Tag Vashti Hardy

North and the Only One

jillrbennett Leave a comment

North and the Only One
Vashti Hardy
Scholastic

Having woken fourteen days ago from a seemingly endless sleep, twelve year old Rose, has no memory of any life before, not even her name. What caused the scar on her head? Why does she feel lost in her own home? These are just two of the many questions she has. The only thing that feels familiar is North, her puppy. Yes, the woman she lives with, says she is Rose’s mother but despite the pleasant life the three have together, as the days pass something feels wrong. Fragments of her past come to Rose in dreams. She’s walking among the trees – there’s a forest: home perhaps? Nothing like the place she now finds herself in. Then one night Rose makes an unsettling discovery about this ‘Mother’ of hers and it drives her to leave the house, with North beside her. She runs towards the only thing that feels real to her – the forest: surely there she can find other humans.

What Rose finds is that she’s on a frightening journey through a city with a political set up based on control and fear wherein her very existence is both a threat and threatened; and where she doesn’t know whom to trust: the tour guide mouse or the charming fox and rabbit droids working for a travelling theatre. A journey that makes readers feel they’re part of the girl’s search for the truth.
Probably THE most important thing of all Rose discovers is the power of stories; stories that help us make sense of things, that connect us both to the past and one another. Stories make us human and reveal our truth.

With its STEM and environmental references, this is a compelling story for older readers that is highly thought-provoking, exploring as it does, what being human means and what makes a family.

Santa’s Marvellous Mechanical Workshop / Santa Shark

jillrbennett Leave a comment
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is dscn9727-4.jpg



Santa’s Marvellous Mechanical Workshop
Vashti Hardy and Katie Cottle
Scholastic


It’s Christmas Eve and Lily has just moved into a new house but it doesn’t feel like home, there’s no food in the cupboards and she hasn’t got a single friend in this neighbourhood.


Acting on her mum’s suggestion to go upstairs and unpack her own things, Lily sets to work. She labels, sorts and organises until it’s almost time for bed. Then at the bottom of a box, she comes upon a wrapped package. Inside is a book but the cover and pages are blank. So it seems, but then a strange tiny creature waves and almost the next thing she knows, Lily is surrounded by snow and is being given warm clothes by the creature who tells her that it’s called Widget and is one of Santa’s elfbots. Moreover, she learns, Santa needs her help.

The bot leads Lily to Santa’s workshop wherein many more elfbots are busy making new toys. This isn’t however, where Lily’s assistance is required. In another section, Santa’s favourite, are all manner of old, broken toys. What’s needed Lily is told, is her imagination.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is dscn9728-4.jpg

Can one little girl, one tiny bot and a lot of ingenuity transform piles of what looks like junk into wonderfully exciting toy inventions?


When asked what she would like in return for her efforts, Lily tells Widget her dearest wish before falling fast asleep on the sleigh. What will next morning bring: sadness at missing Santa’s visit or hope and the envisioning of making a new exciting family home?


I love the combination of creativity and up cycling in this magical seasonal story. It’s perfect for sharing in classrooms especially where there are children recently arrived from different parts of the world, and feeling like Lily as Christmas approaches, whether or not it’s a festival they would celebrate.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is dscn9799-1.jpg

Santa Shark
Mike Lowery
Orchard Books (Scholastic)


Ex-sea-dingly silly, laugh out loud sea-sonal fun is to be found ‘neath the waves in the company of Edgar the shark. It’s late in December and elasmobranch, Edgar, is getting ready to receive a very special guest; it’s none other than Santa Shark. For this he enlists the help of his crab best pal, Lotta. Lotta however has never before heard of Santa Shark so she takes a bit of convincing, but before long she agrees to assist Edgar. As they work together preparing for the visitor, readers are treated to a plethora of puns such as the making of Christmas cods

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is dscn9800-1.jpg

and a rendition of “We fish you a Merry Christmas.” However as bedtime draws near, Edgar suddenly has a horrible realisation: there’s no snow. What’s to be done? If there’s no snow, it means no visit from Santa. Can anything cause the desired precipitation? Perhaps the lovely Lotta might have a brainwave …
Dramatic illustrations and a zesty text will amuse both child and adult readers aloud.