Charlie Crow in the Snow by Paula Metcalf and illustrated by CallyJohnson-Isaacs

Metcalf's story Charlie Crow in the Snow is a lovely picture book story about friendship and the changing seasons.

Charlie Crow loves him home in the tree and enjoys visits from his friends Bear and Swallow. However, things begin to change, much to Charlie's surprise. Charlie Crow hasn't seen snow before and when he does see it for the first time he panics and goes to find his friends. He can't find bear and Swallow. However, he does bump into Squirrel who is just as confused and between them they set off to find Bear and Swallow who will surely know the answer to what is going on.

The story beautifully introduces children to the changing seasons from Autumn through to winter. Children will learn about how leaves fall from trees, water turns to ice, snow, hibernation and migration.

It would make a lovely read-aloud story for Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. It would also make a lovely guided read for children who have mastered phase 5 phonics. In terms of comprehension there are ample opportunities to teach wither through shared or guided reading each of the 5 domains that are identified in the Key Stage 1 Reading Tests, in particular 1a vocabulary, 1b identify key aspects of fiction and 1d make inferences from the text.

The dialogue within the story uses a wide variety of synonyms for said such as squawked, whimpered, cried, shrieked and exclaimed allowing teachers the opportunity to develop children's vocabulary, consider characterisation and further children's grammatical knowledge in context.

The illustrations are bright and clearly depict the different colours and tones associated with the different seasons. Also, the expressions on the characters faces are an absolute delight. The positioning of the eyebrows on each of the characters emphasise the emotions felt by each of the characters at any one particular time and would therefore support the teaching of comprehension  and emotional intelligence. My favourite, I think is the page where Charlie Crow and Squirrel attempt to hibernate with Bear.

Publisher: Macmillan 

Publication Date: 2013

ISBN: 978-1-4472-8155-9

Betty and the Yeti by Ella Burfoot

Ella Burfoot's story of a little girl called Betty who collects various items of clothing as she ventures across the frozen, snowy landscape, is a charming tale of friendship. Betty is an inquisitive character who befriends a Yeti and helps him to stay warm and make new friends.

The story would make a good stimulus for a science topic 'Keeping Warm'. As Betty ventures through the snow with her sled full of clothes, she meets various animals and inquires if the clothes she has found belong to them. Each of the animals tells Betty that they don't and explains why. Betty then meets the Yeti, who does need clothes to keep him warm.

It is also a story about friendship. The other animals are frightened of the Yeti, despite him being small, because of his appearance. However, this changes when they see Betty walking along holding the Yeti's paw.

The story is told in rhyme and as such provides numerous examples of alternative spellings for long vowel phonemes. Children could collect the examples, sort and classify them in preparation for a spelling investigation.

The language used is also rich with noun phrases. As Betty collects the various items of clothing they aren't simply listed. They are described using noun phrases which enable the reader the visualize each item: 'a little red sled', 'a jingly jangly fluffy hat', 'a woolly scarf', 'one enormous smelly coat'. It would be interesting to read the story to the children without them being able to 'see' the illustrations and get them to draw what they imagine the items (and the Yeti) to look like before introducing them to Ella Burfoot's own illustrations. This could then lead onto children composing their own noun phrases for items they might include in a story of their own.

The text is also a good model for investigating direct speech as in the short text there is a great deal of conversation between the various characters. This could be done through re-presenting the text as a comic strip or a play script.

Overall, a lovely humorous, little story which is a rich resource for the English curriculum and provides a stimulus for topic work in other curriculum subjects.

Published: 2010
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 978-1-4472-8154-2

Tappity-Tap! What Was That? By Claire Freedman and illustrated byRussell Julian

Claire Freedman's picture book story, Tappity-Tap! What Was That? Is a charming story about friendship and facing your fears. On a dark and stormy night, Owl, Mouse and a Rabbit hear a knock at the door and fear the worst - The Monster of the Woods. As the story progresses we witness them as they support each other in facing their fears: from Owl's plan just in case they should encounter the Monster, to curling up together in front of the fire with a cup of hot cocoa to finally finding the courage to peep through the peephole to see who it is at the door.

This is a beautiful book to share with young children. It would generate a great deal of discussion around the subject of fear: the kinds of things that children fear, who they turn to when they are afraid and the sorts of things that make them feel better. Owl, who is the largest of the animals in the story, takes on the traditional role of being the 'wise old owl' and as such the parental figure that the smaller animals turn to. This makes the text ideal to discuss charaterisation. What are Owl's qualities that make others turn to him for comfort? What evidence is there in the story to support the children's views?

For children in year 2, who need to develop their vocabulary and use a variety of synonyms for 'said', the text proves to be a good model of how to do this. Teachers need to consider with the children why Freedman has chosen to use the variety of words for 'said' that she does. What additional information do these choices give the reader. For children in year 3, it would be interesting to 'collect' the different words and then categorise them. Which synonyms for 'said' does Freedman use to indicate fear? 'gulped', 'trembled', 'shivered' etc. How might you categorise the other synonyms?

In terms of scene setting, Freedman creates the atmosphere of the storm through the use of onomatopoeia: crash, bang, howl, thump. The atmosphere of the story is further enhanced by Russell Julian's illustrations. The darkness that envelops owl, literally and metaphorically as he pretends not to be at home when he hears the tappity-tap tap, how the peephole in Owl's door enlarges the eye when rabbit looks in and reduces the size of the Monster when the three of them look out, the eeriness of the shadows as we peer through Owl's window. The black silhouetted image which contains the words 'The Monster of the Woods' depicts how through fear we tend to make things much bigger than they are in reality. Note the size of the spider and the unidentifiable fronds in comparison with the three friends. The images of the woods in the end papers could provide a stimulus for some descriptive writing. How could the children describe the trees to create that same sense of eeriness?

A picture book which could be read and enjoyed by children of all ages and in terms of the classroom can be used in a variety of ways to develop children's reading and writing.

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication Date: 2009

ISBN: 978-1-407131-68-9

              

The Mixed-Up Summer of Lily McLean by Lindsay Littleson

The Mixed-Up Summer of Lily McLean is Lindsay Littleson's debut novel. It tells the story of Lily, who is about to leave primary school and transfer to secondary school. Littleson convincingly gets into the head of this 11 year old girl so much so that you forget that this is in fact told by an adult pretending to be a young girl! 

Leaving primary school for secondary school is a very emotional time for Lily. She has loved her time at primary school and has some longstanding friends. That prospect of change brings with it thoughts/musings that 11 year olds will easily relate to. In particular, will her best friend she has known since she was little remain her friend or will she 'move in with' what Lily describes as the popular crowd? 

 On top of this Lily is experiencing a complex and often bewildering time at home. Her mother has been married twice (Lily's father has died) and her mum has subsequently divorced her step-dad. Consequently, they live in a very small and cramped council house and Lily has to share a room with her younger brothers. She also has an older sister, who appears to have undergone a personality change since entering puberty, and a baby sister who Lily dotes on. The insights we get into her home life are sometimes funny, sometimes sad and at other times deeply moving.

Lily's life gets even more complex as she begins to experience some very strange and disturbing goings on in the form of a 'disembodied voice'. In fact, these experiences are so strange she dare not tell anyone about them, including her very best friend.

The Mixed-Up Summer of Lily McLean would appeal especially to pupils in year 6 and therefore would make an ideal text to have in year 6 class libraries. 

It also has a great deal to offer in terms of support for pupils' literacy development. Pupils could examine how authors create and develop characters by studying Lily. As the story is told by Lily, there are no long descriptions of her. The reader learns everything about Lily through her actions and her speech. A really good model of 'show not tell'. Pupils could identify adjectives to describe Lily and then justify their choices by finding evidence in action and speech. This would facilitate both pupils comprehension and composition skills. This is in contrast to the vivid description we get on page 40 of Lily's friend Rowan. 

Littleson's writing style is beautifully rich without being flowery. Her choice of vocabulary is particularly thoughtful and as such portrays her characters' emotions and actions in such a way that pupils and teachers could engage in discussions about when and why authors opt to use the word 'said' as opposed to 'taunts', 'screams' or 'replies'. 

Littleson's writing is so clear readers will find it easy to visualise the setting. The fact that it is set in real places in Scotland makes the novel an ideal resource for a joint English and geography unit of study. For teachers in England, it could be used as a stimulus for study of a location beyond the local area. Research would lead to ample material for pupils to use in preparation for a whole range of different types of writing including persuasive writing in the form of tourist leaflets and brochures.

Overall, the story is engaging, tender, humorous. 

The Mixed-Up Summer of Lily McLean won the prestigious Kelpies prize in 2014.

Publisher: Kelpies (an imprint of Floris Books)
Publication date: 2015
ISBN: 978-178250-180-0