Tag Sharon King-Chai

Counting Creatures

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Counting Creatures
Julia Donaldson and Sharon King-Chai
Two Hoots

Gorgeous illustrations of adult animals and their young by Sharon King-Chai accompanied by an expertly constructed rhyming narrative by Julia Donaldson make for a terrific book to share with young humans who will want to spend ages pouring over the wonderful details on every spread. There are cut-away pages, die-cuts, fold-outs and flaps that are part and parcel of such scenes as the flying bat with a wing covering just 1 baby, a sheep with 2 baby lambs (one eating, the other bleating), a leopard with 3 tottering, swaying, punching, playing cubs.

Particularly striking is the seemingly lone wild dog behind which are hidden 4 pups, two nosing and nestling the other two writhing and wrestling.

Having reached 10 (piglets) the numbers go up in 5s, so next comes a turkey with 15 poults either peeping or cheeping and the question (repeated each time), ‘Who has more babies than that?’. In this instance the answer is ‘This butterfly’ whose wings cover 20 munching caterpillars, followed by a frog on a lily pad where beneath another there are 25 wriggling squiggling wiggling tadpoles.

The final two spreads serve to send readers hunting back through all the pages to locate ‘LOTS of spiderlings that Julia informs are ‘all over this book.’ (Surely not literally! I hear you cry!) Plus another quite challenging question to answer.

Hours of pure pleasure for adult sharers and their young ones, who will certainly need no persuading to peruse the pages that show the various animals, their habits and their habitats, as well as doing the intended counting on their wildlife journey.

Starbird

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Starbird
Sharon King-Chai
Two Hoots

When the Moon King has a daughter, he determines to give her the most wonderful gift in the world, the beautiful Starbird whose singing weaves magical dreams.

He captures the creature and puts it in a cage so the girl can hear its enchanting song.

For the princess though, the joy of hearing Starbird’s sweet evening song is short- lived for she soon sees how captivity is affecting the creature. She opens the cage and lets it fly away thus incurring the wrath of her father.

He sets off in search of the bird that is only on the wing by day while the Moon King sleeps.

Starbird’s travels to find home once more take him to the jungle,

the ocean, desert lands and the mountains; but although the creatures of each are kind and caring, none of their homes is home to Starbird. The mountain creatures though tell of a faraway place that just sounds right for him.

But the Moon King grabs Starbird as he takes flight before the stars are hidden, and once more he is put in the cage; this time with terrible consequences.

Happily though it isn’t too late to save the prisoner, for the Moon King’s daughter finally makes her father understand.

Told in rich language, this lyrical fable of love and freedom has a timeless quality that will enthral and delight readers and listeners of all ages. Sharon King-Chai’s illustrations play with light using shadows, silhouette and reflection as well as colour to stunning effect.

Exquisite and powerful as they are though, they never detract from her telling; rather the entire work becomes one seamless magical enriching experience that is woven together rather like the Songbird’s song itself.

Totally FAB-U-LOUS!

Lucy Ladybird / Where’s Mrs Ladybird?

jillrbennett Leave a comment

dscn9779

Lucy Ladybird
Sharon King-Chai
Templar Publishing
This is a re-issue and it’s good to see Lucy Ladybird back in circulation once again.
Ostracised by the other ladybirds, the despondent creature takes off and soon meets Fred Frog. He pays her a morale-boosting compliment and gives her one of his green spots. As she continues to fly all through the seasons, her encounters with Carla Caterpillar, Felicity Fish and Bella Bird yield further compliments and three additional spots …

%0a

after which Lucy returns home feeling like a true ladybird, albeit a variegated one. Will she now fit in with the other ladybirds?
Actually no but something much more exciting happens instead and before long a change has come upon the entire community …

dscn9782

With its themes of difference, acceptance, sharing and friendship this is a super story to share with early years listeners and if my experience is anything to go by, immediate re-readings will be the order of the day.
This one’s rich in potential not only for discussion but creative work – I’ll leave that to your imagination. Sharon King-Chai’s paintbox hued, mixed media illustrations have certainly sparked off a whole plethora of activies, both artistic and other, whenever I’ve shared the story. Vive la difference, say I.

dscn9772

Where’s Mrs Ladybird?
Ingela P.Arrhenius
Nosy Crow
Toddlers will delight in this brightly coloured hide-and-seek board book wherein four minibeasts are hiding behind felt flaps, one on each spread, except the final one whereon they watch the revelation of a mirror just waiting to be looked in.
The single sentence question and answer per double spread follows the same pattern, for instance …

dscn9771

and that makes the audience two-fold: beginning readers can enjoy sharing the book, perhaps with younger siblings.

localbookshops_nameimage-2

Snail Mail

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Snail Mail
Sharon King-Chai
Hodder Children’s Books
The majority of us receive much of our communication by text, e-mail and social media nowadays; letters are mainly junk with the occasional thing to delight – a letter from abroad, an exciting piece of publishers’ information, and of course all those wonderful books to review; I only ever receive picture postcards from one person. As a young classroom teacher in the 80s and 90s, before social media, one of my most favourite books to share was Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s The Jolly Postman and there have been other books with letters and cards thereafter. These can be a great stimulus for children’s own writing and now, there’s one more. Herein we meet 4 year old Seashell Snail, Sam, our narrator who has a large group of adventure-loving family and friends. Take big brother Tiger; it’s he who generates the snail mail, which gives the book its title. Tiger sets out on a world trip promising to write to Sam every day.

Good as he word, Tiger sends Sam a picture postcard from every place he stops at -. Brazil on Monday, the USA on Tuesday, India on Wednesday, Japan on Thursday, France on Friday. Goodness he does get around and those communications surely do keep Postman Perry busy, not to mention sparking off exciting activities for the seashore residents. Each card is delivered in a beautifully designed envelope appropriate to its place of origin; here’s the one from India.

The final communication contains something very special – a birthday treat for Sam; and it’s one that will undoubtedly inspire its recipient to start making some international travel plans too.
A super-silly story with appropriately crazy illustrations to delight – lots of fun to share and perhaps, a classroom stimulus to some imaginative written correspondences.