Tag Katherine Hallligan

Lola Saves the Show

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Lola Saves the Show
Katherine Halligan and Guilherme Karsten
Walker Books

Created in association with The National Theatre, this fun adventure set on opening night, has most of the action taking place behind the scenes.

With the play soon to begin, best friends Lola and Oliver wait backstage and with necessary business done, Lola is about to enter stage left. But disaster strikes when she notices that a vital prop is not among those assembled on the table.
The only way to save the show is for Lola to find the Very Important Handkerchief. Off she dashes with Big Ed (her minder) and Oliver in hot pursuit, stopping to create mild chaos in various departments.

Lola is unstoppable even scaling the heights of the theatre when suddenly she remembers something and knows she must retrace her steps at top speed.

Back where she began, Lola finally finds that which she seeks and with not a single moment to spare, she makes her entrance before the waiting crowd. What a shining star she proves to be, but after her performance, something is lacking which makes the show’s saviour very sad. Happily however, Oliver knows just what is needed and all ends happily.

Guilherme Karsten’s funny, vibrant artwork is suitably dramatic and the fact that Lola is not a human is shown, but never mentioned in Katherine Halligan’s text makes the book all the more amusing. I love the names of the places Lola visits in her search for that missing article. (Further information about theatrical terms is given after the story)

Sunday Funday

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Sunday Funday
Katherine Halligan and Jesús Verona
Nosy Crow

Subtitled A Nature Activity for Every Weekend of the Year and created in collaboration with the National Trust, this bumper book, written by Katherine Halligan and organised by season offers a smashing way (or rather fifty two ways) to encourage youngsters to make the most of what the natural world has to offer.

As a seasoned teacher of primary children, many of the activities are familiar but no matter, they probably won’t be to families using the book for whom in addition to the main part of the book, there are four ‘key kits’ lists (craft materials, kitchen equipment, adventure items and garden bits and pieces), as well as a list of safety tips; and, the yoga teacher part of me was delighted to find the ‘Be a Tree’ spread.

There are recipes, gardening projects for both indoors and out, and much more. In the spring section I particularly liked the ‘Noisy Nature Concert’

and the idea of a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party in summer sounds lots of fun, especially the suggestion of using old sun hats to create small hanging gardens.

Lots of people take photos of walks they’ve enjoyed to act as reminders: the ‘Nature memory Jar’ suggestion in the Autumn section is a great way to make a different sort of memory of a enjoyable day out

and I’m definitely going to try making the ‘Gorgeous Granola’ using the recipe in the same section. It’s good to see the rangoli design idea for the festival of Diwali using such items as leaves as well as the more traditional materials.

Although I’m not really ready to think about winter just yet, I will start collecting fir cones when out walking in preparation for making some ‘Pine Cone Pals’ with youngsters when winter arrives.

Each activity is colourfully and alluringly illustrated by Jesús Verona. Be it rain or shine, you’ll find something to tempt you in this book that will last not just one but several years.

Sunflower Shoots and Muddy Boots

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Sunflower Shoots and Muddy Boots
Katherine Hallligan and Grace Easton
Nosy Crow

Published in collaboration with the National Trust this is a super introduction to gardening for youngsters no matter whether they have available a large outdoor space or a tiny one.

In a dozen spreads author Katherine Halligan includes pretty much everything you need to know when starting out as a gardener, from the kinds of plants that are easy to grow; making an indoor garden (you might use welly boots or old suspended hats);

constructing a garden den; composting, tasty things such as radishes that can be grown in a variety of containers, and raspberries, that need more space.

Also included are ways to deter pests by gardening organically; encouraging desirable wildlife such as birds and butterflies by planting some trees

and/or sowing wild flower seeds. There’s a page on the kind of gear you’ll need, another on safety, one on pressing flowers and a final page of tips for adults.

Each spread is highly visual and there are instructional paragraphs, tips, ‘did you know?’ questions; appropriately placed lists of what’s needed for individual projects, as well as a list of useful gardening definitions.

Bursting with ideas, activities and facts to get children interested, with its wipe-clean pages, and Grace Easton’s eye-catching illustrations, this is a book to use at home, in a nursery/early years setting or a school gardening club.