Reading Workshop with Jo Allais
As promised, I have outlined the main points that Jo discussed with us at the reading workshop held on
Wednesday the 21st of September at MMS. The workshop was based on the importance of reading to
your children even after they can read themselves.
Points on the importance of reading to your child.
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Reading to your child enriches their lives by developing their potential in literacy, vocabulary
and helping your child become a life long reader through good books.
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Early introduction to reading helps with lifelong academic studies. Reading to your child will
greatly improve his/her chance to succeed academically.
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A bonding experience will develop between parent and child, which will indirectly open the
channels of expressing ones emotions and not suppressing them.
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Reading to babies develops the baby's brain.
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Reading is associated with love, security and cuddling.
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Books and reading become associated with pleasure.
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Encourage reading as illustrations are better than photos for small babies.
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Beatrix Potter made a point of using one unusual word in each of her books and repeating this
word throughout the book.
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Nursery rhymes are among the best for younger children.
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Nursery rhymes are rich in similes. Children become exposed to sophisticated language. The
characters are likely to reappear throughout the rhyme.
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Children get their worst marks for comprehension. Exposure to nursery rhymes will aid their
comprehension abilities.
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Nursery rhymes are an introduction and preparation for poetry. POETRY is the highest form of
excellent use of English.
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Through repetition of nursery rhymes with babies the neurological pathways are being
developed in the brain.
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Poor vocabularies hold children back in mathematics.
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Reading develops imagination and develops ones concentration. One needs to sit quietly and
concentrate if you need academic success.
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TV encourages lack of concentration.
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NO DISNEY BOOKS IN YOUR HOME THEY ARE FLAT AND BLAND.
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Always discuss the pictures of a story. An interesting illustration helps stimulate the child's
visual discrimination.
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Children learn a language through communication.
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Listen to CD stories but children still need to hear their parents pronounce the words of a story
when reading out aloud.
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Reading develops emotional intelligence.
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Good literature tells children how similar we are without being consciously told. Whether we
from the north or a squatter camp we still people …
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CHILDREN ARE MORE AFFECTED BY THE ART IN A BOOK THAN AN ADULT WITH ART
IN A GALLERY.
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Verbs (doing words) must carry an emotion as well e.g crying from a broken heart, laughing
from the pit of ones stomach, running with delight etc.
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A truly excellent children's book is never grown out of at all; there are always new shades and
layers to be appreciated.
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Try and read 20 minutes a day 6 days a week. Read to each child separately at least once or
twice a week.
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Reading to your child lays the foundation for later formal literacy. Books with dialogue expose
children to different types of ways in which books are written.
INFORMATION ON SOME RENOWNED CHILDREN'S AUTHORS
When choosing a book one needs to look for a profound theme with beautiful illustrations.
Helen Oxenbury – Illustrator and Author
Oxenbury grew up in Ipswich, England and from an early age developed a passion for drawing. She
attended art school as a teenager, and during holidays she worked at the Ipswich Repertory Theatre
Workshop, mixing paints. In her adult life she embarked on a career in theatre, film and television. After
marrying the children’s book illustrator John Burningham in 1964, she herself also turned to
illustrating children’s books.
In 1988 Oxenbury created a series of books about a mischievous young boy called Tom, and his
stuffed monkey, Pippo. She commented that Tom was very much like her own son in his younger
years. Like Tom, her son would often blame his misdeeds on an accomplice (the family dog). Oxenbury
is still illustrating children’s books: some of her most recent work includes the illustrations for "The
Growing Story" in the September 2008 edition of Bayard Presse's Story Box magazine.
Her numerous books for children include:
• The Quangle Wangle's Hat, by Edward Lear (winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal, 1969)
• The Dragon of an Ordinary Family, by Margaret Mahy (winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal,
1969)
• Cakes and Custard, children's rhymes chosen by Brian Alderson, 1975
• We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, by Michael Rosen (winner of the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize,
1989)
• Farmer Duck, by Martin Waddell (winner of the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, 1991;[5] Illustrated
Children's Book of the Year, British Book Awards, 1992)
• The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig, by Eugene Trivizas, 1993
• So Much, by Trish Cooke (winner of the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, 1994; Kurt Maschler
Award, 1994)
• I Can, by Helen Oxenbury, 1995 (a board book for babies)
• Tickle, Tickle, by Helen Oxenbury (Booktrust Early Years Award, 1999)
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll (winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal,
1999)
• Big Momma Makes the World, by Phyllis Root (winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award,
2003)
• Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, by Mem Fox, 2008
Eleanor Farjeon – Poet and Author
Eleanor Farjeon's most widely known work is the popular children's hymn "Morning has
Broken"
Eleanor Farjeon (pronounced /frd
ʒ ən/ ) (13 February 1881 – 5 June 1965) was an English
author of children's stories and plays, poetry, biography, history and satire. Many of her works had
charming illustrations by Edward Ardizzone. Some of her correspondence has also been published.
She won many literary awards and the prestigious Eleanor Farjeon Award for children's literature is
presented annually in her memory by the Children's Book Circle, a society of publishers.
Partial Biography
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Pan-Worship and Other Poems (1908)
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The Soul of Kol Nikon (1914)
Arthur Rackham: The Wizard at Home (1914) (non-fiction)
Gypsy and Ginger (1920)
Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard (1921)
Faithful Jenny Dove and Other Tales (1925)
Mighty Men: Achilles to Julius Caesar, Beowulf to Harold (1925)
Nuts and May (1925)
Faithful Jenny Dove and Other Tales (1925)
Italian Peepshow (1926)
Kaleidoscope (1928)
The Tale of Tom Tiddler (1929)
Tales from Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales Done in Prose (1930)
The Old Nurse's Stocking Basket (1931)
The Fair of St. James: A Fantasia (1932)
Perkin the Pedlar (1932)
Jim at the Corner and Other Stories (1934)
A Nursery in the Nineties (1935) (autobiography)
Humming Bird: A Novel (1936)
Ten Saints (1936)
Martin Pippin in the Daisy Field (1937)
The Wonders of Herodotus (1937)
One Foot in Fairyland: Sixteen Tales (1938)
Kings and Queens (1940) (poetry, written with her brother Herbert Farjeon)
The New Book of Days (1941)
Brave Old Woman (1941)
The Glass Slipper (1944) (play)
Ariadne and the Bull (1945)
Anthony Edward Tudor Browne (born 11 September 1946)[2] is a British author and illustrator of
children's books, with nearly forty titles to his name.] He was the previous Children's Laureate.
Notable Works:
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Gorilla
Into the Forest
Little Beauty
My Dad
My Mum
Silly Billy
Voices in the Park
A Walk in the Park
Willy the Wimp
Me and You, a retelling of The Story of the Three Bears in a contemporary setting
Brian Wildsmith is a children's book illustrator and Author, who won the Kate Greenaway Medal in
1962 for his illustration work in the book A.B.C.
Brian Wildsmith was raised in a small mining village in Yorkshire, England, where, he
says, "Everything was grey. There wasn't any colour. It was all up to my imagination. I had
to draw in my head..."
He won a scholarship to the Slade School of Fine Art where he studied for three years. For
a while he taught music at the Royal Military School of Music, but then gave it up so that he
could paint full time.
He has deservedly earned a reputation as one of the greatest living children's illustrators. In
1962, he published his first children's book, ABC, for which he was awarded the Kate
Greenaway Medal, Britain's equivalent to the Caldecott Medal. He was also a runner up for
this medal for The Owl and the Woodpecker.
Wildsmith has said: "I believe that beautiful picture books are vitally important in
subconsciously forming a child's visual appreciation, which will bear fruit in later life."
In 1994, the Brian Wildsmith Art Museum was established in Izukogen, a town south of
Tokyo, Japan. Almost one and a half million people visited a traveling exhibition of his work
in 2005. Eight hundred of his paintings are on loan to the museum.
Brian is married, has four children, and currently lives in the south of France.
Good Reads by Brian Wildsmith
Jungle Party
The Owl and the Woodpecker
ABC
A Child's Garden of Verses
Favourite Nursery Rhymes
PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINK BELOW FOR A COLOURFUL ADVENTURE OF MORE OF BRIAN
WILDSMITH WORKS.
http://brianwildsmith.com/
Shirley Hughes – Author and Illustator she is a genius in illustrating but unfortunately her
books cannot be found in South Africa
Shirley Hughes (born 16 July 1927, West Kirby, Cheshire, United Kingdom) is an English author
and illustrator. She has written more than fifty books which have sold more than 11.5 million copies,
and illustrated over two hundred. She currently lives in London
John Rowe Townsend (born 1922) is a British children's author and academic. His best-known
children's novel is The Intruder, which won a 1971 Edgar Award and the best-known academic work is
Written for Children: An Outline of English Language Children's Literature (1965), the definitive work of
its time on the subject.
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Gumble's Yard (1961)
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Hell's Edge (1963)
Widdershins Crescent (1965)
Written for Children - an Outline of English Children's Literature (1965)
The Hallersage Sound (1966)
Pirate's Island (1968)
The Intruder (1969)
Trouble in the Jungle (1969)
Goodbye to Gumble's Yard (1970)
A Sense of Story (1971) (Republished as A Sounding of Storytellers (1979)
The Summer People (1972)
Wish for Wings (1972)
Good-night, Prof, Love (1973)
Runaways (1979)
A Sounding of Storytellers (1979)
Tom Tiddler's Ground (1985)
The Persuading Stick (1986)
Downstream (1987)
Rob's Place (1987)
The Hidden Treasure (1988)
The Golden Journey (1989)
Cranford Revisited (1989)
Cheer and Groan (1989)
The Invaders (1992)
Sam and Jenny (1992)
TINTIN BOOKS
Tintin books improve general knowledge and teaches you about the world and about the people that
live in it. Each Tintin book took 2 years to research and write.
FOLK TALES AND FAIRY TALES: WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
Folk Tales
To be a true folk tale, a story must have its origins in what we call the oral tradition. This means the
story was first passed down orally by storytellers. Along the way it may have had things added or
subtracted as each storyteller made it his or her own. It eventually was written down, which is why
you're able to read it in a book now, but it wasn't written down first. For example, Paul Bunyan reads
like a folk tale and has many folk tale elements in it, but it is not a true folk tale because it was a written
story to begin with and not something passed down through the generations orally.
Folk tales are instructive. They caution readers/listeners about the consequences of certain kinds of
behaviours or attitudes.
Characters are not complex. Instead they are stereotypes: the thief, the liar, the clever youth, the evil
stepmother, etc.
Even when written down, they are sometimes told in a way that sounds like the spoken word: directly
addressing the reader, use of dialect or slang, etc.
The structure may be repetitive. Things that happen in threes are common. Repetition of lines is also
common and would have been helpful to whoever was memorizing and telling a story in the oral
tradition.
Fairy Tales
Surprise! Fairy tales often don't have any fairies in them at all. In terms of the kinds of human
characters the stories are peopled with or the structure of the stories themselves, there isn't much
difference between folk tales and fairy tales. But the presence of witches, dragons, trolls, magic spells,
or other magical elements help distinguish fairy tales from folk tales.
Both folk tales and fairy tales may involve a character learning an important lesson. Both may put the
heroes in mortal danger. Like folk tales, fairy tales may serve as cautionary tales to teach their listeners
what not to do.
Some fairy tales have roots in the oral tradition, but others, called literary fairy tales, were made up and
written down, so technically, these are not folk tales. However, they may share many of the same traits
as fairy tales from the folk tale tradition.
Like folk tales, fairy tales in their original forms often have less than happy endings. Because the
stories were invented to be instructive and cautionary, they often feature a main character who suffers
for his or her failure to do things the "right" way. Little Red Riding Hood talks to a stranger in the woods
and gets eaten by a wolf. In the original story, that's the end of her. No woodcutter comes along to
save her. In the original version of Cinderella, the wicked stepsisters cut off their toes to try to fit their
feet into the glass slipper, and then on the way back to the castle after Cindy and the prince are
reunited, birds come along and peck out the stepsisters' eyes! Ouch! Folk tales and fairy tales are
meant to disturb you and teach you to be careful. They may entertain you, but on the other hand, they
may scare you. In Irish folklore, fairies are not like Tinkerbell. They have a dark and dangerous side
and can make you very sorry if you cross them. The modern, cleaned up versions of fairy tales you
may have read as a youngster may be very different from the original versions of these stories. But I
won't go into that here because I want you to be able to sleep at night!
Legends
Legends are stories told about a person or a place. This person may be a real person or a character
based on a real person. Legends may be rooted in oral tradition but embellished through the
generations by storytellers and writers. For example, the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the
Round Table are legends. They are based on someone who might have actually lived but who was
probably not much like the King Arthur in our stories. Arthurian legend has its roots in Britain, but lots
of the stories of his knights actually came from French traditions. It all gets very complicated, doesn't
it?
Legends make good reading, and reading is what the library is all about!
Looking for a sweet, soothing tale to waft you toward dreamland? Look somewhere else. The stories
collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the early 1800s serve up life as generations of central
Europeans knew it—capricious and often cruel. The two brothers, patriots determined to preserve
Germanic folk-tales, were only accidental entertainers.
Once they saw how the tales bewitched young readers, the Grimm's and editors aplenty after them,
started "fixing" things. Tales gradually got softer, sweeter, and primly moral. Yet all the polishing never
rubbed away the solid heart of the stories, now read and loved in more than 160 languages.
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Our Lady's Child
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The Frog King, or Iron Henry
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The Story of a Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was
Repunzel
Hansel & Gretel – for 5 year olds
Cinderella
The Riddle
The Three Little Pigs (for 2 year olds) – Beast Tale
Please choose quality not story versions where the guts are taken from the characters.
More books to read to your children
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Where the Wild Things Are - is a 1963 children's picture book by American writer and illustrator
Maurice Sendak
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Off to the Sweet Shores of Africa – out of print
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Gifted Hands – The Ben Carson Story
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Niki Daly – Not so fast Songololo
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Fly, Eagle, Fly – an African Tale
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Ulila and the secret of Rain.
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Catch the Goat – Nigerian Tale
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So much – Trish Cooke
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Zigby is a 3d animated series set on a lush island. It follows the adventures of 3 young friends
“Zigby the Zebra”, “McMeer the Meerkat” and “Bertie the Guinea Fowl”.
PLEASE NOTE THAT AMERICAN LIBRARIES ALWAYS GET RID
OF GREAT BOOKS – ONE CAN SURF THE NET FOR MORE
INFORMATION.
_______________________
LISTED BELOW IS ALL THE INFORMATION ON CHOOSING
BOOKS AND GOOD BOOKS TO READ WHICH JO ALLAIS HAD
SOURCED FOR ME WHICH I DECIDED TO INCLUDE IN MY NOTE
TO YOU - HAPPY READING, I KNOW THIS IS A LENGTHLY
DOCUMENT, HOWEVER I DO HOPE YOU WILL GAIN SOME
VALUABLE INSIGHT INTO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF
READING.
Recommended library 0 – 6
Please note:
1) When trying to choose a book, focus on a book which has intrinsic value as a book, and not
one that is trying to be something else. A book isn’t a toy so avoid paying for expensive
gimmicks like buttons that press. However, despite what I have said, one beautiful pop-up
book in a child’s life would be an expensive treat!
2) In a few cases I have taken books on recommendation, mainly by Dorothy Butler in Babies
need Books. I have occasionally quoted her descriptions of books.
3) The age group allocation is merely a suggestion. Much depends on both the individual child
and the child’s experience of being read to. Many of these books can be read to one year olds
or to six-year olds.
4) Be on the lookout for new books by your favourite authors. Sometimes wonderful books are
available second hand. Some good sources of less expensive books are Books Galore
(several branches) and Bookdealers of Gallo Manor, Bedforview, Bryanston, Melville,
Rosebank, Benmore, Greenside. I think the one in Gallo Manor is supposed to have best
selection of children’s books. For very keen parents, these shops repay repeated visits to
check on changing stock.
5) Loot.co.za is a good supplier of books in SA. Free postage for orders of over R230.
6) Amazon.com only couriers purchases to SA but Amazon.co.uk still posts books. The second
hand book shops associated with Amazon have the most amazing bargains in children’s
books, but you will pay the postage.
All book lists are limited and idiosyncratic. This list focuses on fiction and poetry because I
think these areas are most neglected by S.African parents and also because my knowledge of
factual books for children is out of date. There are many other excellent books not on this list
either because I don’t know them or because the list would be 100 pages long!
A FEW OF MANY INTERESTING PICTURE BOOK AUTHORS / ILLUSTRATORSI WOULD
ALWAYS LOOK OUT FOR:
Janet & Allan Ahlberg. Janet has now died, but Allan Ahlberg continues to create wonderful
books.
Anthony Browne. He is a brilliantly creative illustrator and usually tells good stories too. Offbeat, surreal, buy him when you see him if you like him. (I do! I am a collector)
John Burningham
Shirley Hughes
Helen Oxenbury
Martin Waddell
Emily Gravett
VERY FIRST BOOKS – ALL OF WHICH RETAIN THEIR CHARM FOR OLDER CHILDREN.
Nursery rhymes – some suggested anthologies:
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Lines & Jones: Lavender’s Blue This is a particularly comprehensive anthology. The
pictures alternate between colour and black & white.
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Brian Wildsmith: Mother Goose
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The Orchard Book of Nursery Rhymes. Z.Sutherland compiler, F.Jaques
illustrator. The rhymes are mainly set in rural England towards the end of the
eighteenth century. The appendix refers readers to specific verses and explains her
choices, so that interest in the illustrations is intensified.
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Opie:The Nursery Rhyme Book: this book gathers 800 rhymes and jingles. Arranged
into nine sections. Out of print but second hand copies available from Amazon.co.uk
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This little Puffin: ed. Elizabeth Matterson. A most useful book of rhymes, finger
games and songs for parents.
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Grace Hallworth, compiler. Down by the River: Afro-Caribbean Rhymes, Games
and Songs for children - Unfortunately it has comparatively few rhymes but it has
delightful, attractive illustrations..
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Uzo Unabagha. Illustrated by Julia Cairns Off to the Sweet Shores of Africa and
Other Talking Drum Rhymes. This collection was written by a Nigerian to give her own
children African rhymes. Charming poems and rhymes, obviously with some West
African allusions such as the Harmattan but many images familiar to us eg impala and
coral trees. Unfortunately it is out of print but inexpensive second-hand copies are
available from Amazon.com in excellent condition. (Of course, couriering items from
USA is prohibitive so you need to make arrangements with obliging travelling friends
and family)
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Priddy books. This is a wide range of sturdy, relatively inexpensive books. Authorities
like Dorothy Butler say that illustrations (paintings, drawings etc) are better for young
children than the photographs which are used in most of the Priddy books. I am
uncertain how well these books appeal to older children.
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Helen Oxenbury – Clap Hand; All Fall Down; Say Goodnight; Tickle, Tickle . These
are available as board books. Helen Oxenbury’s multicultural babies are charmingly
illustrated.
Despite my first point above about buying books that are books, for a baby it is fun to have one
book like Pat the Bunny in which the baby can feel textures.
ONE TO TWO- PLUS YEAR OLDS
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More nursery rhymes & previously listed books
Simple stories such as
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Eric Carle: The Very Hungry Caterpillar. This has colourful collage illustrations and a
deceptively simply, hopeful story. With its die-cut pages and finger-sized holes to
explore, this is a richly satisfying book for children and is simultaneously a counting
book, a days of the week book and a nature study - transformation of an egg to a worm
to a butterfly book. Carle has cashed in on his reputation and followed this with many
books – decide which ones you care for. Available in many editions and sizes. I would
suggest a board book format for fingers to poke the holes without damage to the book.
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Mem Fox, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury: Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes.
This is a superb book showing babies from all over the world. With its rhyming text and
refrain (‘Each little baby as everyone knows, had ten little fingers and ten little toes’) and
beautiful illustrations it is a wonderful book.
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Shirley Hughes: When We Went to the Park; Noisy; All shapes and sizes;
Colours; Two Shoes, New shoes; Bouncing; Giving; Things I like (little poems
and rhymes)
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Buy her books when you see them - certain titles are for older children. Butler says ‘
Shirley Hughes’s illustrations of every day occupations convey not only their actuality,
but their spirit’
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Martin Waddell: Certain titles such as John Joe and the Big Hen (Other titles are for
older children)
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The younger Beatrix Potters: The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit; The Story of Miss
Moppet & her nursery rhyme books
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Janet & Allan Ahlberg: The Baby’s Catalogue. This ‘catalogue’ of six babies in five
families and their lunches, toys, accidents. Enchanting. Endless study of this book will
reward the reader with new details to be discovered.
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Margaret Wise Brown: Good night Moon
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Doctor Seuss’s ABC (recommended by Dorothy Butler)
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Brian Wildsmith: ABC
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Emily Gravett: Monkey and Me. Orange Pear Apple Bear consists of only those four
words and four objects in various arrangements! Fascinating and surely stimulating for
the young.
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Over in the Meadow - this old number rhyme is illustrated by various people. John
Langstaff illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky is one version; Ezra Jack Keats has
illustrated another version. A version with bolder colours by A.Wadsworth illustrated by
Mary Maki Rae will appeal to some although Butler prefers the unmodified text in the
older versions: ‘dug and were glad’ rather than ‘dug all day’.
TWO TO THREE PLUS -YEAR OLDS
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Nursery rhymes & old favourites
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Janet & Allan: Each Peach Pear Plum. ‘An “I Spy” book in which the child is invited
to find familiar nursery rhyme characters hiding in the deftly drawn and neatly framed
illustrations. Peek-a-boo!
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Molly Bang: Ten, Nine, Eight. A bedtime, counting book involving an increasingly
sleepy African-American father and little girl.
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Shirley Hughes: Dogger, (Certain of her books are for older children)
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Shirley Hughes is excellent, one of the best children’s authors. Her stories are about
every day life. They all have a real narrative: a build up, a crisis, a resolution. The
tension / crisis is about some little incident which is real and important in young
children’s lives. Her books are very British and some children might find some things a
little unfamiliar – this broadens their knowledge!
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Pat Hutchins: Rosie’s Walk; The Wind Blew. Other titles
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Anthony Browne: I Like Books. A celebration of books, starting the propaganda early!
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John Burningham: Mr Gumpy’s Outing; Mr Gumpy’s Motor Car; Oy, Get off our
train
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Shirley Hughes titles eg Alfie’s feet. This is the youngest Alfie book. New gumboots
are worn to the park with feet in the wrong boots. Other Alfie stories. Lucy and Tom
stories
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Mike Inkpen: Kipper
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Brian Wildsmith: Animal Gallery. Typical Wildsmith illustrations of alphabetically
arranged animals with collective nouns This is one of those books for many ages. A
very young child will enjoy the bright, artistic illustrations while an older one will enjoy
the clever collective nouns. (‘a skulk of foxes’ accompanies an illustration of furtively
creeping foxes)
SOUTH AFRICAN & AFRICAN INTEREST
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Eileen Browne Handa's Surprise Colourful pictures of various Kenyan fruits and
animals accompany a simple text.
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Eileen Browne Handa’s Hen A counting story
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Polly Alakija Catch That Goat! The text is not noteworthy but the illustrations are
colourful and depict what I assume is a typical market ay in Nigeria
POETRY
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Polly Dunbar: Here’s a little poem.
THREE TO FOUR YEAR OLDS
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Nursery rhymes & old favourites
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The ‘beast fables’. The Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs, The Gingerbread Man, The
Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Little Red Hen (not yet Hansel & Gretel, Snow White etc)
Paul Galdone has told and illustrated the above stories in a way that is suitable for use
with three – to four-year olds.
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Traditional tales such as: The Enormous Turnip
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John Burningham: Borka. Winner of Kate Greenaway medial (1964) about coping
with being different. (Borka the goose is born without feathers). Beautiful illustrations.
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Trish Cooke, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury: So Much. A lovely story about how
special and loved the baby is as the whole family gathers for Dad’s birthday and the
family birthday party. Trish Cooke is of Jamaican descent and there is Jamaican dialect
in the book.
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Lynley Dodd: Hairy Maclary’s Caterwaul Caper; Hairy Maclary’s Show Business;
Hairy Maclary’s Rumpus at the Vet.
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Shirley Hughes: Alfie Gets in First. Alfie runs ahead and locks himself into the house
with the key. After many adults try to help it is Alfie himself who solves the problem.
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Shirley Huges:The Big Alfie and Annie Rose Storybook is a collection of Alfie and
Annie Rose (baby sister) stories; The Big Alfie Out of Doors Book. Lucy and Tom
go to school & other titles.
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Shirley Hughes:Out and About. Going out of print but available second hand. ‘...it
would be worth acquiring for the pictures alone (so much to look at) . But the text directs
attention to each expansive, engrossing double spread and is rewarding in itself. .. this
author-artist knows what children are like.’
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Shirley Hughes: Sally’s Secret about the secret house Sally constructs in the
bushes. Delightful.
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Pat Hutchins: I hunter. One hunter walks through the bush and does not see two
elephants or three giraffe!. A counting book with a difference. Ultimately the hunter flees
from his intended victims. The irony may be missed ‘by three-to-fours but the action and
humour will enchant’.
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Judith Kerr: Mog the forgetful cat; Mog and the baby and other titles. Goodbye
Mog deals with Mog’s death imaginatively although I haven’t tried it out with a young
child. Mog dies, is buried but her spirit is around for a while to help the nervous new
kitten settle; humorous, humane and life affirming. Delightful expressive illustrations.
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Margaret Mahy: The Lion in the Meadow. A whimsical story about imagination and
reality. A small boy imagines a lion in the meadow and his mother counters with a
dragon!
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Colin McNaughton illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark: Not last night but the
night before. An amusing rhyming tale drawing on well known fairy stories.
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M.Rosen and Helen Oxenbury: We’re going on a bear hunt. Michael Rosen, poet,
novelist, and UK’s Chldren’s laureate from 2007 to 2009. turned the traditional
children’s action song / game into this book, with beautiful illustrations by Helen
Oxenbury. The story is told in repetitive stanzas with wonderful onomatopoeia. You can
hear him recite/ chant the book / poem on YouTube. Available in many formats, but if
your budget permits it is wonderful to have the large, hard-covered form.
•
David Axtell: We’re going on a Lion Hunt. This is a shorter version of the song
mentioned above, in an African setting. Charming illustrations..
•
Esphyr Slobodkina: Caps for Sale.. A pedlar has his wares – tiers of caps – stolen by
monkeys and his eventually successful efforts to get them back. A classic picture book
based on an old story.
•
Maurice Sendak: Where the Wild Things Are. ‘There is no better example than this,
among picture books, of the power of the best words used in the best way, to enchant;
or of the right illustrations to support and sustain. ... An unforgettable book; a rare
experience’
•
Peter Spier: The Cow who Fell into the Canal. Continuously in print since 1957. The
bored cow Hendrika stumbles onto a raft in a canal and floats gently into the town.
‘Peter Spier’s double-spread pictures of Dutch town and countryside are panoramic,
meticulously detailed and utterly absorbing. A classic.
•
Charlotte Zolotow: Mr Rabbit and the Lovely Present illustrated by Maurice Sendak.
A little girl gets help in choosing a present for her mother. ‘Together they consider the
possibilities, using colours as a reference. ‘Here is precision, relationship, anticipation
and successful resolution, all in fourteen pages consisting almost entirely of polite
conversation, with pictures opposite....’
•
Charlotte Zolotow:
•
Martin Waddell. Can’t you sleep. Little Bear; Let’s Go Home, Little Bear. The first
Big Sister Little Sister; and other titles.
title is a prize-winning book. ‘It concerns a pair of bears, one huge, gentle and
endlessly prepared to humour the little one’s night fears, the other small and utterly
appealing. The illustrations are splendidly designed; most pages are framed with a
steel-grey border which suggests the mystery of the night, and lends credence to Little
Bear’s repeated plaint, “I’m scared... I don’t like the dark.” ’ In the second title Little
Bear’s apprehension attaches itself to sounds.
•
Sophie Windham: The Orchard Book of Nursery Stories. A comprehensive
anthology of many old favourites such as ‘The Gingerbread Boy’, ‘The Three Little
Pigs’, Goldilocks and the Three Bears’, ‘The Musicians of Bremen’. This anthology will
be read for many years by parents to their growing children and then by the children
themselves. It may be out of print but worth sourcing a second hand copy.
•
Audrey & Don Wood: The Napping House. A beautifully illustrated cumulative tale of
more and more sleepers - the slumbering mouse, the snoozing cat, the dozing dog, the
dreaming child – joining the snoring granny in the napping house, until a wakeful flea
bites the mouse and all are startled awake.
Margaret Wise Brown: Good Night Moon (1947)
Esphyr Slobodkina: Caps for Sale(1947)
Crockett Johnson: Harold and the Purple Crayon (1955)
Tomi Ungerer: Crictor (1958)
Russell Hoban: A Baby sister for Frances(1964)
Robert Kraus. Pictures by Jose Aruego. Leo the Late Bloomer (1971)
Charlotte Zolotow. Pictures by William Pene du Bois. William’s Doll
(1972)
Laura Joffe Numeroff. Illustrated by Felicia Bond. If you give a Mouse a
Cookie (1985)
William Joyce: George Shrinks (1985)
John Steptoe: Baby Says (1988)
Eric Carle: From Head to Toe (1997)
William Steig: Pete’s a Pizza (1998)
[It is a large heavy book difficult for a child to handle, but contains an excellent collection.
These are old picture books, most of them still in print individually. Pricey – over R300 at
Loot.co.za but a way of ensuring that you have all the titles.
SOUTH AFRICAN & AFRICAN INTEREST
Nicky Daly: Jamela’s Dress & other Jamela stories; Zanzibar Road
V.Aardema: Bringing the rains to Kapiti Plain. (a traditional cumulative Kenyan tale)
Maryanne Bester: The Cool Nguni & sequels
Mary & Rich Chamberlin: Mama Panja’s pancakes. Little Adika is one step of his mother
and knows how she can cook pancakes for everyone when she has barely enough money to
feed her own son. Set in Kenya, this story is about the rewards of sharing and introduces
children to new foods and a new African country.
POETRY
•
A.A.Milne : When We were Very Young
•
Michael Rosen: Poems for the Very Young. With brightly coloured, detailed
illustrations, this anthology contains funny to thought-provoking poems, traditional
playground rhymes and modern poems
FOUR TO FIVE YEAR OLDS
[Try to give your child their own bookcase. Research shows that owning books plays a part in
becoming a reader. Also visit the library regularly!]
•
Nursery rhymes & old favourites
•
Ludwig Bemelmans: Madeleine and sequels. Rhyming tales.
•
Lauren Child: Lola and Charlie (or for older children??)
•
Shirley Hughes: Trotter Street stories
•
Pat Hutchins: Happy Birthday, Sam; Titch books (simple stories but themes
appropriate to four-year olds according to Dorothy Butler as considerations of size and
status are of great concern to this age group);
•
Laura Joffe Numeroff. Illustrated by Felicia Bond. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.
An hilarious account of the trouble that occurs when you give a mouse a cooky. The
mouse first wants milk as well, then a straw, then a napkin, then to be lifted to clean his
milk ‘moustache’ and so it continues until it ends with the mouse requiring another
cooky!
•
Maurice Sendak: Where the Wild Things are.
•
Laurent de Brunhoff: Babar stories.
•
Grimms fairy tales (certain tales) Look for an anthology and / or editions of single
stories such as Little Red-Cap illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger & translated from the
German by Elizabeth Crawford. Has been accorded nearly every prize that can be
given to an illustrator. Lisbeth Zwerger North-South Books.
•
Martin Waddell: Farmer Duck; Owl Babies and other titles
•
Brian Wildsmith: Hunter and his Dog
Longer and more complex stories than earlier
SOUTH AFRICAN / AFRICAN
•
Gina Mhlophe: Hi Zoleka.
•
Daly, Niki: Not so fast, Songololo, ,
•
Niki Daly: Jamela’s Dress & other Jamela stories
•
Schermbruker Reviv: Charlie’s House (illustrated Niki Daly)
•
Jacqui Taylor: An African ABC . Detailed illustrations and lovely text.
•
David Conway & Jude Daly: Leila and the Secret of Rain
•
Kathryn Cave: One Child One Seed A counting book which shows the cycle of ONE
pumpkin seed, TWO hands to plant it until we have TEN dinner plates piled high.
•
Sindiwe Magona: The Best Meal Ever!
POETRY
•
R.L. Stevenson: A Child’s Garden of Verses
•
Longer story poems
•
Louis Untermeyer: Golden Treasury of Poetry is available in several second hand
book shops. An illustrated collection of over 350 English and American poems, about
animals, people, famous events, the seasons, and Christmas, and including nonsense
verse, inspirational lines, and wisdom in rhyme.
•
The Young Puffin book of Verse.
Five to seven year olds
See http://www.childcarequarterly.com/summer11_story3.html for suggestions on using
picture books for numeracy and movement.
•
Nursery rhymes & old favourites
A wide range of books, including both picture books and books without or with only very few
pictures
•
Janet & Allan Ahlberg: Burglar Bill, Jeremiah in the Dark Woods, The Jolly
Postman (a younger child can understand The Jolly Postman but it is only when a
child is beginning to read that this book is truly enjoyed. Perhaps wait until the child can
read.)
•
Edward Ardizzone: Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain. And sequels
•
Anthony Browne: Gorilla & other titles
•
John Burmingham: Come Away from the Water, Shirley.
•
BEVERLY CLEARY: Ramona the Pest and the series
•
Emily Gravett: Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears. ‘A clever, funny and innovative
book which is also extremely warm and emotionally engaging for the reader. It’s a book
you can explore and spend ages over. The attention to detail is quite astonishing: every
part of the book is used, and the production values are fantastic. It works on every
single level. A publishing tour de force.' [Jay Heale]
•
Emily Gravett: Wolves, and others
•
Pat Hutchins: Don’t forget the bacon; The Doorbell Rang
•
Astrid Lindren: Lotta leaves home, The Mischievous Martens & other titles
•
Laura Ingalls Wilder: Little House in the Big Woods series
•
Nick Inkpen: Zoe and Beans books
•
ROALD DAHL James and the Giant Peach
•
JOAN G ROBINSON The Teddy Robinson story book
•
Joyce Lankester Brisley: Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories
•
Julia Eccleshare: Stories for 5 year olds
(This series is available for other age
groups as well.)
•
David McKee: ELMER. Some of his books are for maturer children. Elmer is a
coloured elephant who feels left out because he is different……this tale reassures
youngsters that everyone is different and special Also look out for his simple, yet
relevant tale, TUSK TUSK.
•
Florence Parry Heide: The Shrinking of Treehorn
•
Korky Paul- another outstanding South African illustrator who now lives in Britain
WINNIE THE WITCH has been available in picture book format for years…..because of
the visual jokes in the illustrations this can be used with older readers in Grade 3 and 4
•
Brian Wildsmith: Hunter and his Dog; The Lazy Bear.
•
Roald Dahl The Enormous Crocodile
•
Roald Dahl: [Certain titles are for older children]
•
Kipling: Just so stories
•
Grimm’s fairy tales – Avoid emasculated versions. The stories must have emotion and
arouse emotion.
•
Goscinny & Sempe: Nicholas books
•
Magery Williams The Velveteen Rabbit The story of the toy who became real through
love.
•
Tove Janssen – The Finn Family Moomintroll and sequels
•
Catherine Storr: Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf
SOUTH AFRICAN / AFRICAN
•
Paddy Bouma: BEST MEAL IN THE WORLD
•
Chris van Wyk: Ouma Ruby's Secret
•
Christopher Gregorowski Fly, Eagle, Fly! An African Tale. Based on a parable told
by the Ghanaian, James E.K.Aggrey who wanted Africans to believe that although the
world thought of them as chickens they were actually eagles. Gregorowski told the story
to help his dying seven-year old daughter to understand that we are all born to be
eagles who are lifted up by the might of the Spirit. Set in the Transkei.
POETRY - borrow / buy whatever you can find which is appealing
Quentin Blake: All Join in
Charles Causley, illus. Michael Foreman: Early in the Morning: A collection of new
poems.
Michael Rosen, illustrated by Quentin Blake: Hard-boiled Legs The Breakfast Book.
Light-hearted amusing illustrations and prose poems of breakfast time.
A NOTE ABOUT ‘VERSIONS’ OF STORIES.
The traditional old stories (including ‘fairy tales’) which have universal themes entertain both
adults and children. “We see our world, with all its truth and ugliness, its compassion and its
violence, its wisdom and its stupidity, reflected in the myths and legends of every culture; and
we see ourselves as the queens and the scullery maids, the princes and the woodcutters who
people the folk and fairy tales.”
As they are out of copyright, many mass market versions are produced. Try not to fall for these
and avoid all Disney editions!
Six to nine year olds.
Readers need titles to develop reading stamina and skills. Find books which tap into their
interests eg horses, dinosaurs, ballet, etc. This is the time for Enid Blyton: limited vocabulary
and description and exciting, fast-moving plots to help them to practise their developing
reading skills.
Horrid Henry and Captain Underpants are apparently also good for reading at this stage, as
are the Dr Seuss books with their limited vocabularies.
Megan MacDonald: Judy Moody Girl Detective
Jeremy Strong
These books are for self-reading, not necessarily for reading by teachers and parents.
Once children can read they really enjoy books like the Ahlberg’s The Jolly Postman and
Emily Gravett’s Meerkat Mail.
•
Beverly Cleary: Ramona the Brave and sequels. Warm & humorous stories about
Ramona and her family.
•
Lauren Child: Clarice Bean books and others.
•
Julia Donaldson: Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book. Typical Donaldson rhyming text
and Scheffler illustrations tell a witty story about books and reading.
•
Astrid Lindgren: Pippi Longstockings books
•
Dick King Smith: The Sheep Pig and others
•
Roald Dahl books
•
Ursula Moray Williams: Story of the Little Wooden Horse
•
Laura Ingalls Wilder: Little House in the Big Woods series
•
Andrew Lang: The Blue Fairy Tale Book (& the other colours)
•
Rumer Godden: Miss Happiness and Miss Flower; Little Plum
•
Brian Wildsmith: Favourite Fables. ‘Five La Fontaine fables simple retold and
sumptuously illustrated’ Boastful hare challenges the tortoise, the competition between
the sun and the north wind to see which is more powerful etc. A book that will still be
consulted by teenagers and adults for their art projects. The tales are available
separately.
POETRY
Poetry - borrow / buy whatever you can find which is appealing
Edward Lear’s nonsense rhymes
http://www.michaelrosen.co.uk/videos.html
(The poet Michael Rosen’s site)
Ten to twelve year olds [I cannot personally guarantee all of these as I have not read all
of them]
•
Lucy Boston: The Green Knowe Books
•
Frank Cottrell Boyce: Millions and other titles
•
Lauren Childs: Utterley me, Clarice Bean; Don’t look now and Clarice Bean Spells
Trouble.
•
Carlo Collodi: Pinnochio
•
Cornelia Funke: The Thief Lord and other titles
•
Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist
•
Morris Gleitzman: Once and Then
•
Michael Grant: Gone
•
Anne Fine: Flour Babies, Madam Doubtfire and other titles
•
Frances Hodgson Burnett The Secret Garden
•
Anne Holm: I am David
•
Ted Hughes: The Iron Man
•
Iva Ibbotson – Which Witch [humorous]
•
Elizabeth Laird: Red Sky in the Morning; Little Piece of Ground and other titles
•
Michelle Magorian: Good Night, Mr Tom. (For parents. Probably too challenging for
the classroom)
•
Michael Mopurgo: many titles, not all for the same age
•
Geraldine McCaughrean: retells many of the folk tales and legends with superb
language
•
Mary Norton: The Borrowers and sequels
•
Beatrix Potter: The Tale of Mr Tod
•
Tolkein: The Hobbit (For parents. Probably too challenging for the classroom)
•
Lemony Snicket: many titles
•
Robert Westall
•
David Walliams: Mr Stink [Apparently this book is the true heir to Roald Dahl]
SOUTH AFRICAN / AFRICAN (There are many more South African books for this age
group. This section needs developing)
Dianne Cases: 92 Queens Road.
Lesley Beake’s: Song of Be.
POETRY
Allan Ahlberg: Please Mrs Butler
The Kingfisher Book of Comic Verse. Selected by Roger McGough
A World of Poetry. Selected by Michael Rosen..
Wicked Poems. Selected by Roger McGough
Algernon and other Cautionary Tales. Hilaire Belloc. Illustrated by Quentin Blake
The Oxford Book of Story Poems.
The Puffin Book of Twentieth-Century Children’s verse. Edited by Brian Paton.
Illustrated by Michael Foreman.
Edward Lear: Nonsense poems
Paula Rego’s book of nursery rhymes would be suitable for older children. These nursery
rhymes attracted Paula as she is a specialist in using humour to confront terror. ‘I like to give
fear a face,’ she has said.
For interest, I have included Jay Heale’s commentary on the Disney Winnie the Pooh
and some of his book selections.
http://www.bookchat.co.za/index.asp
Winnie the Pooh
I’m not sure whether this is a eulogy or an elegy. Probably both. It all started in 1926 and 1928
when AA Milne wrote two books called Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner,
neatly and whimsically illustrated by Ernest Shepard. Far away across the Atlantic, also in
1928, a young film animator, Walt Disney, created a character called Mickey Mouse in a
cartoon named Steamboat Willie.
Both of those creators are dead now. I wonder what the pair of them would think of the large
picture-book in front of me entitled: Disney WINNIE THE POOH – THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE.
Published (may they cringe in shame) by Dorling Kindersley, this purports to provide a sort of
illustrated encyclopedia to the world of Pooh. But let’s be quite clear: this is the world of
Disney’s Pooh. So far away from AA Milne that the author, Beth Landis Hester, is not allowed
to quote a single phrase from the original books. The Disney Studio has even altered the story.
Everyone knows that Pooh didn’t dig a “very deep pit” to catch a Bizy Backson; he was about
to ensnare a Heffalump.
Let me be quite honest. So far as Pooh is concerned, I am a purist, a fundamentalist, a
snarling reactionary. I think the Disney treatment is dreadful – a travesty, a mockery, a
grotesque exaggeration. It is as revoltingly unsuitable as taking a carton of popcorn into the
Members Pavilion of Lords cricket ground. If you don’t understand that, then you don’t
understand England or English humour.
For that is the great chasm of difference. AA Milne’s humour was delicate; it was aimed at both
children and adults. Children enjoy the idea of a Bear of Very Little Brain who talked about
“going on an expotition”. Adults, like me, enjoy sentences like: “Once upon a time, a very long
time ago now, about last Friday” – which still has me rolling about helplessly while the children
I’m reading to watch in bewilderment.
Leave the text for a moment and look at the background. The boy Christopher Robin took his
beloved bear into the real countryside of Ashdown Forest where there truly is a wooden bridge
where you can drop sticks to play Pooh Sticks; a Hundred Acre Wood one corner of which is
where Pooh built a house for Eeyore, creating “The House at Pooh Corner”; and the
Enchanted Place at the top of the forest called Galleon’s Lap is indeed there – exactly as
Ernest Shepard drew it. I have been to all these places.
They are as real and beautiful as the background to those early Disney pictures. For Walt
Disney was a true artist. I have seen a wondrous coffee-table book (which I could never afford)
called The Art of Walt Disney. In it are the forest scenes that provided the world of Bambi, the
mock medieval world of Pinocchio, the mixed magic in the background of Fantasia. His
characters are ‘cute’ in the American sense, where Milne’s characters are ‘lovable’ in the
English sense. I can even forgive Disney for his version of The Jungle Book because it is so
far away from Rudyard Kipling’s India that it doesn’t matter and the film is a glorious romp.
But I will never forgive the Disney Studio for what they have done to Pooh. There is one
redeeming feature: Christopher Robin is dressed in shirt and shorts instead of that dreadful
smock. Otherwise it’s hideous; it’s bright, bustling, belligerently cheerful and monstrously
unenjoyable; it’s Americanised – Disneyfied. For all true Pooh lovers, this is a picture book to
be avoided at all cost (and the cost is R150)./p>
Top 10 lists
Jay Heale’s personal favourites (in English) (S.African books)
In alphabetical order by title / Updated periodically
PICTURE BOOKS
ASHRAF OF AFRICA by Ingrid Mennen & Niki Daly, illustrated by Nicolaas Maritz (Songololo
Books)
CHARLIE’S HOUSE by Reviva Schermbrucker, illustrated by Niki Daly (Songololo Books)
FLY, EAGLE, FLY! by Christopher Gregorowski, illustrated by Niki Daly (Tafelberg)
LULAMA’S MAGIC BLANKET by Mari Grobler, illustrated by Elizabeth Pulles (Tafelberg)
MIA’S MOM by Piet Grobler (Human & Rousseau)
ONE ROUND MOON AND A STAR FOR ME by Ingrid Mennen, illustrated by Niki Daly
(Songololo Books)
SIYOLO’S JERSEY by Mari Grobler & Elizabeth Pulles (Tafelberg)
THE RAINBOW BIRDS by Piet Grobler (Maskew Miller Longman)
THE RED DRESS by Dux van der Walt, illustrated by Anneliese Voigt (Garamond)
TIGER AND LOUISE by Ann Walton, illustrated by Marna Hattingh (Tafelberg)
WHEN IT RAINS by Véronique Tadjo (in “Little Hands” set, New Africa Books)
10 EARLY READERS (AGES 6-9)
A STAR WITH STRIPES by Wendy Maartens, illustrated by Anna-Carien Goosen (LAPA)
ALL THE MAGIC IN THE WORLD by Wendy Hartmann, illustrated by Niki Daly (Songololo
Books)
HOME NOW by Lesley Beake, illustrated by Karin Littlewood (Giraffe Books)
ONE CHILD, ONE SEED by Kathryn Cave (Giraffe Books)
OUMA RUBY’S SECRET by Chris van Wyk, illustrated by Annelise Voigt-Peters (Giraffe
Books)
SIYOLO’S JERSEY by Mari Grobler, illustrated by Elizabeth Pulles (Tafelberg)
THE GIFT OF THE SUN by Dianne Stewart, illustrated by Jude Daly (Tafelberg)
THE NAMING OF KEA by June Madingwane & Lesley Beake, illustrated by Pippa Lugg
(Maskew Miller Longman)
THEO THE LIBRARY CAT by Wendy Hartmann, illustrated by Joan Rankin (Human &
Rousseau) plus two sequels
YEBO, JAMELA! by Niki Daly (Tafelberg)
10 MIDDLE PRIMARY (AGES 8-10)
AN AFRICAN MOTHER CHRISTMAS by Gcina Mhlophe, illustrated by Alzetta Prins (Maskew
Miller Longman)
BEWARE OF THE CANARY by Philip de Vos, illustrated by Piet Grobler (Human &
Rousseau)
MINA MATA! MINES KILL! by Elaine Williams & Rodger Bosch (Maskew Miller Longman)
MONDI THE MUSIC-MAKER by Dianne Stewart, illustrated by Ian Lusted (Garamond)
MY NAME IS HONORÉ, The story of Honoré Muneza, as told to Rosamund Haden, illustrated
by Sarah Pratt (Maskew Miller Longman)
THE DAY GOGO WENT TO VOTE by Elinor Sisulu, illustrated by Sharon Wilson (Tafelberg)
THE ISLAND AND THE BAY by Silke Heiss, illustrated by Robert Hichens (Cambridge
University Press)
WAITING FOR RAIN by Lesley Beake & Megan Biesele, illustrated by Jiggs Snaddon-Wood
(Maskew Miller Longman)
10 UPPER PRIMARY (AGES 10-13)
BEN’S BUDDY by Brenda Munitich (Maskew Miller Longman)
DOLPHIN DAY by Wendy Hartmann, illustrated by Robert Foote (Human & Rousseau)
FLY CEMETERY and other Juicy Stories by Helen Brain (Human & Rousseau)
JAKEY by Lesley Beake (Tafelberg)
QUEST FOR THE SACRED STONE by Cicely van Straten (Oxford University Press)
SUPERZERO by Darrel Bristow-Bovey (Tafelberg)
TAJEWO AND THE SACRED MOUNTAIN by Cicely Luck (Maskew Miller Longman)
TOMAS by Peter Slingsby (Maskew Miller Longman)
THE STROLLERS by Lesley Beake (Maskew Miller Longman)
SOME SOUTH AFRICAN “CLASSICS”
ASHRAF OF AFRICA by Ingrid Mennen & Niki Daly, illustrated by Nicolaas Maritz (Songololo
Books)
CHARLIE’S HOUSE by Reviva Schermbrucker, illustrated by Niki Daly (Songololo Books)
DAY OF THE GIANTS by Pieter Pieterse (Best Books)
FLY, EAGLE, FLY! by Christopher Gregorowski, illustrated by Niki Daly (Tafelberg)
FYNBOS FAIRIES by Antjie Krog, translated by Gus Ferguson, illustrated by Fiona Moodie
(Umuzi) – the Afrikaans version FYNBOSFEETJIES is even better
JOURNEY TO JO’BURG by Beverley Naidoo (Maskew Miller Longman)
LOVE, DAVID by Dianne Case (Maskew Miller Longman)
MADIBA MAGIC (Tafelberg)
NOT SO FAST, SONGOLOLO by Niki Daly (Songololo Books)
SONG OF BE by Lesley Beake (Maskew Miller Longman)
THE JOINING by Peter Slingsby (Maskew Miller Longman)
THE MANTIS AND THE MOON by Marguerite Poland, illustrated by Leigh Voigt (Ravan
Press – or within SAMBANE’S DREAM, Penguin)
PICTURE & READ ALOUD BOOKS JAY HEALE’S LIST OF NOTABLE OVERSEAS PICTURE BOOKS.
THAT RABBIT BELONGS TO EMILY BROWN written by Cressida Cowell, illustrated by Neal
Layton (Orchard Books 2006) large pb
Quite rightly, this has been hailed as a (or even ‘the’) Picture Book of the Year. It’s The
Velveteen Rabbit magic, stripped of any sickly sentimentality, but true to the message of “bestloved toys” which is really all about love anyway. Gorgeously slick, individual and original in
style and quirky illustration, THIS RABBIT is going to be on your child’s required read-aloud list
for an awful long time.
INSTRUCTIONS by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Charles Vess (Bloomsbury)
Oh, what utter pleasure! The kind of picture book that can only be created by an author who is
also a poet and an illustrator who excels in imagination, and by both of them working together
with care and delight and fear and love. These Instructions, lifted straight out of traditional
story-land, guide the reader, heart in mouth, from the gate in the wall you never saw before,
through places of enchantment and adventure and doom. You listen, transfixed, to the words;
you watch every detail of every picture, just in case. Until “you reach the little house, the place
your journey started … and you go home. Or make a home. Or rest.” Score: 11 out of 10, but
only if you have a child on your lap as you turn the pages.
THE WILD GIRL by Chris Wormell (Red Fox) pb
A lone cave girl lives with her dog in a snow-scattered mountain wilderness. The vast rocky
landscapes are quite beautiful, until a very large bear arrives. But all ends happily and warmly
with the largest bear-hug that any WILD GIRL could ever wish for.
TYSON THE TERRIBLE by Diane & Christyan Fox (Bloomsbury)
Three little dinosaurs were playing football when there came this Boom Boom Boom and they
guessed that Tyson the Terrible was coming their way, and he was Uglier and Scarier than the
ugliest, scariest thing ever! Well, Tyson arrives – a very small Tyrannosaurus – and he was in
terars because nobody would play with him. So the three invited Tyson to join them which was
fine, until Tyson’s brother arrived … And a sudden pop-up on the last spread is hugely
effective!
Brian Wildsmith’s FAVOURITE FABLES (Oxford)
Picture books are your child’s first art gallery. The illustrations to these five little tales by La
Fontaine are on their way towards Van Gogh. Great bursts of colour, sometimes geometrical,
sometimes as wild as a jungle. A fabulous book in which to learn “how to read pictures”.
Wildsmith at his most elegant and attractive.
FATHER AND SON by Geraldine McCaughrean, illustrated by Fabian Negrin (Hodder
Children’s, 2007) large pb
Though I am not easy with the face and figure of young Jesus in the thoughtful illustrations, I
am in love with the deep poetry of the text. We think often of Jesus and mother Mary, but very
seldom about father Joseph. Here is a Christmas picture book to be pondered and adored.
RUSSELL’S CHRISTMAS MAGIC by Rob Scotton (HarperCollins) large pb
If you have encountered Russell the Sheep, you won’t need any urging to add this delightful
picture book to your library shelf. Christmas is nearly cancelled until Russell the inscrutable
sheep comes to Santa’s rescue. Forget Rudolph – this is much more fun!
THE MYSTERIES OF HARRIS BURDICK by Chris van Allsburg (Andersen Press 1984, 2011)
new in pb
This is one of those not-for-kiddy-winkies picture-books which are fascinating and maddening
together. Van Allsburg spins the spurious tale of 14 drawings linked, apparently, to stories –
but the stories are their author have disappeared. Of course, what one can do is to dream up a
story to fit the picture and its suggestive caption. I did this with my upper primary classes – and
so have many other teachers. The pictures themselves are in soft b&w, almost like blurred
sepia-tone photos, full of imaginative quality. From the creator of The Polar Express, but far
more mysterious.
Jay Heale of Bookchat’s list of notable overseas books. March 2011
Picture & Read aloud books
THAT RABBIT BELONGS TO EMILY BROWN written by Cressida Cowell, illustrated by Neal
Layton (Orchard Books 2006) large pb
Quite rightly, this has been hailed as a (or even ‘the’) Picture Book of the Year. It’s The
Velveteen Rabbit magic, stripped of any sickly sentimentality, but true to the message of “bestloved toys” which is really all about love anyway. Gorgeously slick, individual and original in
style and quirky illustration, THIS RABBIT is going to be on your child’s required read-aloud list
for an awful long time.
INSTRUCTIONS by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Charles Vess (Bloomsbury)
Oh, what utter pleasure! The kind of picture book that can only be created by an author who is
also a poet and an illustrator who excels in imagination, and by both of them working together
with care and delight and fear and love. These Instructions, lifted straight out of traditional
story-land, guide the reader, heart in mouth, from the gate in the wall you never saw before,
through places of enchantment and adventure and doom. You listen, transfixed, to the words;
you watch every detail of every picture, just in case. Until “you reach the little house, the place
your journey started … and you go home. Or make a home. Or rest.” Score: 11 out of 10, but
only if you have a child on your lap as you turn the pages.
THE WILD GIRL by Chris Wormell (Red Fox) pb
A lone cave girl lives with her dog in a snow-scattered mountain wilderness. The vast rocky
landscapes are quite beautiful, until a very large bear arrives. But all ends happily and warmly
with the largest bear-hug that any WILD GIRL could ever wish for.
TYSON THE TERRIBLE by Diane & Christyan Fox (Bloomsbury)
Three little dinosaurs were playing football when there came this Boom Boom Boom and they
guessed that Tyson the Terrible was coming their way, and he was Uglier and Scarier than the
ugliest, scariest thing ever! Well, Tyson arrives – a very small Tyrannosaurus – and he was in
terars because nobody would play with him. So the three invited Tyson to join them which was
fine, until Tyson’s brother arrived … And a sudden pop-up on the last spread is hugely
effective!
CHESTER by Melanie Watt (HarperCollins) large pb
A happily anarchic picture-book in which the author sets out to write a mouse story but it is
constantly rewritten (in bold red felt-tip) by Chester, the single-minded, Garfield-sized cat.
Show me a cat who isn’t single-minded! On the surface, a very funny book – especially when
the mouse returns with a large dog supporter. More subtly, an exploration into the relationship
between author/illustrator and reader.
FATHER AND SON by Geraldine McCaughrean, illustrated by Fabian Negrin (Hodder
Children’s, 2007) large pb
Though I am not easy with the face and figure of young Jesus in the thoughtful illustrations, I
am in love with the deep poetry of the text. We think often of Jesus and mother Mary, but very
seldom about father Joseph. Here is a Christmas picture book to be pondered and adored.
RUSSELL’S CHRISTMAS MAGIC by Rob Scotton (HarperCollins) large pb
If you have encountered Russell the Sheep, you won’t need any urging to add this delightful
picture book to your library shelf. Christmas is nearly cancelled until Russell the inscrutable
sheep comes to Santa’s rescue. Forget Rudolph – this is much more fun!
Upper Primary
AT THE HOUSE OF THE MAGICIAN by Mary Hooper (Bloomsbury) pb
There is so much pseudo-historical adventure and impossibility going around that it is a rare
delight to read a straightforward historical novel. Lucy escapes from a poverty-stricken home
near the Thames and finds herself as a housemaid in the house of Dr Dee, the magician for
Queen Elizabeth I. Any ‘magic’ is shown as trickery or astrological guesswork. There’s plenty
of genuine Tudor detail and no heavy romance – not yet, for there is a sequel to come. Good
strong storytelling for 11 to 13 or so.
“Horrible Histories”
FRIGHTFUL FIRST WORLD WAR / BLITZED BRITS by Terry Deary, illustrated by Martin
Brown (Scholastic) pb
There are now over 50 in this “Horrible” series, each one designed to bring history alive by
providing just those details which children wonder about and boring teachers are too
embarrassed to mention. Though mostly about British history (like these ones) the series also
includes Awesome Egyptians, Groovy Greeks and Rotten Romans. Perhaps it’s time we
started opening up South African history? The WW1 book was good, outlining the progress of
the war as well as giving squirmy details about lice and rations. The Blitz book was all about
how England lived during those days but little on the Blitz itself. Are deaths too “Horrible”?
THE GIRL SAVAGE by Katherine Rundell ((Faber 2011)
Will (officially Wilhemina) is a lone girl on a Rhodesian farm - which could be most highveld
farms in South Africa. She is a tomboy or, rather, a wildcat. Enter a beautiful, relentless
stepmother who sends Will away to England. Miserable, she arrives at the hell that an elite
girls boarding school can be. Naturally, she runs away. Just read it! It's Pippi Longstocking and
Kipling's 'Black Sheep' and every love of the wild and hatred of conformity story rolled into
one. Heart-breaking and brilliant.
THE LAST ELF by Silvana De Mari (Bloomsbury)
This has a totally haunting cover picture (unacknowledged) – and the whole idea of the Last
Elf in the world going in search of the last dragon breathes the feeling that magic is running out
or fading away. The little elf is a wistful, delightful creation with a few remaining magical
abilities. This is quiet magic – not dark powers and gore! It’s a bit wordy, but most pleasant
storytelling. Ideal to be read aloud at bedtime. There must be readers who don’t want blood
and thunder all the time?
THE MOUSEHUNTER by Alex Milway (Faber)
THE MOUSEHUNTER – THE CURSE OF MOUSEBEARD by Alex Milway (Faber)
Fanfares of delight! Play Dvorak’s New World symphony at once! Into the old world excesses
of vaguely 18th century privates and privateers and sordid money-making Alex Milway has
deftly inserted a new world of every kind of mouse. Mice dominate all collectors, many
household jobs and most greed.
To be a mouse-keeper is a lowly but essential job; to be a mouse-hunter is the ultimate target.
This swash-buckling (or should it be mouse-buckling) adventure is centred on three young
mouse-keepers and a number of dubious adults. Where it leaps into deliriously impossible
action is whenever a special breed of mouse takes over the action. Beware of the Sharpclaw
Mouse whose long claws can slice through wood and metal; welcome the friendly, sleepy
Elephant Mouse; and search, if you can, for the elusive Methuselah Mouse. The pace slows
down a bit when private and privateer discuss the intricate back-stabbing plot. (Neither of them
sounds particularly nautical when in full sail!) But the mice are fascinating and the inter-chapter
notes on different breeds are hysterical. The author is a fair satirical artist too. For upper
primary readers a must! And I see that a sequel is already available.
TRASH by Andy Mulligan (David Fickling Books 2010)
No geographical setting stated, though the peso as currency would indicate South America or
Mexico. Whichever country, it has vast piles of discarded rubbish, stinking with decay and
ordure, lives in my rats and the poorest of poor people - who live by their observation and their
wits. It also has a Vice President who has robbed the public coffers of millions which, through
delightfully complicated clues, have been stolen and are found by a trio of trash boys. The
storyteller keeps changing, which adds to the tension. A thoroughly plausible, exciting
adventure with a charming climax. Much enjoyed and recommended.
SEASON OF SECRETS by Sally Nicholls (Marion Lloyd Books)
Simple joys. Deep fears. Relationship problems. Clutching at an understanding of the
unceasing war between summer and winter, personified in the Green Man and the Holly King
(of English folk tradition). But mostly about Molly and her sister and her dad all trying to come
to terms with their mother’s death and each other. Stuffed with humour, perception, style and
human understanding. I love Sarah Jane Coleman’s chapter headings, but the silhouette cover
(a bit like Pienkowski) doesn’t work quite so well.
The old pagan gods win easily over more recent creations such as school Nativity plays and
Santa Claus. There’s a depth of root belief which it isn’t wise to tangle with. As Molly’s wellinformed, delightful teacher points out: “All questions not relating to long division or man-made
bridging structures should be directed to the questioner’s pagan or religious figure of choice.”
So there is no quarrel with accepted religious belief. Or is there?