This Book is Pants

This Book is Pants
John Kane
Templar Books

John Kane seems to have something of a penchant for a certain type of undergarment: I well remember groups of children enthusiastically chorusing, ‘underpants, underpants’ whenever I’ve shared his I Say OOH You Say AAH.

There’s certainly a plethora of pants in this interactive, intergalactic adventure starring a boy narrator and his alien pal, Buzzly, that he meets on the moon.

By donning the appropriate pants – courtesy of the reader aloud who has to wear them – the boy launches his rocket moonwards and having landed, encounters Buzzly who wants to visit planet Earth. Pants alert!

But what pants do you need to beat a hasty retreat,

climb a tree, escape from a dark scary place, warm an increasingly chilly rear,

or sate your hunger? And what are the very BEST PANTS EVER?
That, you’ll need to discover for yourself …

All you need to do is bag yourself a copy of the book, wear the appropriate snazzy pants as required and prepare for action: pantalicious fun assured. I forgot to mention that for the best results you’ll also need an audience of one or preferably quite a few, young listeners. Think of the fun you could have with a class creating their own pants stories using appropriately chuddies shaped books.

Dear Dinosaur

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Dear Dinosaur
Chae Strathie and Nicola O’Byrne
Scholastic
Dinosaurs are an ever-popular theme in picture books but how to give it a new slant? Chae Strathie does it with letters.
After a visit to the museum, young Max writes to his favourite exhibit, the T.Rex and after a long wait, is super-excited to receive a reply – albeit a slightly alarming one …

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Thus begins an exchange of written communications between boy and dinosaur wherein each reveals a variety of facts and figures about himself. For instance six year old Max learns that his dino. pal is 65,999, 999 older than he is; and hears all about how his favourite T.Rex celebrated his birthday – playing football just like Max himself. Or maybe not exactly like: there wasn’t a vase-breaking mammoth at Max’s party.
In exchange, T.Rex learns a little about ballet dancing and sandcastle construction.

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Summer holidays over, Max and his family return to the dinosaur museum where they discover that things aren’t quite as they were on their last visit …

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Now why might that be? And what is his special friend doing with a rubber duck?
Certain to appeal to dinosaur fans, this funny epistolary tale has great potential for primary teachers wanting to encourage writing. Children could perhaps pair up and, with one acting as human and the other, dinosaur, send letters and other communications to each another.

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