I know that 'books for young readers' is a very vague title, but these aren't all chapter books, though the age-group for all the books on the list is similar. I also don't read as many chapter books as I do other children's books, but as I was making this list, I realised that I probably should read more because I've enjoyed each and every one of these!The Last Tiger (Mark Greenwood)A work of non-fiction, The Last Tiger is exactly the kind of book I would have loved to read age eight. Even as a child, I was fascinated by the wild world, and aghast at what humans were doing to it. The Last Tiger is the perfect mixture of seriousness and hope, bringing home to me that nature is in danger, but all is not lost yet.Read a more detailed review here.Tilly and the Time Machine (Adrian Edmondson)I would imagine that writing a fresh story about a time machine is incredibly … [Read more...]
History Mysteries: The Last Tiger
The Last Tiger broke my heart.The thylacine - what a wonderful, curious animal. A pouched dog with a wolf's face. A dog with stripes. The Tasmanian tiger.At the Asian Festival of Children's Content last month, I attended a talk by the history hunter, Mark Greenwood. It was a talk that filled me up. His storytelling brought me so close to tears that I ended up impulsively buying a book of his. (I would have liked to buy them all, but my pocket didn't permit it.)Despite all the emotion that prompted me to buy his book, I somehow didn't end up reading The Last Tiger until yesterday. Perhaps that was to eke out the feeling of a special kind of storytelling, but also, perhaps I was frightened of being disappointed.I was not: I loved The Last Tiger. When I was about ten years old, I read an entire Childcraft encyclopedia, Nature in … [Read more...]
Reflections: Days Two and Three at AFCC 2018
On day two, I attended a session called 'Rhyming Round Reading', which touched upon ideas that I use all the time at workshops on reading: rhyme. Focussing on a book titled Rhyming Round Singapore, the session had a lot to offer even to non-Singaporeans like me, primarily because of the concepts behind the book.How many of us have found nursery rhymes morbid? Think about Three Blind Mice and Humpty-Dumpty.Yet, like so many morbid fairy-tales, they have stood the test of time. Easy to sing, supported by elaborate gestures, these nursery rhymes have been taught for so many years that they're part of the bedrock of the education of so many children. Rhyming Round Singapore puts together familiar tunes and familiar ideas, rather than obscure images of Miss Muffet sitting on a tuffet, when most people don't even know what a tuffet is. It uses ideas that are familiar to Singaporean … [Read more...]