I know some schools are already back hard at work, but
we’ve got another couple of weeks before term starts for us, so here’s one more
round up of activity sheets available for free from children’s authors and
illustrators.
Click on the relevant image or coloured link to be taken to activity sheets
you can download.
That’s the last lot of free activity sheets I’ll be linking to this summer.
The full collection
can be found here. I hope you’ve found them fun and useful, I
know I have – I’m most grateful to the authors, illustrators and publishers who
have made them available!
Hooray, hooray! Today I’m welcoming back
author/illustrator
Clara Vulliamy, with
this month’s mini-books to inspire children (young and old) to create their own
stories!
This month’s theme, to go with
yesterday’s book review round up, is
(starting)
school!
Clara and I hope that, armed with some
great school themed books,
crafts (from Maggy’s round up over at Red Ted Art) and our
mini books, you and your kids will really enjoy writing and drawing stories
together about such an important part of their lives.
Click here to download Clara’s School themed book full of
storytelling prompts!
Once you’ve downloaded the book, you’ll need to fold it using the
instructions in this video:
With Clara’s prompts to get the creative juices flowing, you’ll then need
somewhere to write and illustrate your stories.
Click here for a blank mini book to fill with your very own school
story!
Just in case you missed the earlier books in this brilliant series by
Clara, you can find the
Fairy/elf story prompts here, and the
blank book waiting for your magical stories here.
Clara’s Seaside prompts can be found here, with the
matching blank book to fill with your tales of beach adventures
here.
Clara and I wish you very happy story telling! We’d love to see your
creations, so please do let us know how you get on.
Welcome to “
I’m looking for a book about….”, the topic-themed monthly
carnival of children’s literature.
Every month I’ll be encouraging anyone who likes to review books for children
(of any age) to leave links to their reviews of books that match the given
month’s theme. The idea is that over time, this carnival will become a resource
for parents, teachers, carers, librarians looking for books by subject.
Old reviews, new reviews, and reviews for any age are welcome. You may also
submit multiple reviews, as long as they are all relevant to this month’s
theme.
This month’s theme is…
**(Starting) School**
Image: UGArdener
Below you’ll find links to reviews of books for all
ages of kids with a (starting) school theme. If, however, you are looking for
school themed activities to go with the books below you should check out this
month’s brilliant round up hosted by Maggy in her latest
Red Ted Art Get Crafty post. Thank you Maggy for working
together with me on this again!
To kick things off, I can’t resist sharing one of our very favourite books
about starting (a new year at) school:
Once Upon An Ordinary School Day by Colin McNaughton, illustrated
by Satoshi Kitamura, in which a teacher takes a very imaginative route to
getting to know his new pupils better!
Jackie at My Little Bookcase has a round up of books both for
children that are starting their first year of school and others for children
that are returning to school after a holiday, several of which are by Australian
authors and illustrators.
SpeakWell,
ReadWell, a new-to-me blog about “speech therapy and kid-lit blog exploring
language, literacy, and literature” shares
A Dress for Me! by Sue Fleiss, illustrated by Mike Laughead.
If your school doesn’t have a school uniform this sounds like a fun book to
share!
ReadItDaddy introduces us to Splat the Cat, and whilst
“
the world doesn’t exactly need another cute fuzzy cat character” this
sounds like a fun book to remind us that school isn’t such a bad place after
all.
Lucky Wish Mouse: Starting School by Clara Vulliamy is Child Led
Chaos’s contribution to this month’s themed carnival. “
This book is full
of all the lovely details that make Clara’s books a joy for small children –
lists of things (“…ten tiny pencil cases…”); counting; attention to tiny
details; and a calm and reassuring plot.”
For slightly older children (8+)
Ali at Fantastic Reads has a review of Beswitched by Kate
Saunders. Not only is this a very funny book, “
Beswitched has all the
best elements: the emphasis on character development, the opportunities for
girls to be heroic, a rescue and resolution coming through conflict“.
Mother-Daughter review team
Holly and Sam share Little Rabbit Goes to School by Harry Horse
over at their blog, Childtasticbooks.
“There is a real gentleness to the
illustrations that make this a comforting read, along with some mischievous
humour”
It’s always fun to compare reviews of the same book and you can do just that
with another book by Clara Vulliamy, Martha and the Bunny Brothers: I Heart
School. In her review
Library Mice says, “I Heart School oozes happiness and
sisterly love and has buckets of energy” whilst
4 year old MiniBookWorms adds “This book makes me feel happy
and I am keeping it under my pillow with the other things I really
like“.
Library Mice contributes another review to this month’s round
up with her take on Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School by David
Mackintosh. This book “
takes the familiar and fairly common children’s
book theme of being different and trying to fit in and takes it to a new level
thanks to the unusual storyline and the very distinctive artistic style of the
illustrator.”
I’m so glad
Ottoline Goes to School by Chris Riddell is included in this
month’s carnival (thanks again to Library Mice) – the whole Ottoline series
is tremendous and very high up my list of recommendations for kids (especially
girls) who are reading fairly confidently on their own.
Instantly Interruptible has three books about starting school for
us: Eric Litwin’s and James Dean’s Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes
(hugely popular with my two girls), Mom, It’s My First Day of Kindergarten! by
Hyewon Yum (which sounds wonderful – 1st on my list to order) and School by
Caldecott medal winner Emily Arnold McCully.
For another take on
Mom, It’s My First Day of Kindergarten! by Hyewon Yum, head on
over to There’s a book’s review. This book really does sound great not only
for kids
but their parents too as the first day of school
approaches.
Looking for a natural way to enable a conversation with your young child who
is perhaps afraid of starting school?
Mammasaurus at MiniBookWorms thinks Come to School Too, Blue
Kangaroo! written and illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark is just perfect for
exactly that.
Whilst Come to School Too, Blue Kangaroo! was published less than two weeks
ago, the book reviewed by
Myra at Gathering books was published 35 years ago! Miss Nelson is
Missing! By Harry Allard and James Marshall is a great picture book for
teachers starting school; indeed Myra has used it in the Classroom
Management course she teaches.
Is 35 years a record? No!
Over at Did you ever stop to think & forget to start again?
NobodyJones writes about her specialist topic – the Chalet School books – and in
particular The School at the Chalet, which was written in 1925. A new pupil
arrives at school and the reader is invited to discover if the new girl will, or
won’t, conform to the status quo.
Anastasia Suen highlights Dear
America: With the Might of Angels by Andrea Davis Pinkney on her blog,
Booktalking. Following the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education on
desegregation awnie Rae Johnson’s parents decide that their daughter will attend
a previously all-white school. What will this be like for her? How will her
first day at school turn out?
Sprout’s Bookshelf has two posts to contribute this month. The first
is all about
Rain School by James Rumford whilst
the second include a trio of books Mary has been using to get her
son ready for kindergarten.. In it we learn that “
the storyline was
inspired by Rumford’s encounter of the ruins of a primary school in one village,
a school made from mud that was destroyed during the rainy season. The
experience fixed itself in Rumford’s mind, and years later he used it as
inspiration for a bold and evocative picture book.”
Mary’s second post includes My Preschool by Anne Rockwell, Little
School by Beth Norling and Sometimes You Get What You Want by Meredith Gary,
illustrated by Lisa Brown, all books she’s been using to get her own son
ready for Kindergarten this year.
Over at
Operatingrn’s Blog there are reviews of several middle-grade and
Young Adult books that deal with going to school including Because of Mr.
Terupt by Rob Buyea, Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling, The Absolutely True
Diary of a Part-Time IndianThe Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by
Sherman Alexie and The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine. School books are
not just for 3/4/5 year olds!
And do come back tomorrow when you’ll be able to get your
hands on the next installment of the story-inspiration-series that
author/illustrator
Clara Vulliamy and I are creating
together – two more mini books for you and the kids in your life to print off
and get creative with.
I’m looking forward to reading all your SCHOOL book reviews! Add away with
the linky below or by leaving a comment
A round up of reviews of all sorts of children's books about (starting)
school, from picture books to YA novels, poetry to non-fiction.
(Submissions close in 354d 18h 34m)
keep looking »
