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| Jan Mark |
| Hodder Children's Books |
| 0340861002 |
| Mar 2006 |
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Published posthumously, this short novel illustrates just what a loss Jan Mark’s is to the world of children’s literature. Connie is staying with her gran as preparations for a street party take place. Anxious that she will not know anyone, Connie is unsure that she wants to attend…
“Road Closed” takes seriously the very real and sometimes paralysing childhood fear of the unexpected and of not knowing anyone that often accompanies parties and indeed attendance at other social gatherings. It sensitively shows how being oneself, showing awareness to others and meeting the needs of those around us responsively not only helps us have a good time, but also ensures that others do too. The story here powerfully demonstrates how the situations we are placed within and our responses towards these play key roles in determining the type of person we are seen to be… A genuinely surprising ending is not easily achieved within so short a time-span and for such a young audience, it is testament to the writer’s skill and indeed to her latent understanding of the importance of childhood to all of us that one is here posited. A book with a big heart and a bold view regarding the ongoing significance of childhood years.
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Early Readers: March 2006 Archives
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| Bob Cattell and John Agard |
| Frances Lincoln |
| 1845073762 |
| Mar 2006 |
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“Calypsos are about serious things, they about funny things, but they are always bursting with life.” Familiar to many as the author of the “Glory Gardens” series, cricket writer extraordinaire Bob Cattell is teamed with poetsonian* John Agard in “Butter-Finger”, the fourth book in Frances Lincoln’s new fiction list for 8 to 12 year olds. Riccardo Small – diminutive in name, stature and the regard he is held within by Calpyso Cricket Club – has big dreams of playing with and winning alongside his team. Things do not go according to plan, however, when Riccardo is afforded the opportunity to play for the team and he misses a catch. This is compounded still further when the band strike up with a new calypso called “Butter Finger”. This short book sensitively illustrates just how crushing defeat and petty name-calling can be for young children. It also carefully outlines team-work and the roles all individuals are able to play in contributing towards this. Sometimes serious, sometime satirical but always life affirming. A brilliant blend of poetry and prose that begs to be read aloud! * According to John Agard, a poetsonian is a poet who feels a close connection with Caribbean calypsonians
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| Beverley Naidoo |
| Frances Lincoln |
| 1845070550 |
| Mar 2006 |
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One of the most familiar Tricksters in literature has got to be Brer Rabbit, featuring in eight volumes of animal tales written – or rather retold – by Joel Chandler Harris in the “Uncle Remus” series. The 185 stories these volumes consist of are retellings of tales told by slaves on the plantation where Harris worked as a printer’s assistant. In “The Great Tug of War”, by Beverley Naidoo, published as the third book in Frances Lincoln’s new fiction range for 8 – 12 year olds, the origins of these stories are traced back to Africa in Mmuthla (pronounced m-moo-tl-ah) a trickster hare…
The eight stories explore the hoodwinking, hoaxing and habits little Mmutla employs to gain the better of the larger animals; elephants, hippos, lions, giraffes and baboons to name but a few… Readers are allowed privileged position whereby they see the unravelling of the chaos Mmutla creates leading to a wonderful sense of anticipation and impatience to learn how this might all end… The language of the book is beautifully lyrical and there’s a sense of richness within the untold tales that comprise constituent parts of the landscape that lies outstretched… here is a masterpiece made in miniature!
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| Sean Taylor |
| Frances Lincoln |
| 1845073770 |
| Mar 2006 |
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“Purple Class and the Skelington” forms the first of four books in Frances Lincoln’s newly launched fiction range for 8 – 12 year olds. These offerings bring to their genres the cultures and sensibilities of story-telling, diversity and illustration that Frances Lincoln have made their bench-mark amongst the picture book market.
Comprised of four short stories, this book is crammed full of zany and exuberant characters and the mishaps and mayhem that ensue in their everyday education. There is a perennial feel to the children presented here and readers will find it difficult not to relate, on some level, to at least one of the characters! Sean Taylor casts an astute and an innately good-humoured glance at the practicalities of teaching young children and although members of Purple Class might not always take the most standard routes towards their learning, their experiences are meaningful and can only lead to heightened understanding, compassion and a resultant love of learning. Admirable in anybody’s eye surely…
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