apoplectic
When you read this book to a group of children everyone will learn a new word: apoplectic. It means overcome with anger or furious.
In this book we meet the people of Littlelight. Lets think about that name - they don't live in the light - their town feels like the Dark Ages with no access to rich language, off beat music, and interesting books. Littlelight is grey place surrounded by high walls. The Mayor loves his high walls because they give him power over his citizens. On the other side of these walls - north, south, east and west, there are people who enjoy delicious foods, they dance to their own music, the speak different languages and they read books! As the illustrations clearly show these other people have colour in their lives.
In the tradition of The Emperor's new Clothes, it takes the action of one small child to reveal the truth. One by one a small girl removes bricks from the high walls surrounding the town. Going back to the word apoplectic the Mayor is now very mad in fact he is furious. He seems to convince the town's people that the small girl has committed an horrendous crime. But then the people remember their delight as they discovered the different foods, music, words and stories.
"The people of Littlelight looked around their town, now full of colour and light and wondered what, exactly, they were meant to be angry about."
They do still have a problem with their Mayor (read dictator) but the ingenious people of the town solve this issue in a most satisfying way.
'This little book packs some serious themes about keeping an open mind, staying connected, limiting elected authority, and the power of one person to make a positive difference.' Magpies
Kelly Canby lives in Western Australia. Here are a set of teaching notes to use with Littlelight. See inside the book here. This is one of those wonderful picture books you could share with young children and then explore in an entirely different way with a senior Primary group. Think about themes of control; intellectual freedom; misuse of power; conflict resolution; and propaganda. You might also have some fun with fluro paints.
You could compare this book with:
Suri's Wall - perfect for an older group
Here are two previous books by Kelly Canby:
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