Bloomsbury Round-up

Last week Bloomsbury were kind enough to send us a whole host of books so here is our round-up of those...

I Bet I Can Make You Laugh - 

Poems by Joshua Seigal and friends.

 One thing I'm conscious of is that we don't read enough poetry in the house so it was wonderful to receive this book and it came in very handy over the bank holiday weekend!  I was cooking for 9 people on the Friday afternoon and, with the kitchen looking like a bomb had hit it, my nerves were somewhat frazzled!  O appeared in the room, sat down with this book and began reading the poems aloud to me! What a great stress reliever it was!  We laughed and chuckled as I carried on cooking and we both had a great time with the book (dinner was eventually great, too!).

This is definitely heading into the classroom and O has already bookmarked all of the poems he thinks the class will want to hear.  A great book for home or the classroom (and great for reducing stress whilst cooking!)

Voices of the Future

This is a lovely collection of 8 inspiring stories with bright illustrations, each one highlighting how children can play a positive role in their future and the environment.  Covering real-world problems and ways to tackle them, the focus in the stories is teamwork in various different guises (friends, school groups, the local community, governments ...).

At the back of the book is a clear explanation about the UN rights of every child and also the Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN Development Programme.  Each story is linked to these goals using the recognisable symbols.

We loved the positive messages being sent out in each of these stories and the fact that the book is empowering children.  This is a book that I think will be loved by children of all ages (reading these aloud to younger children will help them to understand the messages from an early age).

In school, this book has much potential through PSHE, geography, to spark ideas in creative writing, in assemblies ... or simply for the children to read and enjoy!

This will become a firm fixture in my classroom.

The Last King of England The Story of Athelstand - Stuart Hill

This is the story of Prince Athelstan and how he became the first king of England, told through the eyes of his body-servant (and friend) Edwin, who began his life as a shoemaker's son.

Based on actual events, this book would make a good accompaniment to classwork on the Anglo-Saxons.  At 179 pages long, it's a manageable length and would help to bring that period in history to life for children. 

We enjoyed the story and particularly liked the friendship that forms between Athelstan and Edwin.