writing for children, but writing as a child, “exploring what it’s like to feel utterly powerless in an adult world.”

Elizabeth Laird, whose work was characterised as “intrepid” by the panel chair Nikki Gamble and has been translated into 25 different languages, was the final author to share her thoughts. Her books include the amazing, award winning The Garbage King and The Fastest Boy in the World. Elizabeth talked about her latest novel Welcome to Nowhere, a story about Syrian refugees. Elizabeth shared an experience of seeing hundreds of refugees arriving at a train station in Munich, making her think of other historical events where multitudes of people have been forced out of their homes.

This motivated her trip to the Middle East and led her to writing Welcome to Nowhere. Elizabeth made an impassioned plea to the audience to help those “people just like us with perfectly good lives who are now refugees”. Elizabeth’s presentation included images of the refugee camp she visited, home to some 80,000 people. She also spoke about the children living in absolute poverty on whom some of her other novels are based, and moved many in audience to tears with some of her stories – including me. Elizabeth encouraged all members of the audience to get involved in raising funds for The Mandala Trust, a charity supporting two schools opened especially for refugee children. Find out more on her website www.elizabethlaird.co.uk.

The overall thread was the importance of ensuring a message of hope whilst still being true to the story or narrative. Younger readers should not be patronised but neither should they be made to feel complete despair. Nikki Gamble asked if there was a line the panel members wouldn’t go beyond with their readers. In response, Elizabeth spoke of having a duty to encourage readers, always showing hope. Gill has had readers who have thanked her for writing stories even about the most difficult of issues, because it helped them get through their own experiences. And Anna shared that even with the darkest of news stories; there are always opportunities to remember what good people there are in the world, focusing on everyday heroes.

It was a fascinating hour, looking at the power of both fiction and non-fiction to enable children to see the world more clearly. I think the conversation also showed the ability writers have to help children feel empathy and make informed decisions about the world around them. This demonstrates why reading is so important, especially in a world which is so visible to children, but also so full of things that are difficult to understand.

Find out more about the Oxford Literary Festival at www.oxfordliteraryfestival.org which runs until 2nd April.

And look out for an interview with Gill Lewis coming up as part of our Spring Feature!

Non-fiction: why is it so important for children’s reading?

1 Reply

You may have noticed that November has been National Non Fiction Month. With so many days and occasions to celebrate reading, the focus is often on fiction. This of course, is wonderful and absolutely as it should be. But it’s also wonderful and as it should be that we celebrate the plethora of amazing non-fiction books out there for children. And that’s just what the Federation of Children’s Book Groups does through National Non Fiction month.

So why is non- fiction so important for children’s reading? Well, one might say, it teaches them about the world and helps their education perhaps supporting whatever current topic they’re working on. And of course this is true; knowledge is empowering at any age. But it’s more than that. Because for some children, reading stories just isn’t something they want to do or perhaps it’s something that they can’t do. So non-fiction opens a door to reading ensuring they too can experience the wonder of words.

Non-fiction books help children unlock the world around them, but also enable them to participate in reading, tapping into their varied interests and engaging them in a way that stories sometimes can’t. If a child has a learning need, they can struggle with understanding the often inferred narratives in a story – with non-fiction they don’t have to worry about this, they can just read the facts off the page! Would you believe that many children I have worked with say they don’t want to read because they don’t like stories? Of course I explain to them that this is simply not true, they haven’t found the right book yet. But if they are adamant and don’t want to read a ‘story-book’, I will establish what their interests are and recommend a wonderful non-fiction book as a starting point that fits the bill; whatever the topic there’s bound to be something they will enjoy. As it’s not a ‘story’ and it fits in with their interests, they start to read. And whilst they read they are still benefiting from language, vocabulary and expression through the information presented in front of them. This is amazing sight to see, when you’ve had a student roll their eyes on being asked to read – and a little while later they’re busy enjoying a book!

There are some simply gorgeous and amazing non-fiction books produced today for all ages with beautiful illustrations bringing the information to life. The FCBG have put together an amazing list of 100 children’s non-fiction books; plenty of ideas to choose from!

And there’s always what are viewed as the more ‘commercial’ non-fiction books; the Guinness Book of Records, Lego, Minecraft……a bone of contention for some; ‘It’s not reading’. Well actually, yes it is. It’s a start. And for those young people who are so switched off from reading they’d rather stare at the wall, it’s the perfect combination of words, pictures and fantastic facts. Without even realising it they become engrossed in a book, through something that interests them. It’s a step on the road to reading – it’s fun and above all we want children and young people to associate their reading experiences with fun. Once they find the joy of books, they are far more likely to develop a reading habit. Sadly not all have had a positive start to their reading journeys, not all have homes with books in and many have a complete lack of input as they get older. So if we can find something that hooks them, non-fiction or fiction, little by little they will discover reading for pleasure.