Heading for the Education Show next month? Pick up the National Literacy Association’s quality-controlled Guide to Literacy Resources on stand number E64 (30,000 copies are also being sent free to schools via Scholastic). From the 600 books and ICT packages commented on, eight have received NLA Wow! awards, to be presented at the show.
Just in time for Science Week, a Wow! goes to the Oscar books from Walker, an early years science series starring a curious cat (pictured) that covers growth (Oscar and the Frog) and light and dark (Oscar and the Moth). They are as stylish as you would expect from author Geoff Waring, creative director of Glamour magazine.
The rest of the Wow! list: Body (big book and CD), by Richard Walker with consultant Robert Winstone (Dorling Kindersley), expected to appeal to reluctant readers; Dickens: His Work and his World by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Robert Ingpen (Walker Books); A Kick in the Head: an everyday guide to poetic forms selected by Paul B Janeczko, illustrated by Chris Raschka (Walker Books); two strong novels for children aged 10-plus, Spirit Walker by Michelle Paver (Orion Children’s Books) and Once by Morris Gleitzman (Puffin); Wolves, a first picture book with minimal text from a rabbit narrator by Emily Gravett which the judges are pleased to note follows the national carroticulum (Macmillan); The Little Red Hen and the Grains of Wheat, retold by LR Hen (Manju Gregory) and illustrated by Jago (Mantra).
See a full guide to the Education Show in Teacher magazine next week (March 3.)
