The full title of this book is What Clara saw (and what the animals did!). The children from the delightfully named Dearest Darlings Primary school are spending their day at the wildlife park. Clara is a very observant girl. Her teacher has an agenda for this excursion and he is determined to show that his views are right! Even though all animal lovers, especially Clara, know he is utterly and completely wrong!
Mr Biggity, the teacher, is simply awful:
He "liked to ask questions he already knew the answer to."
"He also liked to answer questions with more questions!"
Mr Biggity believes humans are superior to animals, their brains are smaller, the don't have emotions, they don't communicate, and animals don't help each other. He is wrong, wrong, wrong.
Luckily none of the children are listening to Mr Biggity. Instead Clara shows the children exactly how every clever the animals are and how they communicate and work together and even use tools.
Clara is excited to visit the wildlife park because she wants to see Elsie, the tortoise. Clara sees a sign which says Elsie is being moved out of the zoo because she is now 150 years old. Clara sees the zoo keeper putting Elsie into a wooden crate. As the keeper moves around the zoo a sneaky monkey takes his keys. The animals pass the keys, in clever ways, to Clara and she opens the crate and sets Elsie free. What happens next is a simply beautiful moment - you need to see this book!
Do animals make friends? YES
Do animals care for their babies? YES
Do animals need kindness? YES
Can I also mention the beautiful end papers in this book. Take time to observe the difference between front and back and the differences in the animals over the course of one day at the zoo. This is a book where you really do need to "read the pictures".
Meserve has a way with illustration. Her child characters are hugely differentiated,personalities zinging from the page, and she holds an astounding attention to detail – the shoelaces of the children like little wings, the crafting of the teacher, Mr Biggity, as condescending, before the reader has even read a word. Is it his long nose, his large nostril, the upturn of his toe, his hand positioning, the way his eye glances back at the children. He’s going to be tricky. Minerva Reads
Jessica Meserve is the illustrator of several of my favourite books - Misty and the Daisy Dawson series.
This book does not have the depth for discussion in What Clara saw but I would pair this book with an older Australian title which should be found in many school libraries.
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