The Baker by the Sea by Paula White

We have fish merchants, and smokers that smoke the fish, blacksmiths and basketmakers, butchers and bakers. There are cosy cafes and tiny shops that sell everything you might need. 

Every aspect of life in this village revolves around the sea. There are fishermen, net makers, sail makers, boat builders, coopers who make the barrels for the pickled fish and young girls who process each catch ready for pickling. 

"The sea is the beating heart of all he we do."

But this boy's father is not a fisherman. He is the town baker. The boy is not sure this is as important as being a fisherman but his father explains how everyone enjoys his baking - the boat builders buy bacon butties from the cafe, the fisher-girls enjoy piping hot buns to warm their fingers, and out at sea the fishermen dip their biscuits in their hot tea.

"I look at my father and feel proud. For without the bread, buns and biscuits, ... the people of the village could not go on as they do. When I am older I am going to be a baker, just like my father, in the village by the sea."

Bonus - there is a recipe at the back of the book for hot coconut buns - yum.

The Baker by the sea was short listed in 2023 for the Klaus Flugge Prize.

The Baker by the Sea has wonderful illustrations done in black and white pencil with pale blue spot colour. 

Relying upon a limited palette of greys and tonal blues for the most part (except for the warm yellow glow of the baker’s oven), her visual and written narrative crosses over the village, passing over the bustle of residents’ hard-working day-to-day lives and its centring around the fishing trade. Books for Keeps

The Baker by the Sea celebrates those small-village communities in which everyone worked hard together and looked after each other. It is quite poignant that the village then has been lost to the elements but perhaps readers can take something from the idea that something special happens when communities come together. Books for Keeps

I highly recommend The Baker by the Sea for your school library. Read it for Father's Day; read it for the junior history topic Life in the Past; read if your class are talking about workers in the community; but most of all just read it for pure enjoyment. 

The perfect companion book would be:

The Elephant in the Room by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Sila Tekin has so much going on in her life right now. Her precious mum has left their home in Oregon to travel to Turkey because there is a problem with her immigration paperwork. She expects to be away for eight days but the eight days have now turned into eight months. Sila and her dad are trying to cope but Sila desperately misses her mum. 

Sila is a good student at school but she seems to have withdrawn into herself and this does not go unnoticed. The school counsellor sets her up with another student Mateo Lopez. Mateo is also a quiet kid but this is because he finds life so confusing due to his autism. 

Meanwhile Sila and her mechanic dad head out of town to the property of Gio Gardino. Gio worked all his life on a production line but some months ago he and his work mates won an enormous lottery prize. Gio has lost his wife but because she always wanted to live somewhere with land he now lives in a large house, on a large estate, with a huge barn and high walls.

Sila is a beautiful soul. She chats with Gio while her dad works on the truck repairs. Gio talks about his wife who was actually Sila's Grade Two teacher. As dad and Sila head home Gio tells them that tomorrow is his birthday so Sila suggests they should meet for donuts.

The next morning while they sip their drinks and munch their donuts several huge lorries pull into the car park of the Hole in one Bakery. These are circus lorries and the circus is about to close down. Gio knows Sila loves elephants and in the back of one of these trucks there is a real elephant. Her name is Veda.

I am not going to say much more. I am sure you can do the maths think about the way these story elements might add up - new friends; an elephant, that has been badly treated by a cruel circus owner, in need of a new home; a lonely man with lots of land and money; and a powerful lesson in kindness. Oh and I should also mention Mateo's mum is a lawyer and her speciality is labour law. She also has a colleague who works in immigration law - again I hope you are putting this puzzle together. I also hope you are wondering how flamingos fit into this story!

Yesterday my computer decided to have a 'go slow' day so while I waited for things to reset I started this book - The Elephant in the Room. About two hours later I finished the whole book and I sighed with happiness.  Thank you Holly Goldberg Sloan for this powerful, emotional and heartfelt story.

Here are a few text quotes:

"Veda slowly lifted her trunk and let it sway gently in the afternoon air. The elephant inhaled the sharp, tingling smell of the pine needs from grand fir trees. She detected vine maple. White alder. The pungent smooth madrone tree bark. There was wild ginger growing somewhere. Cedar. Sweet woodruff. Western lark. Osoberry. Englemann spruce. Sword ferns. Golden currant. ... The old man stood motionless alongside Veda, whose trunk was carefully investigating the top of his gray-haired head, strand by strand."

"She was my favourite teacher. But she died and now me and my dad are friends with her husband, but that was a coincidence."

"Mateo seemed different when animals were around. Sila watched as he let go of the side of the seat (of the golf buggy) and his face took on a totally new expression. He was relaxed in a way that Sila had only seem when he'd been playing with his dog."

Click these review comments and then go out and find this BOOK! Do not wait - do it now. Ms Yingling Reads has more plot details. 

Sometimes we are so busy living our own lives that we don’t see the connections that could link us to people who might seem very different from us. But, with gentle humour and insight, this book shows how seeing the world through someone else’s eyes can make our own lives better. With short chapters, great characters and plenty of tension, the overriding message is this: many quiet people have plenty to say – we just have to learn how to listen. Book Trust

Get your tissue box ready around page 190.  Just have it handy.  (Not just one tissue...get the box.)   This is grand and glorious and goes right to the heart of things. A Book and a Hug

Companion books:

The One and Only Ivan

The Great Elephant Chase

Small as an elephant

An Elephant in the Garden

The Magician's Elephant

Other books by Holly Goldberg Sloan:

Counting by 7s

Appleblossom the Possum

To Night Owl from Dogfish

Wolfred by Nick Bland

 

This book puzzles me. A friend told me this week the Teacher-Librarian at her grandson's school offered this book as something truly special to young students in Grade One. Her grandson "won" this book and he was thrilled but really is this book for children as young as six? I know books should extend the reader's experiences but I am not sure many children would have encountered a bell boy in the lift of a very fancy hotel - do such things still exist?

Reading Time ended their review with the words: Recommended for lower primary ages.

Wolfred is given a job as a lift attendant. He is not allowed to speak or interact with the celebrity guests. His only outlet comes from writing stories each day about his observations. He posts these, via paper planes, to people in a nearby apartment building. Is this a reference to tabloid news or gossip columns? Eventually the boss, who is a real pig, discovers the stories and Wolfred is fired. On the same night the boss is pignapped and it is Wolfred who saves the day because he recognises the thieves are wearing a disguise. They are crocodiles dressed as sheep!

Wolfred is one of those books with lots of references to other books (Intertextuality). To understand the references in this book readers need to know about:

The trope of wolves in literature

How are wolves portrayed in stories? Wolves in folktales like Little Red Riding Hood, Peter and the Wolf, and The Boy Who Cried Wolf are portrayed as cruel and cunning. Phrases like “a wolf in sheep's clothing,” “throw them to the wolves,” and “cry wolf” all paint a picture of wolves as malicious creatures.

King Kong

Wolf in sheep's clothing (in this case though the baddies are crocodiles) - a reference to Red Riding Hood - their teeth and their tails were too long. And of course WolfRed - he is wearing a red suit

Little Bo Peep

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Readers also need to understand puns such as "Fancy Pants Tower"; "the boss was a pig"; and "never say boo to a ghost". The title is a play on words too.

There are visual jokes too - the lion is wearing an ermine cloak and a crown; the Fancy Pants Tower has a neon light shaped like fancy pants - is this a reference to the Trump Tower? The tortoises have lightning blot images on their caps (a reference to the hare and the tortoise by Aesop); the lift goes as high as the moon (bear in an astronaut suit) and down under the ocean.  There is an image which references Chinese New Year and the hint that a dragon set a tree outside the lift on fire. 

There is an tone to this story about the rich and poor divide and about privilege and the class system in society. You also need to notice all the pot plants that Wolfred has been cultivating. Here are some STEM ideas based on Wolfred. I recently talked about another book by Nick Bland - Walk of the Whales.

Nick Bland has another book about abuse of power and reforming of a character:

King Pig

If you use Wolfred with a group of older students - Grade 4 and up you could then look at this book:

If you want to look at another book set in a lift try to find this one which would be a better choice for a Grade One or Kindergarten reader:

We're Stuck

All Through the Night by Polly Faber illustrated by Harriet Hobday

"The sky is getting dark. In a big city, a little girl is eating her dinner, brushing her teeth and getting ready for bed. Meanwhile her mother is putting on her coat and getting ready to go to work. 

But where will she go?"  Blurb

I so appreciate the way Polly Faber sustains this narrative using reader curiosity. On the first page mum heads off the work. We are told she has "an important job to do".  Then over the following ten double page spreads our narrator, her daughter, talks about all the people who work through the night in her city but of course as a reader we really want to know where mum has gone.

I loved the way the child gives each worker a personal name. Sammy is an office cleaner; Georgio is a security guard (I have a soft spot for security guards which I always link with the book Corduroy); Hassan and Amina are police on patrol; Kisi is a news reporter; Lem plays the saxophone in a band on an outdoor stage; Eva sells hot pies, coffee and doughnuts from her van; Ravi is a delivery diver; Luigi uses flour and eggs to make bread ready for breakfast tomorrow; Jonny, Dot and Isaac complete repairs to the trainline: Dani and Todd drive their ambulance to the hospital where Fiona works to welcome new babies to the world. But what about Mum?  What has she been doing all night?

Sorry I am not going to tell you except to say there is a hint on the front cover and on every page! Oh and we have diversity done so naturally and women and men in all kinds of roles (no stereotypes here).

You can see inside this book on the Nosy Crow (they do such fabulous books) page. Here is a video where Polly Faber talks about her book (perfect to share with a young class).  Polly Faber is the author of the charming book series Mango and Bambang. You can see more art from All Through the Night on the illustrator (Harriet Hobday) web site. 

Image Source: Harriet Hobday

A comforting bedtime story, especially if parents are heading out to work. ...  This reassuring tale also calls attention to people who might be overlooked.  Kirkus

Read All Through the Night alongside these:

Nights with Dad

While You're Sleeping

Nights with Dad by Karen Hesse illustrated by G. Brian Karas

US Cover with a different title

This is a book which gives young readers a glimpse of a life that might be unfamiliar but it is also a life that will have links to every school child - after all who does clean your school? And when do they work? What exactly do they do in each school space?

In a well practised routine our story narrator describes how each Friday evening he packs up food in a lunch box and then he climbs onto the back of his dad's motor bike. 

Yes I did say lunch box but the pair are not heading out for lunch. Dad works at the boy's school. He is a night cleaner but it takes eleven pages to make this discovery such is the power of storytelling by Karen Hesse. It is Friday night but we can infer the boy goes along because he can sleep in tomorrow. 

At 10pm the lunch box is opened:

"Dad leads the way to the courtyard, where we unwrap our egg salad sandwiches, with their triple dollop of mayo and heaping teaspoon of chopped pickle. We take big bites that fill our mouths and chew and chew and chew until there are only crumbs left. And then we chew those, too."

While is dad cleans the library, the young boy reads aloud to his dad until he falls asleep. At 4am the pair head home where they both fall asleep dreaming of better times ahead.

Hesse’s poetic, calm text is matter-of-fact in conveying the love between parent and child and the bonding occurring through their shared work. Karas’ mixed-media illustrations, employing a soft focus and a muted, nighttime palette, help to relay this bond as well as the excitement of riding on the back of a motorcycle at night. Kirkus Star review

You could pair this book with While you're sleeping:

This book is perfect to read as part of your discussions of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth.  Read more about the 17 goals and find links to fabulous books to use here. My post takes you to eighteen posts by my friend from Kinderbookswitheverything along with her splendid and comprehensive Pinterest sets of books for each goal. 

If you are looking for a book to share with older students where you can explore different and very effective page layouts Nights with Dad is perfect. You can see inside this book here. And read more about the inspiration that lead to the writing of this book by Karen Hesse. 

I have read and enjoyed quite a few books by Karen Hesse:

Out of the Dust

Come on Rain

Letters from Rifka

Sable

Lavender

Wish upon a Unicorn

Here is a list of books illustrated by G. Brian Karas. I am especially a fan of his easy chapter books - High-Rise Private Eye.  I was also excited to discover G. Brian Karas provided the cover illustration for Freddie the Frightened and the Wondrous Ms Wardrobe which is a book I used to enjoy reading in my school library. Our Australia cover is by Terry Denton (a long time before his fame with the 13 Storey Treehouse series). And he did the art for Ivan - the Remarkable True story of a Shopping Mall Gorilla by Katherine Applegate. 

While you're Sleeping by Mick Jackson illustrated by John Broadley

"Oh, there's plenty needs doing at night time. 

There's plenty going on."

Who works in the night? I'm sure you can easily make a list and then you might pause to think of these people and offer your thanks that they keep our cities, shops, hospitals, factories, electricity sub stations, ambulance drivers, phone support people, and other services humming along while we are all tucked up snug and warm in our beds. 

As with all of the best picture books you should begin by looking closely at the cover. The boy is asleep in a bed that is floating above the city.  It is night time but if you look really closely plenty of people are out and about and when you stretch the book out to look at the back cover, the illustration continues and street lights illuminate the scene along with lights in the windows of shops and the hospital allowing us to look inside and see some of the night workers who we are sure to meet inside this book. I love the way the barcode is presented as a sign on a truck.

Now turn to the end papers. YES they are fabulous. Small vignettes of each worker along with nocturnal creatures such as the owl and fox. There is a baker, mail sorter, window cleaner, and delivery person. When you read this book with a young Australian child you may need to talk about the word lorry or just stop and count all of the busy lorries driving through the night time rural landscape. 

To open this book is like opening a gorgeous box full of jewels – each page is stunning – so too are the endpapers, the cover: the entire production in fact and to read it is like being shown around a gallery by a wise, gently spoken curator eager to open our eyes to how the world works. Red Reading Hub

As you can see, the illustrations in this book are fabulous. Such a different style for your young reading companion to explore. I love the pastel colours and extensive use of patterns. I am also thrilled to report that this large hardcover book is available here in Australia for a very affordable price. On this page from the publisher Pavilion you can see inside John's studio.

Here is an interview with John Broadley where he talks about his work on this book. I love the word breather he uses here: A book with no breather between this amount of intensity might have been too much, plus, in the passages where several things are mentioned (buses, cleaning the streets, trains etc) I thought it would add variety to have these as shaped vignettes. 

While you're Sleeping was one of just five books shortlisted for the 2021 Klaus Flugge prize. “Each year the Klaus Flugge Prize celebrates the art of picture book illustration and puts the brightest new talent in the spotlight. The illustrators on this year’s shortlist demonstrate extraordinary skill and their very different books bring light, colour, warmth and laughter to readers of all ages. Congratulations to them all and very special thanks again to Klaus Flugge who has done so much to support and promote illustrators throughout his career.”

Here is a new book just released by Mick Jackson and John Broadley.