Grimsdell Books and Author of the Week!

Books of the Week

Our Junior Librarians, Jayda and Lila considered very carefully their Book of the Week choice and I’m sure that both books will become firm favourites with our Grimsdell audience. As we have half term approaching, we decided to share two very different book choices with our Grimsdell community.

Firstly, Lila from 2JB recommends Wishing for a Dragon written and illustrated by Becky Cameron.

Lila’s reason for her choice:

“I think lots of children will enjoy this book as it is a great bedtime story and I enjoyed all the different adventures!”

Mrs Harvey would also support Lila’s choice. This fiction book is available to borrow from our school library.

The book formed part of the selection for the 2020 Year 2 Reading Road Map programme. The Adventure Reading Road Map is an initiative that has been created in order to help encourage children to develop a new passion for reading.

The programme aims to promote reading for pleasure, to engage reluctant readers and to challenge our more-able readers. The map encourages the children to find new titles, genres and authors. In my opinion, the range and diversity of genres and authors is its core strength.

This a debut picture book created by the author and illustrator, Becky Cameron. Wishing for a Dragon is a wonderfully illustrated read that takes readers on a journey of imaginative fun and discovery. A perfect bedtime story to share and explore. The story follows the adventure of three children who go on an exciting journey whilst the rest of the house is sleeping …

A beautifully illustrated book highlighting just what children’s imaginations can achieve. This story will become a firm favourite at bedtime because this text has it all – teddy bears, balloons, pirate ships … and finally, a dragon! The book also emphasises the power of illustration and how it can add subtle detail to a story – for example, careful readers will note that the toys and household pets in the children’s bedroom morph into characters during their adventure.

Our second Book of the Week has been selected by Jayda from 2HD. She recommends Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.

Jayda’s reason for her choice:

“This is a really great book. I enjoyed the film but the book is even better! It reminds us that however much we love chocolate – don’t be greedy!”

Mrs Harvey would also whole-heartedly support Jayda’s choice. We have two versions of this infamous Dahl story – one with wonderfully vivid colour illustrations and the other is the more traditional black and white pictures.

Dahl is one of the most popular and beloved children’s authors in the English language. His innovative and quirky stories have stood the test of time and enraptured children and adults alike. We have an extensive range of Roald Dahl books and poetry available for loan from our Grimsdell Library.

Mrs Harvey would also recommend incorporating chapter books into your child’s reading repertoire. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory would be a chapter book to explore and read to a Year 2 child, to ensure good understanding of vocabulary and concepts covered.

Roald Dahl also has written some early chapter books, The Magic Finger and Picture Books, The Enormous Crocodile, that would be suitable for all Grimsdell children. Early chapter books are simple, short, illustrated fiction. They are written and designed to help newly independent readers build their reading stamina, strengthen their confidence in book selection and develop a sense of themselves as readers.

As a child transitions from a beginning reader who needs to sound out each word to a more advanced reader who is starting to decode faster and follow longer, more complicated stories, early chapter books often tend to become the reading material of choice when a child is around the ages of 7 or 8. These stories can be read independently but they should also be shared with an adult so that your child is encouraged to think about the plot/character and to make predictions about what might occur in the following chapters. This helps to build a sense of anticipation.

Variety is key in establishing a lifelong reader and Picture Books still have a vital role to play in the development of Reception and Key Stage 1 readers. Research shows that Picture Books has a direct and positive impact on children’s literacy. Children who are given opportunities to read and respond to Picture Books throughout their primary years learn about sophisticated narrative structure, plot and character development in an accessible way. A focus on reading illustration helps to develop children’s deeper comprehension skills, allowing them additional opportunities to infer, deduce, think critically and empathise.

Author of the Week

This week we are celebrating the literacy expertise of our Nursery children! They have the skills of both an author and illustrator. Putting these talents into action, they have compiled their own version of the popular sensory series of books ‘That’s Not My …’ They have kindly given a copy of their book to our Grimsdell Children’s Library.

The Nursery book is entitled ‘That’s Not My Snowman …’