Classroom Books and Year Three readers- Ouch! by Ragnhild Scamell and Michael Terry

"The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew It Was None of His Business" by Werner Holzworth has inspired many books. "Ouch!"seems to be amongst these titles. Telling an enjoyable story of a hedgehog preparing for hibernation, this book is well-written and easy for young children to follow. Having prepared her winter nest, the hedgehog manages to get an apple stuck on her spines. Seeking the help of a squirrel, a pig, a frog, and a goat, the hedgehog progresses through the story. Michael Terry's illustrations of the anthropomorphic animals lend a real humanity to them; as an adult reader, you can see the potential for an animation series in this book. The story gives an adult reader many opportunities to read in fun voices, meaning that it is a particularly good book for a teacher to read to their class, or a parent to their child.


Ragnhild Scamell showcases a keen turn of phrasing in this book. The epilogue (below) is enveloping and uses language to soothe the child reader/listener. "Hedgehog squeezed into her little nest. It fitted her perfectly. And it was the best nest ever." Read in a quiet voice, this text provides a clever coda to the exciting progression of the story, easing the listener into the resolution, and providing a peaceful conclusion. The picture bares little comparison to a real hedgehog nest- which are usually located under hedgerows, piles of logs, etc, but fits the text well; the idea of 'squeezing' into a 'little nest' is psychologically emotive, and the illustration depicts the scene that most children would picture. A pause for reflection is definitely needed after reading this to your class- or a peaceful passing into sleep if you are reading this to your child. A wonderful book that is superbly paced and supremely enjoyable.

Recommended to Year Three readers as the text is lengthy and fairly complex; also recommended to read to children of all ages.

CLASSROOM EXTRA: Want to see a real hedgehog nest? CLICK HERE for the British Hedgehog Preservation Society page on hedgehog homes.

Reception and Year One readers- Ghost by Luk Depondt and Guido Van Genechten

There's nothing as good as a spooky book for encouraging young readers to delve into reading. Something about ghostly going-ons is naturally exciting for Primary aged children, and this wonderful book provides a fun reading experience.

"Ghost" is beautifully illustrated. The giant pages are full of large, simple cartoons which are amusing and clearly defined. There are so many styles and methods of illustrating picture books, and the paintings used here work well, and will provoke the interest of young readers.

The story is fairly simple- the young ghost tells the reader that 'if he were a ghost he'd...' which provides a good template for creative writing. Each ghostly activity is accompanied by a wonderful painted illustration which helps the reader to form an image of the sentence. This means that the book is very useful in helping children to develop their decoding skills; for instance, "I'd go "Boo" at the kids in the park" is illustrated thus:


With the ghost (and his bat) swooping in from the corner of the page, and the children running off the bottom and far right of the page, the meaning is clear. A less certain reader will be able to understand the meaning of the words from the image, and perhaps even raise a question as to why there is one boy not running away; so, the simple logic to this enjoyable book helps to build reading skills.

This big, colourful, enjoyable book could easily become a firm favourite of any young reader. It's a fine book to read with Reception and Year One classes, as the large pages and pictures mean it's easy to share with a class. Parents may also like this book too, as it's easy and fun to read with a child, and a good pick for a Halloween present.

Above: aaw, cute ghosts!

FREE RESOURCE: Guido Van Genechten has a website with a page of free colouring sheets to download (pdfs), all similar to the style he uses here- CLICK HERE

Year Two readers- Pigs Might Fly by Jonathan Emmett and Steve Cox

It's a fairly common idea for some writers- take a public domain story that is well known and update it in a comical way. "Pigs Might Fly" takes the story of the three little pigs and sets it... in an aviation competition. The front cover proudly proclaims that the book won a Red House Children's Book Award in 2006, an excellent organisation that will happily let schools and libraries borrow the current top 50 books for free (LINK to borrow the books).

The first impressions of the book come from the pupils in a Year Three class I recently worked with. The cover elicited responses of "Ooh, it looks exciting", "I think that will be a good book", and "There's a plane, he's coming to get them!" and a completely positive response from the pupils.

"Pigs Might Fly" is not a pointless reimaging of a traditional tale. Emmett and Cox simply take a well-known story and use laddish humour in an attempt to create a story that will appeal to boys. Indeed, Jonathan Emmett has talked of his desire to create stories for boys that connect to their interest in machines and vehicles, which is certainly a logical pursuit for a modern writer.

The illustrations are superb; bright and clear full colour pages are complimented by text that surrounds the main pictures in a variety of exciting fonts. Emmett's concept of the pigs making their planes from straw, wood, and metal (as the story states, "Whoever heard of an aeroplane made out of bricks?") is clever, and well realised in the illustrations. As for the story, well, you already know what happens in the end, but a Year 3 pupil I read this book with surmised, "Its like another different story anyway. And better."

Whilst "Pigs Might Fly" isn't the most memorable book, it is highly enjoyable and an interesting diversion that may- as Emmet hopes- enthuse some reticent readers. In using a familiar story as the basis for this book, many children will already have some knowledge of the text. The central refrain may have changed to "Let me win, little pig, let me win" but the familiarity maintained will ensure that young readers will have a helping hand in reading the book. For this reason, the book can be recommended to Year 2 readers, who may need some help with the few unfamiliar words in the book such as furious and barrel as well as the names of the pigs. Teachers of Year 3 pupils may want to use this story as the inspiration for writing modern updates of traditional tales- which is often an effective activity when initiated with roleplay.