Hundred: What you learn in a lifetime by Heike Faller illustrated by Valerio Vidali

The Hundred book is like life itself. It is made up of 100 smaller lessons that you learn throughout life. It contains the big themes like love and death, friendship and happiness, fear and pain, hope and dreams.

"It does come with a jar of homemade blackberry jam."

I picked this amazing book up at a recent charity book sale. It's not a book I would add to a school library but I am happy to add to my own book collection. This book was first published in German (2018) with the title Kein und Aber. The English translation was published in 2019. Translation by Guenther A Krummings and Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp. 

Faller’s interviews revealed some moving truths about life, with those that had suffered hardship expressing surprise at their own strength, as well as observations that life has beauty even during challenging times. She also notes that interviewees that had gone through difficulties were more easily satisfied than people who’d experienced a less challenging path. ...  It makes for some endearing moments, such as falling in love at 17, or realising, at 30, that happiness is relative. Faller also incorporates some of the stories she’s heard from people in their latter years – for example the teacher that finally found a partner that suited her, at 74. It’s the book’s mix of playfulness and poignancy that makes it compelling, and even though some of the statements feel time-worn, Vidali’s illustrations cast them in a new light. Creative Review

As the title says this book covers a lifetime. Every page is a different (chronological) age.

0 You smile for the first time in your life and other people smile back at you!

1/2 Everything within reach is yours to grab.

1 But if you let it go it falls down. You've discovered gravity.

and so we continue until we reach

6 You're a big kid now, going off to school with your friends. 

Jump ahead to 

12 There's a ton of stuff you're better at than your parents.

Watch this 2 minute video where you can see inside this book. Here is an interview with the author. And here is the trailer (well worth watching). Oh and you'll need to find and read this book to discover why I mentioned blackberry jam!

Here are some of my favourite words:

43 You've learned to be comfortable with being alone.

60 You're sixty now. As a child, sixty seemed ancient but you hardly feel old at all.

74 Finally, perhaps, you find your perfect match.

81 What if age wasn't counted in years but in moments we treasured?

97 People ask you all kinds of things, like: what has life taught you?

I suggest this a book for adult because there is a reference to Auschwitz (age 10).

Publisher blurb: How does our perception of the world change in the course of a lifetime? When Heike Faller's niece was born she began to wonder what we learn in life, and how we can talk about what we have learnt with those we love. And so she began to ask everyone she met, what did you learn in life? Out of the answers of children's writers and refugees, teenagers and artists, mothers and friends, came 99 lessons: that those who have had a difficult time appreciate the good moments more. That those who have had it easy find it harder getting old. That a lot of getting old is about accepting boundaries. And of course, as one 94 year old said to her, 'sometimes I feel like that little girl I once was, and I wonder if I have learned anything at all.' A bestseller in Germany, Hundred is a book given by children to grandparents and the other way around, for christenings and Mother's days, significant birthdays and times of celebration. With every age beautifully illustrated by Valerio Vidali, Hundred cannot simply be read because, like life itself, it must be experienced.

“I talked to elementary school kids and 90 year-olds; men and women who are much respected in our society as well as those who have lost their status,” writes Faller in the book. “I sat with the former director of an East German company (Kombinat) in his garden in a village behind the high-rise buildings of Marzahn, a neighbourhood in Berlin, and with a Syrian refugee family on the concrete floor of their basement apartment in Istanbul.” Heike Faller

9 America, Italy, Berlin, Cornwall, Torridon, the Mediterranean, 

Mount Everest, the North Pole, Russia, Australia. The world is gigantic and amazing!

17 The Impossible has happened. You've fallen in love.

Here are three other books illustrated by Valerio Vidali (the telephone one is amazing).

Jam by Margaret Mahy

Tuesday Treasure

Mr and Mrs Castle live in a little house with their three children - Clement, Clarissa and Carlo.

"Three little Castles ... but very small ones - more like Cottages really."

Mrs Castle is a scientist and she has been asked to help with the development of an electronic medicine to cure sunspots.  This means Mr Castle will now look after the three children. He adopts a new 'househusband' routine.

He washed the dishes and then pegged them out to dry.
Not only did he sweep the floors he swept the ceilings too.
He vacuumed the carpets and put the dough to rise in a warm place ...
Planted a row of cabbages, folded the washing, baked the bread and a cake ...
Prepared dinner (and) read the paper so we to be well-informed.

One day there is a thump on the roof. The plums are ripe. Mr Castle sees this as a challenge. Not a single plum will go to waste. He makes pots and pots of jam and when the pots run out he fills their cups and glasses. Of course then they all need to eat this jam and so Mr Castle (his talents know no bounds) makes scones, roly poly, sponge cakes, pancakes and jam sandwiches. Some tiles lift in the bathroom so he uses jam to stick them down. Eventually all the jam is eaten. The kids and Mrs Castle have become quite sick of jam. It has filled their dreams and nightmares so they happily imagine all the delicious foods (without jam) that they can now enjoy. After all the jam eating the family are looking quite fat so Mr Castle suggests they enjoy a game of cricket outside before eating lunch.

"While they were playing on the lawn, Mr Castle heard a soft thud on the roof. He looked up at the plum tree enthusiastically. A year of jam eating had gone by. The plums were ripe again."

Margaret Mahy was a master storyteller. There are so many delightful little details in her stories. One of my favourites is  this book Jam illustrated by Helen Craig. I have read this book to library groups every year since it was first published in 1985. That means I have read this book aloud well over 100 times and yes it delights me every time.

Mahy and Craig make a smashing team. The colorful, detailed drawings convey the same humor and high spirits as the text. Kirkus

When you look at Margaret Mahy's books you will see many different illustrators - Steven Kellogg, Jonathan Allen, Polly Dunbar, Margaret Chamberlain, Sarah Garland, Shirley Hughes, and Helen Craig.  Helen Craig also illustrated The Pumpkin Man and the Crafty Creeper.

Margaret Mahy received the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2006. The jury president said:

"In awarding the 2006 Hans Christian Andersen Medal for Writing to Margaret Mahy, the jury has recognized one of the world's most original re-inventors of language. Mahy's language is rich in poetic imagery, magic, and supernatural elements. Her oeuvre provides a vast, numinous, but intensely personal metaphorical arena for the expression and experience of childhood and adolescence. Equally important, however, are her rhymes and poems for children. Mahy's works are known to children and young adults all over the world."

Here are some things I talk about when we read Jam:

What do you notice about the children's names?
Why were the children worried when Mrs Castle tells the family she is heading away to work?
Why did Mr Castle peg the dishes out to dry?
Compare the illustration on the first page with the illustration on the final page - what do you see?
What do you notice about the 'shape' of this story?
Let's make a list of the funny little details in the story that made you smile e.g. filling egg cups with jam.

Here is a video of jam making which we watch after taking time to explore some recipes using jam

Jeremiah in the dark woods by Janet and Allan Ahlberg

Names can give such a wonderful insight into characters. Think about the name Jeremiah Obadiah Jackenory Jones. A boy with such a impressive name must be a determined type of fellow don’t you agree? Jeremiah is on a quest. Nothing will deter him. His grandmother has just baked some jam tarts with crisp pastry edges and strawberry jam all dark and delicious from the baking. While the tarts are cooling on the kitchen windowsill they are stolen. Grandma “was the cleverest and bravest lady of her age for many miles around. She could add up numbers faster than a blink, climb trees like a squirrel and flight wolves and crocodiles with her bare hands and a handbag, when she had to. But her strength was mostly in her arms; she wasn’t good at walking and she couldn’t really run at all.” Thus the task of tracking down the no good robber falls to young Jeremiah and so he sets off through the woods his boot crunching on the dry leaves.

Along the way Jeremiah meets three bears, five gorillas, a frog prince, a wolf, a dinosaur, a Mad Hatter and a crocodile with a clock in it. Some of these characters are helpful while others have their own motives. Jeremiah must be brave and astute if he is to sort out this mystery.

Every year for the last twenty years I have read Jeremiah in the Dark woods by Janet and Allan Ahlberg to classes of young readers. This book is perfect to read aloud. I adore doing all the character voices along with hearing children identify the fairy tale references and often solving the mystery before Jeremiah does so himself. My most favourite scene is when Jeremiah meets the crocodile. He is a laconic figure intent on luring Jeremiah to come closer. “Come and sit beside me here and we will discuss the matter. But Jeremiah did no such thing; he knew all about crocodiles.”

The other very special character is the dinosaur – he is a loyal friend to Jeremiah and he plays a vital part in solving the crime. Being a book by the Ahlbergs the illustrations are filled with warm details. A good example of this is the front cover but you might also take a look at the scene where Jeremiah sits beside the river cooling his feet. You can see his boots, socks, peaches from a nearby tree and two little hedgehogs holding hands and wearing their best hats!! The hedgehogs are not mentioned at all in the text and nor is the little mouse hiding in the rushes at the side of the river!

Read this book with a special friend and a plate of warm jam tarts. This is quite simply a delicious story. Then look for other books by the Ahlbergs along with Jam by Margaret Mahy.

Margaret Mahy - some treasures

For many many years I have included the books of New Zealand author Margaret Mahy in my library program. This is for two reasons – one her terrific story telling and two the rich vocabulary she uses.

We started this term by reading Jam. Our copy is very small but using our scanner we have been able to project the lovely illustrations by Helen Craig so the children can appreciate the little humorous touches such has the father washing the dishes and then “he pegged them out to dry”. Or when the father refers to his three children, who are named Clement Castle, Clarissa Castle and Carlo Castle, as “the three little castles more like cottages really”. This also makes it possible to compare the Castle family before eating all the jam with the end of the story when a whole year of jam eating has passed.

Mahy is a master of the story twist. In jam it comes right at the end when the plums are ripe again and thus the cycle will continue with more disastrous results. In The Boy who was followed home there are two twists. As more and more hippos follow Robert home growing from one to four to nine to twenty seven and finally forty-three his father must find a solution. The answer is to find a witch. How do you find a witch? You use the telephone book of course. And when do witches arrive? At midnight of course, right on the broomstick hour and down the chimney. Mahy shows lovely restraint when she leaves the illustrations to show the final twist, simply stating Robert was pleased, very pleased indeed.

In The Boy who was Followed home there are words like reproachful, skulked and delighted

My favourite Mahy title where the vocabulary really shines is The Man whose mother was a pirate. Her description of the sea is magical. In The Pumpkin Man and the crafty Creeper there are words like sprawling, midsummer, humble, burrowed, dismayed, gratitude, obligingly and treacherous. There are so many fabulous books by this talented author look for them in your library you will not be disappointed.