"lively and
humorous...
even reluctant
readers...
might be tempted
to try them."
Books for Keeps
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Whiz Kids/Buddies
Fast Forward/Accelerate
Look & Wonder
Pinpoints/Magnifications
How To Be...
You Wouldn't Want To...
*The Whiz Kids
series is titled
'Buddies' for the
Hodder Wayland
UK Edition
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| Books for Keeps January 1999 Tell Me Why Planes Have Wings Tell Me Why Rain Is Wet |
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| Written and Illustrated by Shirley Willis These small square picture books are lively and humorous and they also impart sound information about the topics they consider. Children will like joining the six 'Buddies' children and their dog Boris, as they endeavour to find answers to their questions on, respectively, flight and water. The books have nice clear contents pages, glossaries and indexes, and in each case the drawings extend the text in an amusing way. Young readers at Key Stage 1 (5-7 year olds) are also introduced to different types and sizes of font — large bold print for the questions that organise each book, basic information on the sub topics in large print, smaller print for detailed points and the procedural writing explaining how to carry out simple experiments. The children's comments on all the phenomena they are exploring are in yet another typeface which is designed to be integral to the illustration. The rationale for these books has been thought out by a team that has really considered how to make some inviting information books for young children. Even reluctant readers, who cause us much concern, might be tempted to try them. I particularly like the diagrams — for example of the plane parts, clearly labelled on page 26 of Tell Me Why Planes Have Wings and of the main types of clouds — cumulus, stratus and cumulonimbus — on page 13 of Tell Me Why Rain is Wet. Teachers will find these titles help meet objectives in the National Literary Strategy's Frameworks for Teaching. Copyright 1999-2001 - Books for Keeps |
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| Books for Keeps September 1999 Tell Me How Much It Weighs Tell Me How Far It Is |
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| Written and Illustrated by Shirley Willis These robust little science books for key stage 1 are structured round the kinds of questions children ask and cover basic concepts about weight and distance in an interesting way. They are likely to be a helpful addition to science resources and teachers will welcome the pages with experiments to try and things to make and do. The books also support children's developing literacy as they include some of the conventions of information texts — contents pages, indexes, glossaries and subheadings. The experiments are enjoyable and also provide an introduction to procedural writing. The buddies, six young friends, are a device to introduce the ideas and activities but, rather oddly, their names are not used except on the back cover. There are a lot of key stage 1 science books on topics like weight and distance but these two compete well with their up to date format and lively text. Copyright 1999-2001 - Books for Keeps |
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