Ella has come to a new school and she naturally wants to find a friend. Why is this so hard? Ella finds a book in her school library called Five Ways to Make a Friend. This is perfect. All Ella has to do is follow the advice and she will have tons of friends in no time. Or will she?
1. Bake some cakes to share with your friend-to-be.
2. Tell them when they've done something good.
3. Find a new hobby to make them interested in you.
4. Invite them to a party.
5. Save them when they're in danger.
Can you guess that each of these suggestions ends in a disaster? Poor Ella. It broke my heart watching her trying so hard especially when the other girls in the class are completely disinterested in Ella and at times even cruel.
Wait a minute Ella. What about Josh? He sits next to Ella. He talks to Ella. He offers to help with her friend project but perhaps he is actually the only friend she needs. Is there some reason the friends should be girls? No!
Barrington Stoke have gathered some of the best UK writers to pen short (64 pages) easy chapter books for young readers. I have mentioned in a previous post how much I enjoy these little books. They contain engaging stories, their covers are bright, and they have just the right size text and perfect line spacing which makes them easy to read both for dyslexic children but also newly independent readers. I think Primary school libraries should try to collect all of these books.
Gillian Gross is a previous winner of the prestigious Carnegie Medal. The fear I felt reading her book Wolf (1990) still lingers with me decades after reading it and I have The Great Elephant Chase (1992) on my to "reread" pile. Gillian has written four other books for Barrington Stoke:
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