Curious Creatures, Wild Minds part two, Guessing

Curious Creatures, Wild Minds

As I said in my last post, I have been thinking about the 2020 CBCA slogan. Along with an exploration of the CBCA short list I like to delve into the slogan each year.

Curious Creatures - I found some books that use our natural curiosity. I found Who am I? In a book sale today and that made me think about other books in this format.

This book, published in 2019, contains twelve endangered animals. Each is revealed with a small peep hole then your turn the page to check your "guess".  I think this embodies the term curious and of course it contains all sorts of creatures. Some you will easily guess and your youngest readers will be familiar with them too such as the giant panda, polar bear, lowland gorilla and Bengal tiger. Other curious creatures may be less familiar or perhaps new discoveries - making your mind go "wild". Axolotl, Philippine eagle, Indian gharial and the crowned sifaka. At the back of the book there are brief notes about each animal but readers and curious minds might then use this as a jumping off point for further research.

Steve Jenkins is another author who has a number of brilliant books about animals. I will feature other titles in another post but these two would be good to use with Who am I? A Peek though pages book of endangered animals.

Another book I found this week at a charity book sale is Call me Gorgeous! by Giles and Alexandra Milton published in 2009.  If you cannot find the book here is a video. It is a little bit too fast but you could pause each image and have a discussion.

This book takes parts of animals to make a new curious creature. It would be such fun to try this with a class of young children.  Here are some text quotes:

"I've got reindeer antlers
and the ears of a pig.
A porcupine's spine
and a crocodile's teeth."

Your creature will also need feet, a neck, a beak,wings, spots, a tail and some eyes and now "You can call me gorgeous!"

There are lots of guessing game books - you are sure to find some in your library.

Cork and Fuzz by Dori Chaconas illustrated by Lisa McCue

"Do you know why I like you?' Cork said. 'Because you make me feel good in my heart and you always make me laugh."


Acceptance of difference + the fun of a playing together + team work =  FRIENDSHIP

Cork is a muskrat. He is short and he collects stones. Loves water. Slightly serious personality.
Fuzz is a possum. He is tall and he collects stones and lots of other things. Afraid of water. Can be a joker at times.

There are ten books in this delightful series. I have only read two but I am certain they would be the most perfect addition to any Primary School library. Each book has four short chapters, large print and very expressive illustrations.

Sadly quite a few are out of print but you might find them in a library. There are Kindle versions too. My lucky Teacher-Librarian friend found these two at a charity book sale today for fifty cents each! Here are all the titles:

I found a set of teaching notes for the first book - Best Friends. Read some review quotes on Dori's web page.

In their reviews Kirkus use words like "Sweet and funny"; "the evergreen theme of unlikely friendships"; these will make "learning to read a pleasure"; "illustrations reminiscent of Garth Williams"; "a simple sweet tale"; "timeless sensibility".

You can read more about each book here.

Blurb Book One Best Friends Cork is a muskrat. Fuzz is a possum. Cork eats only veggie stuff. Fuzz eats beetles and worms. Cork likes to play hide-and-seek. Fuzz likes to play find-and-eat. Cork and Fuzz have nothing in common. Or do they?

Blurb Book Two Short and Tall  Even though Cork is a short muskrat and Fuzz is a tall possum, they can still be best friends. Or can they? "I am older," Cork said. "I need to be taller. It is a rule." Can friendship break such rules?

Blurb Book Three Good Sports  Cork is a short muskrat who likes to win at games. Fuzz is a tall possum who also likes to win at games. Two best friends. Both like to win. What will happen when they play games against each other?

Blurb Book Four The Collectors  Cork is a short muskrat who likes to collect shiny stones. Fuzz is a tall possum who also likes to collect shiny stones. Fuzz tries to collect a stone from a duck's nest and, in turn, the mama duck tries to collect him. Will Cork be able to save his friend?

I am really keen to read the Christmas picture book about this pair of odd ball friends:

Here are some other books (all simple beginner level like Cork and Fuzz) about unlikely friends. Their friendship also reminds me of the Toot and Puddle books.

Curious Creatures, Wild Minds part one, The Giraffe

Image Source: CBCA

Curious Creatures, Wild Minds

I think the story of Zeraffa (Zefara), the giraffe that was taken to France in 1824, would be a good way to explore the 2020 CBCA slogan.  In 1824 giraffes were certainly very curious creatures. Actually I think they are still quite curious and delightful. Wild minds - the people of Paris went wild when Zeraffa arrived.

Giraffes became THE fashion from clothes to hair styles, ceramics to wallpaper. There were even ice creams and a new colour name 'giraffe' which later we would call cafe au lait. Here is an example of the wallpaper showing how "wild" the people were for this new creature and fashion.

I have read two books about Zeraffa - Zeraffa Giraffa by Dianne Hofmeyr illustrated by Jane Ray and A Giraffe for France by Leith Hillard illustrated by Sophie Blackall.

Blurb: In 1824 the Pasha of Egypt gave a baby giraffe to the King of France. Along with her keeper, Atir, Zeraffa Giraffa travelled over 4000 miles, sailing down the Nile, across the Mediterranean and then walking 550 miles from Marseilles to Paris. Zeraffa arrived in 1827, the first giraffe ever seen in France. All Paris fell in love with her. Gardeners clipped giraffe hedges; ladies twisted their hair into styles à la Girafe; dogs wore spotted jackets.  BookTrust

Blurb: The true story of how the first giraffe came to France in 1826 and the remarkable effect that the animal had on French society at the time. It tells of her capture at an oasis near the River Nile, the voyage across the Mediterranean and the amazing walk from Marseilles to Paris.

The first thing to notice about the two books above are their famous illustrators - Sophie Blackall (Hello Lighthouse is short listed for the 2020 CBCA Picture book of Year award) and Jane Ray (image below)

The back story:

Zeraffa means charming or lovely one. Zeraffa was a gift from the ruler of Egypt (Muhammad Ali) to the King of France (Charles X). She was captured in Sudan. She walked the final 550 miles from Marseilles to Paris. The whole journey took two and half years. By the time she arrived in Paris she was four metres tall and she was the first giraffe ever seen in France.

Further reading

• Art in Society, The Art of Giraffe Diplomacy, Phillip McCouat, 2015.
• The Fashion Historian, La mode a la girafe, Katy Werlin, 2014.
• Hyperallergic, How Zafara, France's first giraffe, became a cultural sensation, Allison Meier, 2017.
• NPR, Book extract Zafara: A giraffes true story, Michael Allin, 2006
• Wikipedia, Zafara (giraffe).

Here is the trailer for the 2012 Animated film about Zarafa.

I have not seen these three books but they might be useful additions when you explore this topic:

Here is a video of this book.

I also found some work displayed in a classroom:

Image source: Herts for Learning - click to see closer images of this creative work.

Here is a painting from 1827

Image source: Hyperallergic

One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

"Carley Conners. Thirteen letters. How unlucky can one person be?"

"I freeze. I remember telling my mother his name spelled backwards was 'sinned' and she laughed at me. Back when she first bought him home and I had a sick feeling about him."

"I realise that the last four letters in 'Julie' are 'u lie'."

Carley's mum has a new partner and their dysfunctional life has now spiraled in to real danger. One night Dennis violently attacks Carley and her mum. Her mother is now in a coma in hospital and Carley is taken into foster care with the Murphy family. There's Mr Murphy (huge baseball fan and firefighter); Mrs Murphy (she has an important secret to share with Carley and she is able to show Carley how a real family and real mother should behave); Daniel (the oldest son); Adam (second son) and the youngest son Michael Eric. Michael Eric is the first one to reach through the hard shell Carley has put up around herself.  I will confess I fell in love with this wonderful little fellow and his cute double name.

Over the coming months Carley learns to navigate life in this warm family. Her hostility is deeply painful to observe but I knew Mrs Murphy's kindness would eventually help heal this broken girl and help her with the next steps in her life:

"And most of all, I think about Mrs Murphy - the way she gives everything, does everything, holds us all up. Meeting her makes me feel like God has started paying attention. The way she reached in, pulled me out, dusted me off, and said that I only need to be the great person that I am."

Not all books should be used for book studies. I think One for the Murphys is better placed in the hands of an individual reader aged 11+who enjoys very emotional stories and realistic fiction but I did find a teachers guide for this book if this interests you. I picked up One for the Murphys because I loved Shouting at the rain also by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. I am so happy that I had the beautiful emotional experience of reading One for the Murphys. You have probably guessed that I sobbed at the end.

You can hear Lynda talking about her book here at The Yarn.

I know there are many Mrs. Murphy's out there, foster parent or not, and this book is a gift for all of them. Touching and triumphant story about what defines family. Highly recommend! JenBigHeart

The author does a stunning job of showing internal hurts that make abused children fear and resist love … There are heart-rending and heart-warming moments in this fine book. Carley, with her tough survivor’s humor and quick wit, has an authenticity that engages a reader at once. Carley’s evolution from victim to creator of her future is both realistic and inspiring. The  Children’s Book Review

The first-person narration allows readers inside Carley’s head as she fights against both showing emotion and her growing pleasure in belonging to their world. There’s plenty of snappy dialogue as well. By the end of this poignant debut, readers will be applauding Carley’s strength … Kirkus Star review

I am drawn to books about foster kids.  I loved all of these:

Pictures of Hollis Woods

Wish

Waiting for Normal

Counting by 7s

When Friendship followed me Home

Small Mercies

Sky Pirates: Echo Quickthorn and the great beyond by Alex English

Echo Quickthorn and the Great Beyond is the start of a dazzling new series featuring mechanical dragons, carnivorous plants, sky pirates and perhaps worst of all … pickled squibnuts! Read on if ye dare… Simon and Schuster

This book has all the ingredients for a rollicking plot and Alex English combines each element into a very satisfying and fast moving adventure.

Ingredients:

• Echo - An orphan living with the royal family - parentage unknown
• Golden Hairpin in the shape of a wolf with an emerald eye - an object owned by Echo and her only connection to her the mother who abandoned her when she was a baby
• An inscription on the hairpin Messrs Evergreen and Spruce, Port Tourbillon Where is this place?
• A prophesy that is an impossible riddle "When Tuesday arrives on a Sunday night ... "
• A Kingdom with strict rules - no one can leave this city. If they do they are sure to die out in the Barren. No one has ever returned.
• Horace - The Crown Prince, son of the King, a boy who likes butterflies but not adventures
• Maps - showing the world is much bigger than the children and citizens have been told
• The arrival of a stranger from the outside - now Echo along with Horace, need to find the truth, and hopefully rescue her mother
• Sky Pirates and Hot Air Balloons and elements of steam punk fiction
• Loyal friends

Blurb: Echo Quickthorn is an orphan and ward of the King of Lockfort She has grown up believing that nothing exists outside the kingdom’s walls and that adventures are taboo. No one in Lockfort looks like her or shares her dreams of exploring. Echo has always felt like maybe she belongs somewhere else, but how can she when all that exists beyond Lockfort is a barren wasteland?

But everything changes when an eccentric professor crash lands his airship outside her bedroom window in the dead of night, claiming to have come from another city and armed with a map of magical, unheard-of places that exist beyond the kingdom walls.

Is this the opportunity she’s been waiting for to go on the adventure of a lifetime? Echo must leave behind everything she knows to discover unimaginable places and finally discover the truth about her family…  LoveReading4Kids

Sky Pirates is due for publication on 5th August and an audio version will also be available. Echo Quickthorn and the great beyond is the first book in the Sky Pirates trilogy. The cover art is by Mark Chambers.

I would pair this book with these:

Seven Professors of the Far North

The Mapmakers Race

Authors of these books have highly praised Echo Quickthorn and the great beyond:

Little Rat sets Sail by Monika Bang-Campbell illustrated by Molly Bang

Little Rat's parents sign her up for sailing lessons but Little Rat is utterly terrified of falling in the water. She is wearing a life jacket but it does not give her courage:

"Little Rat felt shy and nervous.
She looked different from everybody else.
Her life jacket was gray, with a big red stripe across it and laces up the sides.
Everybody else had on neat yellow-and-orange zip-up life jackets.
Everybody else was cool.
Little Rat felt like a dork.
She wanted to go home."

Luckily for Little Rat, the instructor, Buzzy Bear, is patient, intiutive, kind and a terrific teacher and so over the coming weeks of summer Little Rat tries new things, there are no terrible disasters, and Little Rat surprises herself by learning to sail and discovering she actually likes it!

Here are some of the important words for new sailors: mooring, heeling, capsize, centerboard, tiller, mainsail, cockpit, jib. There is also an excellent labelled diagram included.

Little Rat is a brave little sailor with her own shy appeal and Bang’s charming illustrations are impossible to resist. Kirkus

It is such a shame that I am so late coming to this book because it is out of print and because I missed so many opportunities to put this gem of a book into the hands of keen readers in my former school library. I am sure this would have been a popular book so many of the children at my school were sailors or lived in families with boats. Yes we did have a copy of Little Rat sets Sail, and no you can't read every book, BUT I do wish I had taken the time to read Little Rat sets Sail and the sequels. With just 45 pages, and five chapters this is a PERFECT book for a keen sailor, for a reader who is curious about sailing, and for a newly independent reader. I am happy to see this book is still available in my old school library but sadly this other very special book, illustrated by Molly Bang, has been disposed:

Molly Bang is the mother of Monika Bang-Campbell and I was not surprised to discover Monika is a keen sailor. The sailing vocabulary and experience are so accurately explained in this story.

Here are the other two books about Little Rat:

If you are looking for a couple of other books to share with your young sailor or keen boating person.
You might find these in a well stocked library:

And for an older student you could look for Fort Island from the Aussie Bites series: