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Author & Illustrators

Ros Asquith Books

An attractively presented book with dynamic use of full colour cartoon people and speech bubbles throughout, this is an in-depth look at the practices of food harvesting, distribution and consumption, including up-to-date information on ultra-processed foods, climate change and future developments.

Although advertised on the publisher’s website as being suitable for 4+, and also looking fairly young in presentation, the text feels more advanced. It assumes a fair amount of reader background knowledge, both because the sentences require inference, and also because of the opinionated tone of the text – there are no modifiers of ‘some people think’- opinion is stated as fact. Moreover, occasionally, the speech bubbles of the cartoons are hard to decipher in terms of positioning and nuance, so the reader may not be sure where they fit and if they are fact or opinion. Saying that, there is a lot of information provided, including processing, packaging, cooking, food banks and food waste, issues of distribution and so much more.

It is worth stocking in the school library, but this is a book that warrants explanation and discussion. It will certainly provoke it.

The Great Big Book of Families introduces children to the fact that not all families look the same. Featuring funny artwork and wonderfully accessible text this book celebrates each family in its own unique and wonderful way.

What is a family? Once, it was said to be a father, mother, boy, girl, cat and dog living in a house with a garden. But as times have changed, families have changed too, and now there are almost as many kinds of families as colours of the rainbow.

From a mum and dad or single parent to two mums or two dads, from a mixed-race family to children with different mums and dads, to families with a disabled member. This is a fresh, optimistic look through children’s eyes at today’s wide variety of family life: from homes, food, ways of celebrating, schools and holidays to getting around, jobs and housework, from extended families, languages and hobbies to pets and family trees.

The Great Big Book of Families is a brilliant introduction for children to all family types great and small.

Max is mad about sport. As he gets up, has breakfast and heads off to school, he is dreaming of competing in world class sporting events. In his real day, he and his class win the school football match and, in his imagination, he and his friends are winning the World Cup. This is a lively and fun approach to sport, and a very inclusive picture book showing disabled children and children without disabilities enjoying different sports together in a natural way. The sports include football, rugby, athletics, cricket, diving, discus throwing and cycling.

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Stone Girl Bone Girl

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Year group(s) the book is most suitable for:

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Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?

Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?

Would you recommend the book for use in primary schools?

yes

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Curriculum links (if relevant)

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