Five Unique Children's Books that will Captivate & Engage Readers 3-12 years

I review lots of children's books for younger readers (aged 3-12) but rarely do I have a set of books land on my desk that are all so different, and yet all have their own unique qualities that sets them apart. I hope that you track them down and enjoy them with some children.

1. 'Go Away Worry Monster!' by Brooke Graham & illustrated by Robin Tatlow-Lord

At one level, 'Go Away Worry Monster loves!' is tale about a boy who has trouble sleeping at night because of the worries and fears of each day. The 'Worry Monster' seems to visit him each night. "Please go away," begs Archie. But the book also shows how the love of parents can help to build the essential resilience needed to deal with anxiety. The book also illustrates how the love and support of others is essential to help our children head out each day with confidence to encounter fears that with help they can conquer. The author and illustrator combine to create a book that offers every parent a window in order to support their children with their fears and worries. But it is also simply a delightful read for any parent and child.

Robin Tatlow-Lord as the illustrator seems to have chosen the perfect medium and colour palette for the topic. She is a writer and animator who has done many things. The author of this wonderful book is Brooke Graham, who is based near Ipswich in Queensland. 

 

2. 'Rain Before Rainbows' by Smrtiti Halls & illustrated by David Litchfield 

This is a wonderful picture book not much more than 100 words in length (well 145), that brings poetry, illustration and story together in a memorable book. Each word is chosen with such great care to create a book that will encourage and uplift readers while sharing some simple wisdom and truths:

"Rain before rainbows"

"Clouds before sun"

"Night before daybreak"

"The old day is done."

A little girl sets out with a fox for companion fleeing from a sinister looking castle. As they leave what are their hopes and fears? They depart a place where there seems to have been despair and hopefulness to seek a new place. The road ahead will be uncertain times, but will there be hope? The reader is reminded that before rainbows their will be rain, "clouds before sun", "night before daybreak". And while there will be hopeful dreams along the way, there will be "battles to win". But in time there may just be "treasure to find", before finally, a bright new morning might dawn.

This is a wonderful picture book with a careful weaving of a simple yet poignant text, with illustrations that complement and enhance the story and reader journey. I highly recommend this book for readers aged 4 to 8 years.

I commend Walker Books for releasing Rain Before Rainbows as an free eBook to raise awareness for the "Save with Stories campaign" that has been initiated to help children most affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The rainbow of course has been an incredible symbol of hope and optimism as the world has battled to cope with Covid-19. 

Above: Author Smriti Halls

3. 'There's something weird about Lena' by Sigi Cohen & illustrated by James Foley

This book comes to us from the award-winning picture book team that gave us 'My Dead Bunny: A Zombie Rabbit Tale'. It is another hilarious rhyming tale. There is certainly something that seems weird about Lena.

On my first day back at school 

I met a girl called Lena.  

Every time she acted mean 

she laughed like a hyena. 

The sound she made was kind of gross: 

a cackling, giggling howl, 

starting as a high-pitched shriek 

and ending as a growl.

Is Lena hiding a secret, or is her behaviour just good fun when she indulges in schoolyard pranks? But how to explain the accompanying beastly and hideous laugh? Will her classmates uncover a hideous truth?

 Sigi Cohen's text will engage young readers, and James Foley's illustrations in black, grey and orange will be familiar to readers of 'My Dead Bunny'. The combination of Sigi Cohen's wonderful rhyming text and James Foley's hilarious illustrations will ensure this is a winner with kids aged 7 to 10. It will appeal to kids who love horror, unexplained weirdness and all things gross. Sigi Cohen's rhyming text is a joy to read aloud! The playful words he uses fill the story with vibrancy and a sense of fun.

Sigi grew up in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, but now lives in Perth, Western Australia. His first book, 'My Dead Bunny', was shortlisted for the 2016 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards. This is his third book. 

James Foley started his illustration career in primary school, drawing cartoons for the school newspaper. His book 'In the Lion' was selected for the International Youth Library’s prestigious White Raven List in 2013. He lives in Perth with his wife, son and labrador.

4. 'Timeline Science & Technology: A Visual History of Our World, Written and illustrated by Peter Goes 

 

'Timeline Science & Technology' is an extraordinary book. In size alone, it will stand out from most books. At 27.5cm x 38cm in size, this almost a folio sized book and won't be easily tucked under the arm. But I can see groups of 2-3 children gathered around reading it at the same time, engaging and interacting as they discover new things. This stunning visual history of the technology of our world is a feast of images and rich text. Each page has a different coloured background, and intricate and fascinating black line drawings, with just a splash of extra colour. The author and illustrator Peter Goes lives in Belgium where he does freelance work as an illustrator. He has also worked as a stage manager and studied animation at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) in Ghent, Belgium. 

The book is a history of science and technology with each giant double page spread dealing with a distinct period in time. It begins with the 'Old Stone Age or Paleolithic'. Each double page typically has approximately 100 words in conventional text, and a double page spread of related images from the period, with about 10 scenes each time. Each page also has smaller associated curved text next to each of the scenes. The single page image below is just one of the two pages for the Mesolithic era.

 

 

Above: One page from the Mesolithic Era

Peter Goes offers an overview of the most fascinating technologies, from first tools to the most specialized IT, from medical breakthroughs to the creation of YouTube. He includes remarkable scientists and innovators and highlights lesser-known stories. It is a compelling history of technology from the Stone Age to the present day, from America to the Southern hemisphere and beyond.

I love the quirkiness of the images and text which children aged 7-12 will enjoy a great deal. Any child interested in their world will spend many hours dipping into and working through this book. It is also a wonderful book for an adult to enjoy with their child.

4. 'Fly on the Wall' by Remy Lai

This is a very funny diary-style illustrated novel from the award-winning author of 'Pie in the Sky'. A twelve-year-old boy goes on a (forbidden) solo adventure halfway around the world to prove his independence to his overprotective family. It is brilliantly written and illustrated by Remy Lai. 

 

You see, Henry Khoo has a plan to prove his independence. His family always seems (to him) to be on his back, and he feels they treat him like a baby. His “helicopter” family seems to be at him all the time, choosing his clothes, collecting him from after-school activities, controlling his diet. He can't cope with the suffocating attention. So, will he do you do about this? Well, take a surprise solo journey to see you dad who is living in Singapore of course! Sound easy? Nothing could go wrong. Could it? Read this funny book to find out what does happen.

Henry's story (and adventure) is presented in the form of a top-secret notebook or diary. In it Henry records regular entries and illustrates them with comic-like images and diagrams. There's a bit of poetry, a recipe, snippets of different languages, and quirky images. While the book is over 300 pages, each page is filled with variation, including its handwritten text and numerous notes, illustrations and diagrams. The book will be lots of fun for readers aged 8-12.

Remy Lai studied fine arts, with a major in painting and drawing. She was born in Indonesia, grew up in Singapore, and lives in Brisbane, Australia where she writes and draws stories for kids, with her two dogs by her side.

5. 'Zombierella: Fairy Tales Gone Bad' by Joseph Coelho & illustrated by Freya Hartas

This very funny and wonderfully illustrated book is the first in a three-part series of twisted classic stories, as the the title divulges. Framed by a deliciously funny (and creative) premise that just like food, when old books are left unread, unthumbed and unloved, they start to:

"... bloom on the skin... flesh goes brown and soft... flies lay eggs, maggots squirm, horrid smells find their way into the fruit ... The same happens with books!"

Forget about the 'Boy Who Cried Wolf'! It is now 'The Boy Who Puked Up a Wolf'. And as well, 'Sleeping Beauty' transforms into 'Creeping Beauty' and 'Cinderella' becomes 'ZOMBIERELLA'!!

 

The wonderful text of Joseph Coelho is perfectly supported by the hillarious illustrations of Freya Hartas. The black line drawings generously spread through the text add life and humour to the wonderful text. It is both a visual and literary feast! As the Prince prepares for the ball things are ominous.

"It was in the cold, dark bite of night that the prince arrived at the mansion.

The mansion protruded from the crown of Grimmsville's only hill like a growth - next to the old abandoned cemetery.

Inside, the prince was preparing for the first of his three balls..."

When Cinderella makes an appearance as the fairy story suggests she must, she slips on the winding stairs and dies (but only briefly!).

"Cinderella, you have died,

Tis sad but true, 

You fell and hit your head,

After slipping on some poo!"

This is a very funny book, that is cleverly written and delightfully illustrated. I look forward to seeing the second and third books in the series from this wonderful English team. 

Eight Great New Books for Children Aged 3-10 years

In this post, I’ve gathered together four new picture books for children aged 3 to 7 years, plus four chapter books for slightly older independent readers aged 7-10 years.

1. 'Ellie's Dragon' by Bob Graham

 

Anyone who reads this blog will know that I'm a huge Bob Graham fan. As usual, this book doesn't disappoint. With his usual economy of well-chosen words Graham traverses the experiences of childhood and lands in an interesting place - no friendship is imaginary. 

As a toddler, no doubt following a parent around the supermarket, she finds a newborn dragon emerging from an egg carton on a supermarket shelf. Scratch becomes her constant companion. Her mum and her teacher don't seem to see her cute and fiery friend, even though her friends can. Scratch grows over the years and so does Ellie. Scratch was with her at all of her birthdays, and as she grows, so does he. The worlds of Scratch and Ellie also grow larger too. But what happens as worlds change and so do we? You'll need to read the book to find out!

This is a beautiful tale that explores the imaginative world of the child and how this can intersect and diverge from the other 'real' world experiences of others. The usual Bob Graham literary and artistic genius is on display.

 

2.  'Bear in Space' by Deborah Abela & illustrated by Marjorie Crosby-Fairall

Bear is different from other bears and so when he plans to fly into space, his other bear friends just laugh. But Bear knows he can change his world. He also knows lots about space, but I'm not sure that his friends listen much! He prepares for his great adventure not quite sure what to expect, and what surprises he has in store when he finds himself in the very different quietness of space.

This is a lovely and extremely imaginative story that seems (as much as an adult can tell) to have captured something of the imaginative explorations of the young child. I'm sure that many listeners and readers will see themselves in this delightful picture book.

The brightly coloured illustrations of Marjorie Crosby-Fairall also help to bring this story to life. Her representation of the lovable and clever 'Bear' adds greatly to the experience of reading or hearing the book.

 

 

3. 'Dry to Dry - The Seasons of Kakadu' by Pamela Freeman and illustrated by Liz Anelli

 

This wonderfully illustrated factual picture book introduces young readers to one of Australia's most beautiful and ancient places, where Australia's Indigenous people have lived for at least 60,000 years. It is a follow-up to the award winning 'Desert Lake'. It tells of the yearly weather cycle across this ancient and beautiful land. 
 

 

 

In the tropical wetlands and escarpments of Kakadu National Park, seasons move predictably from dry to wet and back to dry again. Most of Australia has four seasons like other nations, but Kakadu has two! And these two seasons are marked by extraordinary change and diversity in plants, animals, birds, insects and the incredible migratory birds that come during the 'Wet' season. But there's more! There is a movement of insects, lizards, and water dwelling creatures (like fish, turtles and crocodiles), not to mention fruit bats and the changes in flowers and grasses. What I like this book and the 'Desert Lake' is that they offer two texts on each two-page spread. One to be read by or to the children, and a second short smaller font text at the bottom of each page, with more technical language for the teacher and older readers. There is also an excellent more detailed description of Kakadu at the end of the book with some Indigenous words translated. Finally, there's a wonderful map of Kakadu that children will love, as well as a detailed index.

4. 'Kookaburra' by Claire Saxby and illustrated by Tannya Harricks

This an exciting new addition to the narrative nonfiction "Nature Storybooks" series, about kookaburras. Another wonderful book from the exciting team of Claire Saxby an author well-known to children's literature fanatics like me! Her pairing with illustrator Tannya Harricks has been very successful. This their second collaboration and follows 'Dingo' that won the Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature in 2019. It was also shortlisted for the 2019 CBCA New Illustrator Award and Best Picture Book awards in 2019. It won the Royal Zoological Society of NSW Whitley Award in 2018. I just love Tannya's wonderfully 'simple' oil paintings. A perfect complement to the wonderful text.

In the crinkled shadows night-dwellers yawn, day-creatures stretch and Kookaburra laughs. Kook-kook-kook. Kak-kak-kak.  

This is a wonderful read aloud book, or a great personal read for children aged 5-8 years.

 

5. 'Weird Little Robots' by Carolyn Crimi & illustrated by Corinna Luyken

 

When two science-savvy girls create an entire robot world, they don’t expect the robots to come alive. But life may be a bit more magical than they thought.

This is a perfect book for 7-11 year-old readers. Penny Rose is a self-professed 'Science Geek' and is new in town. The robots she builds are her only company. But this is about to change when she becomes best friends with Lark and joins a secret science club. And with this, comes an amazing discovery, they are live robots! The once lonely girl has a new and very much changed life.

But then a fateful misstep forces her to choose between the best friend she’s always hoped for and the club she’s always dreamed of, and in the end it may be her beloved little robots that pay the price. 

This wonderfully quirky book will appeal to many readers, but I suspect that it will have a special appeal for the intelligent child who likes to imagine the unlikely and unexpected.

 

6. 'Agents of the Wild - Operation Honeyhunt' by Jennifer Bell & Alice Lickens

 

This creatively titled book for  7-10 year old readers will appeal to the creative child with a great imagination who loves to explore, discover and solve mysteries.

When 8-year-old Agnes is signed up for SPEARS (the Society for the Protection of Endangered and Awesomely Rare Species), she has no idea of the adventures that lie ahead with her elephant-shrew mentor Attie (short for “Attenborough”). 'Operation Honeyhunt' sends them to the Atlantic forest, on a mission to save an endangered, dance-loving bee named Elton. Will Agnes pass the test and become a full SPEARS agent? Species in danger? Girl and shrew to the rescue!

Jennifer Bell is the author of the bestselling 'The Uncommoners' series, which has sold over 50,000 copies in the UK. Alice Lickens contributes the wonderful illustrations that combine a simple two-colour pallette with striking images with a stunningly effective use of colour.

The book also comes with a fascinating array of end-matter, including fun-facts, and additional details about the real species in the book. I love this book and already have an eight year-old in mind to give it to.

 

7. 'Fish Kid and the Mega Manta Ray' by Kylie Howarth

This is a follow up book to 'Fish Kid and the Lizard Ninja' which was the first book in the series. The series of books features a 'superhero' who has some very special skills. This time his Nan is lost. Will he be able to find her? It seems that problems are never very far away from the special kid. 

Trouble finds its way to Fish Kid’s shores once more in his second adventure! Will Fish Kid be able to find his missing Nan, hide his powers from Pops and save the day? Only with the help of Freckles the Mega Manta Ray.

Having swam with the Whale Sharks and Manta Rays on Ningaloo Reef off the incredible Western Australian coast, I was always going to love this book! The book's engaging and funny story is also filled with lots facts about sea creatures and wonderful illustrations. A great combination of fiction, humour and knowledge from this talented author/illustrator.

 

8. 'Hattie' by Frida Nilsson & illustrated by Stina Wirsén

 

This is a wonderful new novel for readers aged 7-10 years by internationally known Swedish author Frida Nilsson.

Hattie is a street-smart country girl in her first year of school. She lives just outside of nowhere, right next to no one at all. Luckily she's starting school and that brings new adventures.

Having driven large tracts of Sweden, living 'just outside nowhere' was always bound to be a special place. Her house is read like many, there are ducks and hens that wander where they will. Hattie has dog, like to swim and 'falls madly in love with a hermit crab', and meets a best friend.This is a funny little book from a talented internationally acclaimed writer. It will be quickly read by precoscious and interesting children who love fun and exploring their world. Ideal as a read aloud or a book for readers aged 7-10 to enjoy alone, or with a friend!

The Slow Death of Imagination and Creativity at School - Part 1

Creativity and imagination are not simply a gift to some—they are available to all. Children are born with an innate desire to explore the world. From birth, they receive a vast array of stimuli as they use their senses to observe and try to make sense of their surroundings. The environment in which they live has a profound impact on them. We now understand that poverty, early stress, maltreatment, trauma, neglect and lack of stimulation have a negative effect on early learning. While children commence life with great potential - notwithstanding genetic variations in potential - their environment can have negative as well as positive effects on their learning.

 

Above: A 'Big' Sister reads to Lydia (age 1 day)

The potential impact of poverty and neglect on children's early development, simply underlines the need to ensure that children entering school are given every opportunity to be stimulated, inspired and taught. With this as background to the ‘outrageous’ title of my post, I hope you can understand why I am perplexed when I observe how schooling is being dumbed down. And let me say up front, I don’t see this as the fault of teachers. In fact, many others need to shoulder the bulk of the blame.

Neuroscience research has taught us a number of things about the young brain, including the immense capacity of children to learn, and for their minds to expand when stimulated. But across our school education system in Australia, I see a dumbing down of the curriculum, as state and nationally mandated testing, seems increasingly to shape school programs and classroom practices, as well as wider community expectations. The impact of these forces has driven schools to teach to the test. The Australian annual national assessment of schools (NAPLAN) tests children in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9 in spelling, grammar, punctuation and numeracy. Of course, these represent little more than basic skills and essential learning.

So, what has this to do with creativity? In a nutshell, as schools spend more of their time teaching to the test, they inevitably need to discard activities that expand horizons, stretch minds, introduce new skills and encourage self-directed and motivated learning. But can schools actually kill creativity in the young? Sadly it can, and contrary to some views, I believe all children have the capacity to imagine, create and explore from the moment they can observe and use their senses to explore their world. From birth, children are gifted with an ability to observe and assess their world and ultimately explore it.  

The famous Social Philosopher Martin Buber suggested at an education conference in 1925 that imagination and creativity are not developed over time. As a philosopher, he was surprised to be invited to open an education conference. But he was intrigued, or perhaps annoyed by the title - "The development of the creative powers in the child". Buber opened the conference by saying he was troubled by the conference theme.

Above: Philosopher Martin Buber

Buber commenced his talk by declaring that the only words in the title of the conference that didn’t trouble him were "in the child". While the "child" he conceded is a reality, he saw no purpose in the idea that we can "develop creative powers in the child." Why? Because Buber suggested each child is born with a disposition inherited from the "riches of the human race" to be creative. That is, creativity is within all children from birth. This he described as an "originator instinct." They are born with innate ability to be creative and I'd add, to imagine. All that parents, teachers or schools can do is either suppress this inbuilt creativity, or drive it from them with banal activities. Such work I’d suggest is often set at a level that does not invite our students to push beyond what they know and can do. That is, they lack the encouragement and activities to help them explore their world and learn new things.

Buber went on to suggest that this disposition was to be found in every child from birth, and is nothing more than the capacity "...to receive and imagine the world... that is the whole environment, nature and society." This of course is primarily a capacity that only humans possess. As we help to form the world we create around the child, we can do one of two things: "draw out these powers", or stifle them if done badly. What we offer in schools is the provision of "...a selection of the world." In short, each child is born with an innate ability and desire to explore, imagine and create. We can shut this down by our actions, or encourage it and build on their innate desire to explore, create and imagine.

Of course, 'freedom' is an element of the child's education that is vitally important. A level of freedom to explore and create, that can either open up, or perhaps shut down their innate quest to know, explore, experiment, imagine and create. For most children, the first few years of life offer ample opportunities to explore, experiment and seek to push beyond their capacity to do most things. Preschool for most children can still offer freedom to explore, find out, imagine and act upon the creative urge they have to know and create. But by Kindergarten they begin to be trained to produce that which is seen as acceptable.

Above: A three year old doing some 'creative' writing

Within a year or two of the commencement of school the die is cast. The pressure to learn what is seen as the basics, increasingly dominates all that most parents and schools end up doing. With each passing year, less freedom is allowed for children to imagine and explore 'what if'? What might be? How might schools do this? I will offer just five ways that schools can potentially kill imagination and creativity.

 

• First, ensure that they teach everyone the same thing. There was a time when virtually all primary school teachers would assume they should operate with three or more ability groups for subjects like reading, writing, spelling and maths. Today, our schools frequently use the same activities for the whole class, with only minimal activities to extend or offer remedial help.

• Second, primary school teachers can send home identical homework for the entire class. With single worksheets in spelling, mathematics and so on.

• Third, make sure content and teaching aims to teach the average child to ensure that all class members will do well on state mandated tests of basic skills for testing regimes. Forget activities that stretch, just teach to the middle.

• Fourth, empty the curriculum of ‘non-essentials’ activities like the creative, open ended, unpredictable, and explorative.

• Fifth, begin to judge our teachers at a systemic level based on their ability to produce 'cookie cutter' children who do well on basic skills tests. And give school leaders a key role to ensure that teachers drill and offer practice for weeks in the lead up to any state or national testing regimes.
  

If my claims are only 'half-true', what a terrible indictment it is for our education system, that in the quest to give all children opportunities to learn and reproduce what is seen as basic and essential, we limit the extension of schooling for those who can do better than average. As well, in some cases we also end up doing too little for children with need of additional support. Of course, mandated testing isn't the only reason for the slow killing of the ability of our children to demonstrate creativity and imagination. But it has delivered a deadly blow! 

 

But before the teachers who read my blog feel I’m blaming them, this isn’t so. Families, some employers, politicians, and educational administrators, are all complicit collaborators with state and federal governments in the sanitizing of curricula, the removal of teacher professional development, and the crowding of the curriculum with much dross that deflects from learning that matters. All of us must share the blame for the slow death of the stimulation of imagination and creativity in our schools. Yes! This is a shared responsibility.

 

In a future post, I’ll outline what might just help to turn this ship around.

Literature ‘STILL’ Has the Power to Teach, Enrich and Transform

 

I presented a paper at the 8^th International Conference on the Book at the University of St Gallen, in St Gallen Switzerland in November 2010. It was a memorable conference and not just for the venue. Ten years on, I feel like the message I presented then needs to be communicated again, for I fear that we are all losing sight of the truth that my title suggests.

 

I’ve also been motivated to return to this key truth by the recent death of a wonderful colleague Margaret Meek. I learnt so much from Margaret (as did many others) about story and its power to influence, enrich and even change lives. I intend to share some of my thoughts shared at that conference in three or four posts on ‘story’. One of Margaret’s great messages was to remind us with wonderful examples from literature, of the way lives are changed by story. Many of her ideas can be found in a tiny book called ‘How texts teach what readers learn’.

 

Lesson 1 - Literature Teaches

 

In the first post, I will consider how literature can teach, for stories teach us many things, and these can be intangible and unexpected. At one level, stories teach us about language and words; to understand their meanings and to use them. They can also teach things which are abstract and on the ‘edges’ of understanding. Let me share a simple personal anecdote that illustrates some of what I am arguing. I think it’s an anecdote that answers one of the questions that Margaret Meek (1988) thoughtfully poses in her book. Her question is “how do children learn to distinguish the hero from the villain?” I was given the answer to this question one day, while reading with Jacob my eldest grandson, who was just 19 months old at the time. He was to partially learn this lesson during a shared reading of the simple predictable picture book by Brenda Parkes titled ‘Who’s in the Shed?’

 

The story is situated on a farm. A truck arrives in the night and is held in a large crate. The story begins:

 

Down at the farm

One Saturday night,

The animals woke

With a terrible fright.

 

There was howling

And growling

And roaring

And clawing

as something was led

from a truck

to the shed.

 

“Who’s in the shed?”

everyone said.

“Who’s in the shed?”

 

Page by page different farm animals take turns to peer through a hole in their shed trying to work out what had been put in the shed? The climax of the story comes when the pig finally looks just as a giant circus bear roars “HOW DARE YOU STARE!"

When I tried to read this to Jacob (aged just 19 months) the repeated readings had an unusual impact. In the first two readings I wasn’t able to sustain his interest long enough to reach the end of the story. But by the third reading a few days later, I reached the climax of the story, and growled in a loud voice as the terrifying bear was revealed in full with large teeth and claws. Jacob jumped slightly and said “again”, meaning of course he wanted it read again.

 

On the next reading when the final page was reached and I roared the words of the bear, he jumped and ran to the door of my study, peering back at the book. He didn’t want to hear it again that day.

 

On subsequent visits for a few weeks he would enter my study where my books were kept, and move tentatively towards the book left on a coffee table. He would open several pages then retreat to a safe distance just outside the door of my study and make a growling noise.

 

Jacob learned many things from the reading of this simple book. Of course, learning is cumulative, so he didn’t completely learn these things in the one reading. However, the reading of this book was what my colleague Jerome Harste calls a ‘critical incident’. And as part of this critical incident he experienced, and to some extent learnt, some new things from the encounter. So what were they?

 

    * Not all bears are cute and cuddly like his Pooh Bear that he carried everywhere

    * Books have the power to shift the emotions

    * Authors often reveal the most important bit or secret at the end

    * In the normal events of life things can happen that will scare us

    * Authors structure and layer their meanings to tell their story

    * Words and pictures have a relationship in books

 

In this simple example, we see illustrated the partial answer to Margaret Meek’s question in her title. 'How do readers learn from texts'1 , in fact how does a text read or heard, have the power to teach? Books and stories offer children experiences that are transformative in many ways. In this case, it provided Jacob with an opportunity to explore the at times troubling territory of fantasy and reality, truth and fiction. He might never have such a scary real life encounter, but through this book he was taught a little more about his world aged 19 months.

 

In the world of literature, as he grew up he would encounter new fears but also wonderful lessons concerning justice, love, life, death, human diversity, hope and despair.

 

In my next post, Lesson 2 is on how ‘Literature enriches’

 

Reference: I wrote a book some years ago titled ‘Otherworlds: The endless possibilities of literature’ (1990). The title pointed to one of the key concerns of the book, literature opens up worlds not always available to be experienced firsthand by children.

Other posts I've written on Children's literature HERE

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1. Margaret Meek develops this thesis at length in her small monograph How texts teach what readers learn. South Woodchester (UK): The Thimble Press, 1988. 

Encouraging More Girls (and Boys) to Explore Engineering, Technology and Coding

I have six grandchildren and as they grow older their interests become clearer. All love learning, but not all have the same learning interests. Even when they were very young, some would love to dig in the compost heap with me, and others, not so much. Some would bring every insect inside to examine it, others were less keen. One still heads to our upstairs living area where all the books are, so it isn't hard to find her at mealtimes. Her brother loves books too but when he was young, he was always more likely to head to the back yard (garden) to dig around, look to the sky for birds and so on. His interests have broadened in recent years.

All my grandchildren love books in their own way, but have different tastes, genres that they like and so on. Interestingly, one granddaughter loves books and writing, and is also interested in coding and is very good at mathematics. A younger grandson already shows incredible early talent in coding and computing and has more recently discovered books. All children are different, but I suspect all could code if taught well. What will the girls and boys in our families become? All will have varied interests in life. But vocationally, what might they become? Research evidence suggests that statistically, my grandson has more likelihood of ending up in a career where he will use his strengths in STEM, particularly coding, than my granddaughter. I see this is a problem, because computer coding will be such a critical language to know and use in the future in varied careers. In fact Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is so critical to the future and gender diversity in this field is important.

Gwendolin Tilghman who is a Senior Investment Analyst at Viking Global Investors, wrote an interesting post last year that I shared on LinkedIn at the time, which argued for proactive efforts to get more girls into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). She writes:

"I have always been interested in topics relating to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). So, when I started college and was able to learn any subject of my choosing, it was no surprise that I decided to pursue an engineering degree. However, what was surprising was that I seemed to be the only girl to do so, or at least that’s how it felt sitting in a room full of boys throughout many of my classes. Perhaps it should not have been because even though women now represent 47% of the workforce, only 12% engineers are females." 

Clearly action is necessary to encourage girls and young women to consider careers that build on their knowledge and interest in STEM. One the most critical needs will be to encourage girls with an early interest in science and maths to explore coding.

Gwendoline is part of the 'Girls Who Code' initiative in the USA that is seeking to close the gender gap in technology. She comments:

Get Coding (Walker Books)

Where can we start to inspire young girls (and boys as well) to explore coding?  There are some great resources appearing on the market that will help. I was sent a great little book about 6 months ago designed for primary or elementary school children - Get Coding (Walker Books) that has been produced by Young Rewired State (see below). This is a wonderful little book, it made me want to get to a computer, and to start doing some coding myself.

It is well designed and very inviting. Each page combines text, step by step instructions and projects to undertake. The first 15 pages are text-based with some headings, pictures and diagrams to make sense of the limited amount of the word descriptions. The reading level is about 8-10 years. Once the reader is through this introduction they can begin a series of missions with Professor Harry Bairstone, 'a famous explorer' who is '... in desperate need of [our] help'. Once we are introduced to the mystery of the lost 'Monk Diamond', we are ready to code our way towards completing our mission. Yes, we will need to know what HTML tags are. And we will learn how to use them as we learn to write HTML code, on our way towards completing the mission. Very soon, we are writing the code for a simple web page, with text and images. Eventually we build our own 'Monk Diamond Discovery Web Page'.

By Mission 5 our young coders will be making their own game 'The House of Volkov's Security Team' that is responsible for protecting some valuable jewels on display in the The House of Volkov'.

This is wonderful stuff, and should be part of every child's primary school education.

Information of Young Rewired State

Young Rewired State was created in 2009 and is a network of 3000 data specialists with a female founder - Emma Mulqueeny. It has 30% female developers with 60% aged 18-25. It has an interesting methodology based on the principle of rapid prototyping, using the MVP concept of working towards a minimum viable product (MVP). It runs events and programs for technically gifted young people aged 18 and under. It draws together young developers, designers, and those with other technical skills to build projects (mainly phone and web applications) that attempt to solve real world problems. Most of the developers participating in Young Rewired State events have taught themselves or learned coding skills outside the traditional school curriculum.

Information about Girls Who Code

Girls Who Code is a national non-profit organization working to close the gender gap in technology. Its programs inspire, educate, and equip girls with the computing skills to pursue 21st century opportunities. They have been especially effective in impacting skills development for girls in their formative years. At the completion of this academic year, Girls Who Code will have reached 40,000 girls in total, covering all 50 US states during its five-year history. In fact, an impressive 93 percent of their summer program participants said that they now want to major in, or are interested in, computer science because of their participation in the program — this might well mean that for woman in the future that they might not be in such a minority in Coding, Technology and Engineering classrooms!

Want to read other posts?

For other blogs that cover education and literacy why not visit the Top 100 Children's Book Blogs globally. I'm listed here as one of the blogs

Other posts that I've written on technology HERE.