Tag Melanie Walsh

My Green Day

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My Green Day
Melanie Walsh
Walker Books

The messages contained in this book are as relevant today as when it was first published in 2010. Yes, almost all of us use our own bags when we go shopping …

but the amount of plastic that often goes into our shopping bags still needs to be dealt with. The home baking advocated by the little girl narrator is one way of dealing with that; however, much more needs to be done by the major supermarkets.

Essentially we share the girl’s day and she talks us through the green things that are her way of helping the environment. Each of her ten green actions is printed in large type and then two or sometimes more double spreads are allocated to illustrating and adding to her narration so for instance we have ‘At lunch … ‘I eat up all my pasta.’ and in small print ‘We throw away one third of all the food we buy. If we bought only the food we actually needed to eat, we wouldn’t have to grow or transport so much food, which saves lots of energy.’ This additional information can be left out if the audience is very young but children are never too young to start thinking about the all important messages herein.

Other suggestions include: adding an extra layer rather than using the central heating, avoiding the use of tumble dryers, composting and re-using materials to make gifts.

Melanie Walsh’s bright collage illustrations, albeit without the die-cuts and cutaway pages, are as fresh and contemporary looking as they were in the original edition.

Isaac and his Amazing Asperger Superpowers!

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Isaac and his Amazing Asperger Superpowers!
Melanie Walsh
Walker Books
Isaac is one cool character – a superhero no less. However, on account of his superpowers he’s not quite like his brother or fellow pupils, some of whom call him names from time to time. Isaac has ASD sometimes called Asperger’s Syndrome. Isaac’s brain is truly awesome – it’s able to remember fascinating facts and he loves to share these with others though not everyone is eager to hear them.

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He’s full of energy but prefers solo indoor activities rather than outdoor, muddy ones. Social interaction isn’t one of Isaac’s strongest points though he loves to spend time with his pets.

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In class, Isaac has his special toy to help him stay calm and focused. He takes what people say literally; he just doesn’t get figurative language but his ears are hypersensitive and this can upset him.

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So can looking into people’s eyes but his dad has taught him a special coping strategy for face to face encounters.
Isaac’s straightforward first person narrative allows him to tell young readers just how it is for him in a way that is accessible to young children, many of whom are likely to encounter someone with an ASD in their own school. His upbeat voice keeps the tone light and the focus is on the positive aspects of his condition though it doesn’t avoid its challenges. Melanie Walsh beautifully portrays the various aspects of Asperger’s that Isaac talks about in her bold, uncluttered illustrations.
This book is a must for all early years settings and younger primary classes and all power to Walker Books for publishing it on their picture book list.

Girls with Asperger’s Syndrome tend to present the condition very differently from boys and can often slip through the net when it comes to an ASD diagnosis. However, they too have unique strengths and their differences should also be discussed and celebrated. Here’s a very useful little book that does just that:

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I am an Aspie Girl
Danuta Bulhak-Paterson and Teresa Ferguson
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Here we meet Lizzie. In a first person narrative, she explains ASD from her own perspective and talks about how Aspie girls are different from boys with AS and are good at blending in with other girls though this is tiring to keep up all day at school. “It’s like being an actress, I guess where school is the stage,” she says.
Lizzie also discusses her special creative interests, her worries about making mistakes, her acute sensitivity to her own feelings. Sensory sensitivities are another challenge be they to tastes, sounds, things that touch such as particular scratchy clothes or as in Lizzie’s case, smells.

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Lizzie has a special animal friend, her dog, with whom she finds sharing her feelings easy. (This is something she has in common with many boy Aspies, as are reading people’s facial expressions and playing in a group and encountering changes.)
In addition to Lizzie’s straightforward account, sympathetically illustrated by Teresa Ferguson,  there are several very helpful pages aimed at adults who might be sharing the book with an Aspie girl. Let’s end with Lizzie’s own very positive parting words though: ‘My teacher tells me that I have a great future ahead of me, with many wonderful talents to show the world!’

Use your local bookshop      localbookshops_NameImage-2

February Finale

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Two Little Aliens
Sam Lloyd
Orchard pbk
We see things from an outsider’s perspective when two small aliens spy a playground from their rocket and decide to pay a visit. What’s that ‘yellow stuff’? they wonder; it’s certainly not for eating.

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And, what does one do with those conical objects from the kiosk? They’re definitely not for throwing… “Waaah!” being new can be overwhelming, they decide, but who are those friendly-looking characters running towards them?
“Wow! “ … “Ahh!” … “Wheee!” …

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Problems solved, new friends made, but all too soon it’s time to head for home.
Dotty characters, bold bright images and funny scenes are the main ingredients of this funny story. The entire, brief text is in dialogue with just one or two sentences per page making the book ideal for young beginning readers as well as a good one to share with preschoolers.
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Gracie enjoying sharing the story.

Hugo the Hare’s Rainy Day
Jez Alborough
Doubleday
I once had a yoga teacher (now a friend) who advocated finding pleasure in everything you do, even those things (like ironing) that you dislike. This is exactly what Hugo Hare manages to do, finally, in this latest escapade featuring the usual trio, Hugo and his pals Billy the Goat and Nat the Cat.
When Hugo, who hates to get wet, sets out for the park to meet Nat and Billy, he takes his umbrella in anticipation of rain. This proves a sensible move as before long, there is a sudden downpour. Hugo offers Billy a share of his brolly but they have to adopt an unconventional way of walking in order to accommodate both of them. When they come upon Nat sheltering under a tree Hugo decides to join her and that’s when things start to take a turn for the worse

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The ensuing SPLASH however, is not such a disaster as Hugo at first thinks. In fact, from then on the sploshing, slapping and slopping in the slippery wet puddle proves a whole lot of fun (ask any 3/4 year old) and once the sky is bright again, it’s time for Nat to entertain her friends with one of her musical interludes.
A funny, jaunty rhyme that trips beautifully off the tongue and appropriately action packed, chucklesome scenes that show the characters’ changing moods are the hallmarks of Alborough’s third adventure in this series.
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(The second story, Billy the Goat’s Big Breakfast (previously reviewed on this site is just out in paperback.)

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Bear and Hare Go Fishing
Emily Gravett
Macmillan
Friends, Hare and Bear go fishing. Bear loves to fish. Bear fishes, while Hare waits. He fishes Hare’s hat,

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a frog, a rollerskate, and …
Hare meanwhile is making a daisy chain. It gets longer…

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and longer.

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Then finally, a fish is caught!

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Brilliantly simple, brilliantly effective, very funny and perfect for beginning readers.
Buy from Amazon

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Hooray for Hoppy!
Tim Hopgoood
Macmillan Children’s Books
Hoppy, the rabbit uses all five of his senses as he seeks out signs of spring. He smells the fresh air, sees the trees in blossom, hears the birds singing, smells the flowers and watches the lambs, tastes the fresh green grass and feels the warm ground beneath his feet. It really is spring he decides – a spring whose arrival he cannot wait to share with his many friends. But first he has to find them. Tim Hopgood’s delightful mixed media illustrations are seemingly simple but very effective; they put me in mind of some of the pictures created by foundation stage children using sponges for printing, crayons, paints and pastels.
This story would be a good starting point for a sensory walk with very young children either in a nursery or school setting, or with their parents.
Buy from Amazon

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This is really funny, thinks Gracie

Do Dare Duck
Joyce Dunbar and Jane Massey
Jonathan Cape pbk
What does the duck do? Dance like the pig, dazzle like peacock, doze like dog, doodle like the cockerel’s cock-a-doodle-do!

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dawdle like tortoise, dash like hare or even dilly-dally-dangle with legs in a tangle donkey style? No, not exactly. Instead duck dares to … dance with pig, dazzle with peacock… dilly-dally dangle with donkey and having done all that our duck engages in a spot of dabbling and what’s more all her friends join her for some dibble dobble dabbling – up tails all!
Deliciously diverting alliteration delivered question and answer style by Dunbar and delightfully depicted in Massey’s marvellous illustrative pen and paint, sploshy, splattery musings.

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Every spread is  superb. Definitely one to put a spring in your step and much more as you emulate the animals herein, along with your children of course.
Buy from Amazon

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Goodbye Grandma
Melanie Walsh
Walker Books
Having been told of his grandma’s death, the small boy narrator in this book shares his thoughts and anxieties with readers as he talks with his Mum about what has happened. He has lots of questions, which she answers  in a simple, frank manner, making links to other family members, pets and friends. She acknowledges his feelings of sadness: ‘Sometimes we will miss Grandma’ and it’s OK to feel sad, she tells him … but ‘We will never forget’ her.

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Melanie Walsh’s characteristic bold collage illustrations convey the range of feelings effectively in her straightforward and reassuring picture book for the very young. Recommended for use at times of bereavement and also as a starting point for discussion with young children in nursery settings.
Buy from Amazon

Also on the theme of death is

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Fred
Posy Simmons
Andersen Press pbk
This is a reissue of a classic story told in comic strip format, first published over twenty five years ago, wherein brother and sister, Nick and Sophie mourn the death of their beloved cat, Fred. Having buried him under the buddleia, they try to think of something nice to put on his gravestone. The two had always thought of Fred as a cat that liked nothing better than to eat and to sleep; seemingly he had spent most of his time asleep. That night Sophie and Nick are woken by noises in their garden and go down to investigate. There they discover a veritable army of cats, come to pay tribute to Fred, a cat they discover led a double life and was, in the eyes of his fellow felines, “The MOST FAMOUS CAT in the WORLD!”

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Fred has lost none of his appeal and should find a whole host of new fans.
Buy from Amazon

Find and buy form your local bookshop: http://www.booksellers.org.uk/bookshopsearch

Bookmark 5th March in your diary: wrad13nodate