Oscar’s Book Prize

Gina Kaminski is on a boring school trip to the museum so she goes to read a story, however, she is not happy with the story that she picks – Jack and the Beanstalk. She decides there are three major issues with the story and decides that the best thing to do would be to visit fairy tale land to fix it and therefore make the story better and save the giant!

She then travels into fairy tale land and lives the story of Jack and the Beanstalk instead of Jack, making sure that she fixes the three mistakes that she has identified.

The story of Gina Kaminski Rescues the Giant is one of the stories that follows neurodiverse main character Gina as she identifies mistakes and fixes them. Gina can struggle with communicating her emotions and has a card that helps her identify how she is feeling when things happen to her. The illustrations take on a simple cartoon style but are effective and add a depth to the story. This book would be perfect to use in EYFS and KS1 looking at an alternative telling of a traditional tale to spark other creative alternative fairy tales.

Hank the Goose is a character with whom many of us will be familiar; he can upset others and struggles to deal with his impulsivity. Finding himself lonely, we see him try to manage his big emotions and start afresh, but that isn’t always easy for our goose. Thanks to the kindness and tolerance of others, Hank learns to reflect on his behaviour and make positive changes.

This book carefully delivers powerful messages to its readers in a fun and amusing way. Children will laugh out loud with Hank while learning about tolerance and respect for others, building those core values, as well as the importance of being kind.

With wonderful illustrations and a story that interweaves simplicity with adventurous language, you cannot help but love Hank – flaws and all!

This is a really good book to read to your little one, or to the whole class. It is written mainly in rhymes and the illustrations bring the story to life. The message about the dad being too busy on his mobile phone to take any notice of his son is also topical. On a train journey to the seaside, the dad and little boy are joined by all sorts of animals that the boy is fascinated by – and the dad does not notice! This leads to a fun adventure with the boy and the tiger. This is a story about connection and imagination, and there’s a message for adults too, here – don’t miss those early years of fun with your child!

For more information and ideas for using the book with children, check out author Mariesa Dulak’s guest post on the BooksForTopics blog.