Bored: Evie Dreams Big by Matt Stanton

"My name is Evie and I'm bored. No. Actually, it's much worse than that. 

I'm going to use the thesaurus on my desk here and try to explain it better. I am fed up, weary, uninterested, demoralised, burnt out, dispirited, fatigued and limp with boredom."

Evie is having a hard time at home. Her sister Grace is driving her crazy (especially with her recorder playing), Mum and Dad seem too busy with devices and computers and work and while she loves her four year old baby sister Charlotte, she also takes a lot of energy because she has cystic fibrosis. 

Evie decides she needs to leave home but with only $57 where can she go? In their street there is an empty block of land. There are six houses and each of the books in this series features one of the kids from this cul de sac. In the first book the kids end up moving an old couch onto the empty land. Evie has a brilliant idea. Perhaps she could buy a caravan and move it onto the empty block then she would be close to home but also able to live away from all the stuff that bugs her. But of course she discovers caravans cost thousands of dollars. Searching on the internet she reads about tiny houses. NOT cubby houses. Real houses that are tiny - designed for ONE person. This sounds perfect. BUT where will she get the materials, how will she cope with the actual construction, especially when she is hopeless at maths? One thing Evie is good at, though, is drawing and design. She is also a problem solver and luckily there are lots of videos on YouTube about building houses, even tiny ones like hers.

Team work makes the dream work. Zak is good at maths; Roco's dad Mr Santos works on building sites so he might be able to get recycled materials; Mrs Katz has a shed full of tools that her husband does not need anymore; Luisa is a sensible girl and she is also good at measuring; Dad thinks the idea can work; and little Charlotte is so excited because she is sure the new house will have a princess tower.

Mum on the other hand seems to be against the project. It feels as though she is against Evie herself. But this just spurs Evie on to try even hard to succeed. 

Of course things do go wrong and Evie almost gives up on her dream but ...

Here are a few text quotes to give you a flavour of this writing:

"Build your own tiny house. What's a tiny house? I search and find a whole lot of little one-room houses that people have built on farms and in forests. They are just a box with a door and a window, basically. They're built our of wood rather than brick. Most of them look like mini log cabins."

Visiting Mr Santos: "I suddenly have the thought that standing here with my dad makes me feel younger. I can change from being older to younger five times a in a day, depending on what I am going or who I'm with. I don't always notice at the time, but I notice it now. I have the feeling that I could reach out and hold Dad's hand really easily. That it's nice to feel little."

"Some people get the heebie-jeebies from fingernails on a blackboard. Some people get it from Velcro tearing. I get if from two places. The screech of rubbing against polystyrene and my sister Grace. It's like I have a secret button, and if it gets pressed, it will send electric shock waves to every one of my nerve endings and make me want to roar. Well, Grace knows exactly where the button is."

"We're all so different in this street. There's Milo, who's always unsure, and there's Frog, who never is. There's Rocco, who's always trying to be someone, and Luisa, who just seems effortlessly confident. Zak is trying to find the right way all the time and I just want to create something great. I'm not sure any of us would be friends it we didn't live in this street and if we didn't share Turtle Palace. But we do. And I think we are. Friends."

Matt Stanton is a born comedy writer, you can actually feel the annoyance of little sister Grace seeping through the pages and hear the bickering nonsense that is sisterhood. Through the Bored series, Stanton has dealt with moral and ethical dilemmas, family issues and workings, and friendship. Storylinks

This is the third book in this series. I LOVED the first book - Milo finds $105. I have the second book Frog's mystery Twin on my to read list.

I am smiling a HUGE smile. The third book from this series is funny and honest. It is filled with real kids and contains a wonderful project which, even though it seems impossible (spoiler alert) this is a project that Evie can can achieve. I certainly didn't expect it to work and the best part is the way constructing the tiny house brings everyone - kids and grown ups - together. 

The perfect companion book is this old title (long out of print but it might be in a school library).

Junk Castle

Take a look at my Pinterest collection of books about Moving House. Here is Matt Stanton's web page. He is the author of heaps of popular books. Listen to the beginning of Evie Dreams big here. You can hear an interview with Matt Stanton here (begin at 14.35). I also have a Pinterest of Treehouses and forts. 

Here are some of my favourite books about building houses:

If I built a House

A house for wombats

Need a House? Call Ms Mouse

Andrew Henry's Meadow

Eugene the Architect by Thibaut Rassat

"Eugene was an architect - a rigorous architect and, some would say, a bit eccentric. Actually most people thought he was a little bit crazy. He preferred to stay at home in his high, angular, dark house."

The key words from this text quote are angular and dark. Eugene likes things to be ordered, neat and tidy including his buildings. He designs structures with straight lines and perfect geometric shapes. Eugene might be described as a 'control freak' because he takes time to supervise the construction of his buildings every step of the way. 

Now the for complication. One evening a strong wind blows a huge old tree right into the middle of the third floor of the newest building which is under construction. The workers expect Eugene to order them to cut down the tree but instead Eugene climbs up into the tree where he makes an amazing discovery. The tree has beautiful angles and proportions. It is perfect. Eugene has discovered the wonder of nature. 

Eugene now sees the whole world in a very different way. He makes amazing changes to his building giving space to all creatures - animals and humans.

"He had created something special in every little corner. The children were sliding down the huge toboggan. The older folk were daydreaming on their new benches."  

He even included a library!

Publisher Blurb Penguin Random House: Eugene the architect designs buildings that are incredibly straight and orderly. He is very proud of his latest work–an enormous house with perfectly perpendicular walls and windows. One day he is surprised to find a tree growing in what will be the house’s living room. Instead of cutting it down, Eugene studies the tree, marvelling at the way its branches, roots, leaves, and trunk grow in elegant proportions. Suddenly, Eugene sees nature in an entirely new way–not as the opposite of precise order, but as something with its own type of perfection. Thibaut Rassat’s playful illustrations introduce young readers to basic architectural and geometric principles while amusing them with Eugene’s prickly personality and joyful discovery. They will come away with a new appreciation for architecture and for the unexpected twists and turns that make the natural world–and our life in it–so fascinating.

Many years ago I had a student in my library who was the son of a very famous Sydney Architect. One day this young boy asked to borrow some architecture books - we didn't have many but from then on when I saw new titles on this topic I added them to my library. Eugene the Architect is a book I would have loved to put into his hands. I have discovered the author himself is an architect who lives in Paris.  Here is a house designed by the father of this boy from my previous school which gives you an idea of his talent. This is a house in a suburb near me:

If your young reading companion is a fan of the Andy Griffiths 13 Storey Treehouse series this book might give them a different perspective about architecture and an appreciation of creative fun in design. You might also look for this treasure - If I built a House by Chris van Dusen. 

Here is the cover of the French (Canadian) edition - Mauvaise Herbe.

My friend at Kinderbookswitheverything has an extensive Pinterest collection of books about architecture. You might try to find some of these:

Brick by brick by Heidi Woodward Sheffield

 

Mi papi es fuerte - my papi is strong. He's a bricklayer. His arms are like stone.

Each day Papi heads off to work and Luis heads off to school. Luis imagines his papi working with the bricks and mixing the mortar to build the city. When Luis sits down to enjoy his lunch papi is also eating "mama's special empanada" and he is drinking cinnamon horchata. 

Luis has a dream that one day his family will have a house of their own and perhaps he will even be allowed to have a dog. Finally one weekend, Papi tells Luis he has a surprise. Luis puts on his father's big hard hat which covers his eyes. The pair drive across the city and arrive at their new house where his mother is waiting and yes there is a new puppy too. 

"Tonight I dream in my house. Nuestra casa papa siempre - our always house."

As you can see this is partly a dual language text in English and Spanish. The illustrations are made using collage which at times seems almost tactile. This warm-hearted story of a hard working family shows that dreams can come true. When you look into the background of the illustrations you will see the important story words - build, dream, I can, hola, adios and bye. Time is marked in this story by tiny details. It clearly took time to build their new house. As the story opens there are spring flowers in their apartment window box and on the day of the surprise visit it is Halloween. 

Publisher blurb: Papi is a bricklayer, and he works hard every day to help build the city, brick by brick. His son, Luis, works hard too–in school, book by book. Papi climbs scaffolds, makes mortar, and shovels sand. Luis climbs on the playground and molds clay into tiny bricks to make buildings, just like Papi. Together, they dream big about their future as they work to make those dreams come true. And then one Saturday, Papi surprises Luis with something special he’s built for their family, brick by brick.

When I see the words "Nancy Paulsen Books" on the cover or in-print information on a book I always anticipate a book of the highest quality and as you can see this book is an Ezra Jack Keats award winner (2021) too. In this video Heidi reads her book. Here is an interview with Heidi. Here is one quote:

Picture books are like haikus, in their brevity but also in their condensed meaning. They are the perfect marriage of words and images. I believe picture books are for all ages. There’s an initial simplicity that gives way to nuance, and a boiling down of word and picture that leads to a beautiful richness.

Take a look at the extensive Pinterest of Construction books collected by my friend from Kinderbookswitheverything. Here are some companion reads:

Junk Castle by Robin Klein illustrated by Rolf Heimann

 

Mandy, Irene, Con and Splinter live in a block of flats in Meldrum Crescent. There is nowhere around the building for this group of friends to play except for a small 'park'.

"The park opposite wasn't really grand enough to be called a park. It was just a sandwich shaped wedge of lawn squeezed between the Kozinooze Slumberwear factor and a site where a new service station was being built. It had a railing fence around it and a sign which said, 'The Beatrice Binker Reserve'. It was too small for a game of football or a game of anything."

Irene is told to prepare a talk for her class. It can be on any topic. Irene is terrified of public speaking so she is relieved when the braces on her teeth are bent out of shape by a piece of hard rye bread. No speech for Irene. This means Mandy will need to do it and that's just fine with Mandy because she loves addressing an audience. The kids decide the topic should be medieval castles and so they head  over to the library. (You can imagine I appreciate this).

"Their local library was wonderful ... And there weren't any bossy signs ordering you to shush. You were allowed to talk if you did it quietly and away from the section where the students were working. Mandy looked up castles in the subject index and they went to the shelf number."

After all their research and Mandy's successful class talk, the kids decide to build a castle in the tiny park. The men, constructing the new service station, offer to help with the brick construction and concrete but Mr Drake, from over the road, is furious. He writes letters to the council, he makes up a petition, and he even calls the police. Workers from the factory see all the action and they phone a local television station. The castle is fabulous but will the kids win the battle and is there something they don't know about Mr Drake? What does he mean when he tells Mandy:

"I don't want the Beatrice Binker Reserve disgraced on television. It's a memorial park."

Junk Castle was published in 1983 and was short listed by the CBCA in 1984 which by coincidence was my first year of teaching. I have often thought about the little patch of ground where this group of children built their castle. l really like their creative use of the materials they find discarded in their neighborhood, the way the kids co-operate with each other and their wonderful imaginative play. It is now 37 years since I first read this book and I am very happy to report it has stood the test of time. The only tiny dated reference is the mention of cassette tapes which can be loaned from the library.

I thought again about Junk Castle when I shared another old book - Keep Out by Noela Young. I also like to link Junk Castle with another Robin Klein story from her fabulous short story collection Ratbags and Rascals - How Clara Bepps put Strettle Street properly on the Map.

Very sadly Junk Castle is not a title on the NSW Premier's Reading challenge but I am sure this book will still be available in many primary school libraries across Australia. My former library has one copy and the library where I help as a reading volunteer has a set of ten copies! I was happy to see it is still part of the South Australian Premier's Reading challenge. 

Junk Castle is a perfect book to read aloud to a class of students in Grade 3 or 4. You could also use this book as a way to discuss the role of local government and the ways citizens can legally express their point of view through strategies such as letters to the media and petitions. This is one of those precious books which I wish someone would republish. 

Junk Castle is a paean to the triumph of the imagination over stultifying gentility, to the revitalising of dead urban scenes, to the rejuvenation of the spirit. Is that a pile of old rubbish on the Beatrice Binker Reserve (a tiny triangle of cropped grass in a jungle of concrete), or a glitteringly exciting castle? This is a favourite theme of Klein's, a sort of personal war on tidy suburbia - perhaps because `I used to live in a ghastly middle-class suburb that I absolutely loathed. Now I live miles from anywhere out in the bush, in a tolerant, dotty area.' Books for Keeps

Maurice Saxby decribes Robin Klein as "the coolest Australian writer of the 1980s."  [The Proof of the Puddin' Australian Children's literature 1970-1990 by Maurice Saxby page 228]

Take a step back into the eighties to see what upper primary kids did without Play Stations, mobile phones and other electronic gadgetry. Irene has a speech to make at school so it's off to the local library, no world wide web. In the block of flats they have to creep up and down the stairs to deliver messages to each other, no texting. To alleviate their boredom they scavenge around the neighbourhood for building materials and build their own castle in the reserve. The Little Library of Rescued Books

Little Robot Alone by Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan Charest illustrated by Matt Phelan

A book to cherish for years to come. Kirkus Star

Meet Little Robot with his toaster head, tractor shoes and perfectly positioned light blub.

This book asks to read aloud because it invites you to sing. The text in green are the songs sung each day by the little robot:

One by one, tight and strong, rolling strolling all day long.
Zippty zappity, crickety crackets, hum hum hum
Oats with oozy oil are yummy, slipping slowly down my tummy.

Little Robot has his daily routines and he lives in a very pretty place but "he felt alone." Thinking about this, Little Robot has a "light bulb moment" and discovers a solution to his problem. He gets to work with his tools and, with patience and perseverance, he creates a very special friend - Little Dog. I love the moment with the pup (remember he is a robot too) licks the metal cheek of his new friend Little Robot.

I would pair this book with Norton and Alpha.

What a joy - a picture book by one of my favourite authors - Patricia MacLachlan written with her daughter Emily. Reading, in 1985 and again several times over the last decades, Sarah, Plain and Tall Patricia MacLachlan's very famous book is a pivotal text in my reading life and set me on the path to a lifetime of enjoyment in children's books.

You can read about other books by Patricia MacLachlan on this blog: Sarah, Plain and Tall; Waiting for the Magic; The Truth of Me; White Fur Flying; Just Dance; Fly Away; The Poet's Dog.

Patricia MacLachlan also has some newer books which I need to add to my "to read" list:

Wombats can't fly by Michael Dugan illustrated by Jane Burrell

Tuesday Treasure

One of my favourite books to share with young children is A house for Wombats. It is the perfect book to use when you are exploring the power of the imagination.

Wombats Can't Fly (1996) takes the power of imagination one step further. These young wombats truly believe they CAN fly and they won't let the adults and their rational arguments stop them.

Wombats can chew roots with their strong teeth.
Wombats can dig burrows with their strong claws.
Wombats can find their way through the bush on a dark moonless night.
Wombats can sleep snugly through the cold cays of winter.

The young wombats listen to these facts but all the while they are collecting parts to attach to the huge balloon they have found. Putting all the pieces together our little pair sail off up into the sky proving that wombats truly can fly!

Here is an interview with Jane Burrell by the Tasmanian Premiers Reading Challenge team.

This is the fourth book in a series about these cute wombats. My only small quibble is I wish this book had been made in the same format as the others - landscape not portrait.

Andrew Henry's Meadow by Doris Burn

Just as relevant today as it was in 1965, this is a heart-warming story about children who want to feel special and appreciated for who they are.  Book Depository

This is a very old book but luckily it is a classic and so it is still in print.  Andrew Henry's Meadow was first published in 1965 and so it seems odd that I had not heard about this book nor had I encountered Doris Burn who is such a skilled illustrator.

Andrew Henry lives in the town of Stubbsville. Andrew Henry is an inventor. He makes the most wonderful devices - a helicopter in the kitchen, an eagle's cage in the living room, a merry-go-round for his sisters Marian and Martha and a "system of  pulleys" for his brothers Robert and Ronald. Sadly his family do not appreciate his creativity so he packs his tools and sets off to build a house for himself. Sam, his dog, is left at home. Andrew Henry finds the perfect location and he builds a splendid house using clay, rocks and poles. Andrew Henry enjoys his solitude but he is not alone for long. Alice Burdock arrives and she asks Andrew Henry build her a tree house. As the days go by George Turner wants a bridge house and Joe Polasky wants a dugout house. Jane O'Malley and Margot LePorte request a castle and a tee pee.  Meanwhile all the parents are frantically searching for their missing children. It's time for Sam to save the day!

When Andrew Henry comes home things change. He is given space for building and he makes something for every member of his family.

"He built a roller coaster for Robert and Ronald's toy cars. By using a bucket and parts of an electric fan, he made a hair dryer for Marian and Martha. The coffee mug he made for his father worked the same way as a bird feeder does. And he was especially proud of the automatic table setter he made for his mother."

You can see more of the illustrations here and here. You can see a video reading of the whole book.

I would pair Andrew Henry's House with Building our House, The Junkyard Wonders, Iggy Peck, Architect by Andrea Beaty and Whatcha building by Andrew Daddo.  If you have a child who loves to draw grab this book because the pencil sketches are sure to inspire them. Also why not take this book outside to read and then make a construction, invention or house yourself. The fun you and your children will have might amaze you.

Tilt by Mary Hoffman

Why did I pick up this book on a recent shopping expedition?

• Firstly the cover - Tilt - great title for a book about the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
• Secondly the author - I do love the writing of Mary Hoffman (I met her in London in 2012).  I always to read her book The Colour of Home to our senior classes.

The suggested reading/interest age for Tilt is 12+ but there is no reason why a senior Primary student should not read this book.

Netta (Simonetta) watches her father working on the tower at Pisa.  It is leaning but this is not the fault of her father. He is the head mason of the city but there have been other masons before him.

"Oh I know girls aren't supposed to be interested in the structure of buildings or in stone carving. But all my life I had seen my father come home from his work covered in marble dust or seen him drawing his designs for statues ... His work fascinated me, spoke to my every instinct, and I couldn't pretend to be keen on learning how to cook or clean and sew, as real daughters were supposed to."

So this book embraces themes of women's rights, science and technology, STEM subjects along with a fascinating historical setting of Pisa in 1298 all in just 92 pages.

Here are five questions with Mary Hoffman about Tilt.  Tilt is designed for readers with dyslexia. You can read more here.  You might like to read this detailed review.

The twenty-elephant restaurant by Russell Hoban illustrated by Quentin Blake

This seductive exercise in runaway absurdity 

starts out with a wobbly table ...

This gem of a book was first published in 1978.  I remember having a tiny copy from the Pocket Puffin series in my first school library.  I am glad to say this new copy, recently republished, is  much larger and so will be easier to read with a group.

Have you ever been sitting at a restaurant and noticed you table had a wobble. This book offers a solution.  Make a new table.  Make a table  that is "really strong. It's steady as a rock. No matchbooks under that table. Elephants could dance on that table."

Elephants.  More than one.  More tables are needed and elephants!  The solution - advertise.

This book is perfect to read aloud and the riotous scenes are bought to life by the perfect illustrations from Quentin Blake.

A House for Wombats by Jane Burrell illustrated by Michael Dugan

Earlier this week I talked about Sebastian lives in a Hat.  I saw new copies of this book today in a shop with a big sticker on the front to celebrate its 30th birthday.

One of my other most favourite wombat picture books is A House for Wombats.  I thought I must have talked about this book previously. Luckily I have a copy of my own. This is a book to treasure and read over and over again to your young reading companion. 

Sadly, thought, this book is now out of print but I want you to go into a library and search for A House for Wombats. I am fairly sure this book will still be found in many school libraries. 

Kate is sorry the wombats have to live in holes in the ground.  She decides to build them a tree house. Her father has a shed full of wonderful materials.  

"It's full of things for building tree houses.  If you use some of them, I might be able to fit something else in."

Kate sets to work.  She builds a floor between the branches, a roof so the wombats stay dry, walls and a window with curtains, a chimney and finally a spiral staircase.  She asks her dad to come and take a look when she is finished.  This next page is the surprise.  Young children will gasp out loud and so will you!

Here is one page from the book showing the wombats all settled into their new and splendid home.  On the table is a book - Australian audiences will see the joke here.  The book you can see if you look carefully is The Muddle-headed wombat which is an Australian classic.  Below you can see another page featuring beautiful Australian gum blossoms.