Children's Book Review, Clara Button and the Magical Hat Day

Children's Book Review by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com

When I was a child, I inherited my nana's button tin. I loved to play with those multicoloured circlets. I'd make patterns and pictures with them, and dream buttony dreams. So when a children's picture book called Clara Button and the Magical Hat Day peeked over my horizon, I was definitely ready to go back in time. Clara Button and the Magical Hat Day was written by Amy de la Haye and illustrated by Emily Sutton. It was published by V and A Publications (Bloomsbury).

Clara Button loves hats - making them and wearing them! But her favourite hat is the one that once belonged to her Granny Elsie. When her older brother Ollie breaks Granny Elsie's hat, Mum takes them on a special hat day out to cheer Clara up. While visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum, Clara gets lost and embarks on an exciting journey of discovery. Meanwhile, Ollie is having adventures of his own, with swords and tigers!

Clara Button and the Magical Hat Day takes us all back in time, via the Victoria and Albert Museum. Sutton's illustrations are gorgeously detailed. They include all sorts of delights, from Clara's bus journey past Harrods and Fortnum and Mason, to lavish exhibits at The Victoria and Albert itself. Author de la Haye was a former curator of 20th Century Fashion at the museum, and has woven a charming tale of a little girl who most of all wants to fix her Granny's hat.

This would be such a lovely gift for a child about to visit the V and A, or indeed any museum. I think it will particularly appeal to little people who love to design clothes or dress their dolls.

Find more Children's Book Reviews on The Book Chook by clicking Reviews in the right sidebar.

Looking Back to January 2011

Towards the end of each month in 2011, I revisited some articles I'd written in 2009 and 2010. Not only did that mean new readers of the blog might find something useful otherwise buried in the archives, but it also reminded me of content I could refer to when I wrote new articles.

And here it is 2012! In each month of this year, I plan to look back to posts I've written in 2011. Don't forget, you can always use the right sidebar to find earlier posts. Click Creating, Learning, Reviews, Reading, Writing and Celebrating to explore those themes, or try the Blog Archive to sort by months.

Looking Back for Backwards Day This article lists some popular posts from January 2009 and 2010.

Games for Toddlers - Owlieboo Simple games for under 5s.

Let's Celebrate Australia Day with Boomerang Play You owe it to yourself to try these paper boomerangs. The kids might enjoy them too!

Literacy Via Air Mail - Guest Post More flying paper. A literacy game that's huge fun.

Teaching Kids to Type Some online resources.

Introducing Kids to Fairy Tales Online Some ideas and activities for introducing your youngsters to fairy tales.
AND
Fairy Tales Online and a Fairy Tale Party Online resources and party ideas with a fairy tale theme.

Myths Brainstorming Machine Check out this excellent Scholastic resource, part of the Myths, Folktales and Fairytales website.

Let's Celebrate A.A.Milne's Birthday A wonderful day to remember Pooh and Friends - Milne's birthday was January 18.

Picassopation In which the Book Chook yearns to be an artist.

Make a Comic at Digger and the Gang Another great little comic maker for kids.

Cartoonize Yourself Adding effects to images can help kids get inspiration for their creative projects.

Word Fun at Only Connect An online game that's stacks of fun for teens and adults! I also invented a modified real life game you could play with younger kids.

Imagine. Create. Dream.

I strongly believe in dreaming. Not the crazy-movie-inside-head dreams when we're asleep, so much as the dreams that spur us on to creating something. That "something" might be an interesting sandwich filling, a collage in shades of lemon and lavender, a cubby house behind the sofa, or a better life for ourselves. We all need dreams, kids especially. That's why I love children's literature so much - it truly helps kids to dream.

What do your children dream about? Have you asked them? Do you discuss your own dreams with your kids? You know that I think it's important for our kids to "catch" us reading and writing. It's also vital that we share imagining, creating and dreaming with our kids too. Encouraging them to share their dreams and imaginings with us is the other side of the coin. Of course, sometimes kids will want to keep their dreams to themselves, and naturally we'll respect that.

Encouraging kids to dream, imagine and create can start anywhere and anytime. Maybe you're walking in the rainforest when you see a big old tree with a split trunk. Play "what if?" with your kids. What if that were somebody's home? Who might live there? What would that creature look like/do/eat etc? By making creative thinking and musing part of our everyday lives, by being playful and creative ourselves, I believe we're helping our children develop their own creativity. And our world needs creative people.

Is creativity important in your home? What do you do to encourage imagination, creativity and dreams in your kids?

If you're interested in creativity, click the Creating button in my right sidebar for more posts about this theme. You might also like my Creative Prompt series - you can link to all the posts in the series at New Series - Creative Prompts from the Book Chook.

Children's Book Review, The Scariest Thing of All

Children's Book Review by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com

I adore children's literature, as you know. Today, I'm not just appreciating that great children's books can start a lifelong love of reading in kids, though they certainly can. I really like the way a children's picture book can help children learn to cope. In the case of The Scariest Thing of All, by Debi Gliori and published by Bloomsbury (2011), the theme is coping with fears.

A little rabbit has a seemingly endless list of things to be afraid of. Even his family aren’t sure how to help him overcome his anxieties!

One day, everything gets just about as bad as it can and the little rabbit finally has to face his fears. In so doing, of course, he realises that nothing is as big, bad or as terrifying as it first appears.

Don't you love that positive message! Kids will enjoy the humour, and the imaginative writing in this book. Little Pip the rabbit likens rainfall to "...the sound a vast hisster makes as it weaves its web." We read of a "...gobbler blowing bubbles at the bottom of the lily pond." And we rejoice as the Scariest Thing of All roars its loudest roar and goes inside for supper.

Gliori's illustrations are quirky, fanciful, entertaining. There are holes to look inside, tree rooms to investigate and scary creatures to tame. Kids will enjoy The Scariest Thing of All as a bedtime or anytime story, and caring adults will appreciate the opportunity for children to understand that fears, even irrational ones, can be put into perspective.

TOP TIP: There's a lovely activity pack to download on Gliori's website that includes a wordsearch, colouring in sheets, make your own Pip mask, a wild wood nature collage and more. Love it when writers and publishers add such value to children's books!

Find more Children's Book Reviews on The Book Chook by clicking Reviews in the right sidebar.

Why I Love Children's Literature - Guest Post

Sue Stirling started working in a Child Care Centre in her late teens. She was privileged to have an amazing mentor who made it her mission to teach her about children, their development, and play, and how to engage children in authentic experiences. At her insistence, (which Sue will always be grateful for), Sue trained as a Child Care Worker. This led her to work in Princess Margaret Hospital for Children (Perth) as a Play Assistant. She enjoyed providing fun and engaging experiences for children during their stay in hospital. What continues to amaze her is children’s resilience and ability to overcome difficulties. From there Sue went to work in a variety of day care centres caring for children from 0-5 years old. Sue had the opportunity, when her boys were young, to write articles for the publication, Infant Times. She trained as a Teacher’s Assistant and worked with Kindergarten and Preprimary children. After being some years in this role, she enrolled in a K-3 Teaching Degree and finished in July 2011.


Why I Love Children's Literature
by Sue Stirling

For as long as I can remember, I have loved children's books and being with children! This quote by Roald Dahl embodies how I feel:

So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install,
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.

I would have to say that I believe almost everything can be cured by a warm lap and a good book! I can remember sitting on a cold winter evening on my mother’s lap, beside a warm crackling open fire, being absorbed in tales of Narnia by C.S.Lewis and the adventures of four children who were able to travel to other lands through wardrobes and train stations. I remember laughing until my stomach ached as my mother read Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren. I loved the fact that Pippi lived in a house on her own with her own horse, and really did anything she liked. She even had to tell herself when it was time to go to bed!

Over the years, there have been many days where I sat with my boys as we read about knights in amour, held our breath as the story reached its climax and sighed with relief as the hero once again was victorious. I remember days where we would read books that made us laugh until we cried. As the years unfolded I have had the opportunity to read to hundreds of children. Sometimes I pause and look at their faces, their bodies so still, their faces filled with wonder. I think to myself, where are they? What can they see? What are they imagining? All the troubles of their day are swept aside as they enter a world of wonder - the world of children's literature.

Catch up with Sue on her new blog, Teachers Quiver Full, where you'll find out more about her passion for children's literature, and learn great tips for literacy, learning and literature activities.