Tag Anna Wilson

Until You Find The Sun

jillrbennett Leave a comment


Until You Find The Sun
Maryam Hassan and Anna Wilson
Hodder Children’s Books

Debut author Maryam Hassan was inspired by her own experience and children she has taught to write this poignant, affecting story.

Aminah’s life is a happy one, made especially so by the evenings she spends with her grandfather, Da, who while snuggled together on his charpai, tells her tales of adventurers who visited new lands and made exciting discoveries. Then one day her parents tell her that they too are going to set off on an adventure. At first Aminah is excited but then Da tells her that he isn’t going with them.
Saying goodbye to her beloved grandfather, brings Aminah to the brink of tears as she urges him again to join then. “I am always with you. You will find sunshine wherever you go,” he tells his granddaughter.

When their plane lands at their destination though, there’s no brightness, only grey skies and rain. The next few days continue to be sunless, bitterly cold and despite wrapping in several layers, Aminah still feels numb both inside and out. She feels out of place in her new school too

and despite her parents’ best efforts to cheer her up, the only warmth she feels is when talking to Da on the phone. How she longs to go back. Understanding Da reminds his granddaughter that her adventure is just beginning and promises to light her way until she finds some sun once more.

That seems more unlikely than ever as the days grow even colder, but then as she trudges along clutching her Mama’s hand, she suddenly spots something bright mango yellow that reminds her of home. Mama and Aminah go and make a special purchase, one that brightens up the day considerably.


The following morning Aminah opens her curtains onto a sight that seems to herald that adventure Da had promised her. Outside in the snow she meets a new friend and at last the cold doesn’t have that same dismalness. When next she talks with Da on the phone, he knows that Aminah has at last found her sunshine once more.

Having spend most of my teaching life in schools close to Heathrow Airport, this beautiful story resonates powerfully with me. The author captures perfectly those feelings of overwhelming grey so many children are beset by when they first arrive from parts of the world so different from the UK. Anna Wilson’s scenes in the early part of the book radiate warmth – interpersonal and climatic – as well as portraying the contrasting grey dreariness of Aminah’s new environment where she’s never experienced such cold. An important story to share with KS1 classes especially.

Grandpa and the Kingfisher

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Grandpa and the Kingfisher
Anna Wilson and Sarah Massini
Nosy Crow

This is such a gorgeous book, lyrically and lovingly written by Anna Wilson in memory of her father whose favourite bird was the kingfisher.

It begins one spring with a young child, Grandpa and their dog sitting together beside the river when suddenly there’s a flash of blue and a kingfisher darts past: ‘Its beak long and sharp. / Its wings shining like jewels. / It’s breast golden-red, like a sunset.’ Arrowlike it dives down beneath the water and when it surfaces, there’s a fish in its beak.

As spring gives way to summer the child narrator tells how on another visit to the river, they notice there are now two kingfishers – the original male and a female.

They watch the birds create a nest and eventually have a brood of chicks.

All the while, Grandpa has become more and more tired and frail looking. He tells the child, “No one lives forever … There wouldn’t be enough room for us all! …. Only nature goes on forever.” Adult readers can sense what is coming. even as the child says, “I’ll look after you, Grandpa.”

By December the adult birds have died and Grandpa reminds the child, “No one lives forever.”

Next spring Grandpa too has died and the child narrator tells us how much he is missed. In this gentle way one young child has experienced some of the wonders of nature and learned about the cycle of all life.

Now on my walks beside a stream near to where I live, not only will I be watching out for the kingfishers I know to inhabit its banks, I will be thinking about this story with Sarah Cassini’s beautiful, superbly well-observed illustrations of the natural world and Anna’s touching text.

A must for family and classroom sharing.

The Heart of a Giant

jillrbennett Leave a comment

The Heart of a Giant
Hollie Hughes and Anna Wilson
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Meet young Tom. His mother ‘has gone away’ we read. Not so the hills up which Tom likes to climb every day and beneath which so it’s said, sleeps a giant.

When out walking one day Tom lies down to rest and pressing his ear to the ground, he listens for a heartbeat. Suddenly he feels the earth start to tremble and shake, which sends him rolling downwards. The giant has woken, but having found his feet again, does Tom run away as his instincts first tell him? No, for he realises that the great being is a child too. The giant introduces himself as Abram, Abe as Tom is to call him and thus a new friendship is forged. Abe goes on to tell Tom that more than a century ago his Mammy Giant left him and now he’s grown tired of waiting. Perhaps she’s in need of help, they decide, and so begins their long, arduous trek in search of her. 

Eventually they lose hope, Abe especially, and his outpouring of pain, frustration and fury causes the ground to open. Can Tom, an ordinary human child save the situation and perhaps even bring some cheer to Abe? He’s certainly going to have to draw on his new-found inner strength and resourcefulness.

With themes of friendship, love, loss and bravery, this beautifully written and illustrated book is one that lingers in the mind, especially the thought that as Tom’s mother said to him before she died, “each of them would always be within the other’s heart.’

Hollie’s lyrical, rhyming, self-affirming text has its perfect complement in Anna Wilson’s illustrations with that gorgeous colour palette and which capture so well the emotional roller coaster of a journey both friends undertake.

Granny Pip Grows Fruit / 2023 Nature Month-By-Month / The Earth Book

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Granny Pip Grows Fruit
Deborah Chancellor and Julia Groves
Scallywag Press

The focus for this fourth title in Deborah and Julia’s ‘Follow My Food’ series is fruit. It features a grandmother who grows various fruits in her garden, and the granddaughter who assists her. There’s lots of work all year round and we start in the autumn with composting the soil and planting – first raspberry plants and then a gooseberry bush.
Winter is the time to cut back apple tree branches and prune the pear tree. When spring arrives bringing showers and sunshine, there’s weeding to be done to create space for planting strawberry seedlings. Once in bloom these will need to be protected by netting to prevent marauding birds spoiling the fruits as they begin to form.

Watering the soil is vital in the hot summer or the plants will wilt and the crops be lost. Because various fruits ripen at different times, Granny keeps a watchful eye so she knows the perfect time to harvest each kind. Summer’s end is when the apples and pears are ripe and even the windfalls are delicious.
What a rich bounty and as well as consuming lots of fruits almost as soon as they’re picked, there’s plenty either to cook or use for jam-making.
The book concludes with a matching words to pictures spread and a final one with information about the importance of watering, a paragraph on sustainable eating and another on choosing the best place for planting.
With just the right amount of detail and Julia’s simple, bright, bold illustrations this is an ideal narrative non-fiction book to share with younger primary children around harvest festival time or as part of a food topic.

2023 Nature Month-By-Month
Anna Wilson and Elly Jahnz
Nosy Crow

Published in collaboration with The National Trust, this backpack sized almanac is written by nature lover Anna Wilson and illustrated in bold colours by Elly Jahnz. With something to do on every day of the year, it’s bursting with exciting outdoor and indoor creative activities,

games, cooking and crafts, recipes, gardening ideas, wildlife to hunt for in various habitats, with relevant facts, and information on special events, festivals, celebrations and anniversaries.
Great for those youngsters already interested in the natural world as well as those you want to encourage to develop a connection with nature. For the latter, this fifth edition is a good place to start.

The Earth Book
Jonathan Litton and Thomas Hegbrook
Little Tiger

In his conversational, accessible style narrative, author Jonathan Litton takes readers on an extensive tour of our planet presenting topics such as how the earth was formed and its physical makeup; he examines forms of life tiny and enormous, both extinct and present now; investigates various ecosystems including rainforests, oceans, deserts and islands; and finally, looks at the impact humans have had and are still having on the planet through a focus on populations and migration.
Thomas Hegbrook’s soft-textured illustrations encourage readers to pause and marvel at Earth’s many wonders, an Earth that is way more fragile than many would acknowledge, let alone work to protect, for much too long. Whether you dip in and out or read it in its entirety, this is a book to add to home and school collections.

The Wide, Wide Sea

jillrbennett Leave a comment

The Wide, Wide Sea
Anna Wilson and Jenny Lovlie
Nosy Crow

Skilfully woven together are wild swimmer and author Anna Wilson’s lyrical narrative and Jenny Lovlie’s gorgeous detailed illustrations in this picture book with a vitally important message about plastic pollution.

Gran and the child narrator love to visit the sea together, spending time exploring the flora and fauna along the shoreline and seeing what treasures the waves have thrown up. Most exciting though is their sighting of a seal: the child imagines being a seal too

and when it disappears, sits watching the sea birds until a violent storm blows in and Gran says it’s time to head home.

Next morning the beach looks awful – ‘Wild, Broken. Messy.’ and strewn with litter. The sky ‘sulky dove-grey’ and the air ‘quiet and frowning.’ Who or what has created this havoc? And can it be fixed? …

Happily yes in this story; but what really needs to happen is every one of us must accept their responsibility for plastic pollution and, for the sake of the environment, sea creatures such as the seal especially, take their rubbish home.

Published in collaboration with The National Trust who protect over 700 miles of wild coastline in the UK this is a must have book for primary classes to share, discuss and act upon its message.