You Wouldn’t Want to be a 19th Century Coal Miner in England! A Dangerous Job You’d Rather Not Have is written by John Malam. It is a historical fiction picture book all about Coal Miners in England in the 19th century. The book starts off with a simple introduction about what was happening in England and an explanation of what coal is and why we need it. The book informs you about children working in the mines, the tunnels, the cage that brings you down, and other scary aspects of older coal mining. However, the book does a great job lightening the mood with the authors word choice, and the fantastic drawings by David Antram. The book closes discussing the strikes and how the country looked like it would run out of coal! This book was perfect for children who would fall under the middle elementary ages. Not only can they read the book, but they can understand the book and appreciate it more than a younger student may be able to.
Author Archives: Emily Loughman
Emily Loughman – The Encyclopedia of Early Earth
The Encyclopedia of Early Earth by Isabel Greenberg is a fantastic graphic novel about a storyteller who is sent on a quest. The book starts with a Nord man and a South Pole woman meeting for the first time. While they are opposites, they quickly fall in love. However, they can not touch. The woman asks her husband to tell her the story about how he found her from the very, very beginning. Throughout the book there are many different, unique, and interesting stories. In these stories you meet the main character, the storyteller and learn the boy has been separated into three different boys. Then soon after put back together ag
ain by the Medicine Man. However, when put back together, the Medicine Man lost part of the boy’s soul. On the storytellers journey he meets many people from many different cultures and areas around the world. I really enjoyed reading this book. All the pictures really added to the storyline and made it very interesting to read! The book is fantastic for late elementary aged students. Some stories are more graphic and some of the drawings contain nudity, which would be appropriate for a child that is older. The aspects and plot of this book would also be better
understood by an older student.
Emily Loughman – Press Here
Another great book by Hervé Tullet is Press Here. This book consists of no characters, just words and dots. The book is great for preschool aged children. It teaches them about numbers and colors in a really fun way. The book starts off on the first page with one yellow dot and gives d
irection to press the dot and then turn the page. Each page has a different direction and when you do what the direction says and turn to the next page something will happen to the dot. The dots multiply, change colors, grow and shrink in sizes, move from side to side on the pages, and scatter! The book teaches children a lot of important information without the child even realizes it. They are learning in a different and more hands on way!
Emily Loughman – The Enormous Crocodile
The Enormous Crocodile written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake is a great book for middle elementary students. This picture book keeps the reader interested the whole time and gives great visual representations of the words! The book starts off with The Enor
mous Crocodile talking to The Notsobig One about what they will eat for lunch today. The Enormous Crocodile talks about all his different plans that he will use to eat the children to many animals throughout the area. He talks to Humpy-Rumpy, Trunky, Muggle-Wump, and the Roly-Poly Bird along the way. The crocodile tries to camouflage himself in many different ways like being a coconut tree or a bench, however every time one of the other animals catches him and saves the children. In the end, Trunky flings The Enormous Crocodile into space and he his the sun and “sizzled up like a sausage.” This book is great for kids because it has a different story line and the pictures are greatly drawn. They make the book even better! While some children are afraid of animals, this books shows that animals are not dangerous and they will not eat children for any meal.
Emily Loughman – Help! We Need a Title!
Help! We Need a Title! by Hervé Tullet is about a story that is unfinished. This picture book for preschoolers combines drawn characters and pictures of Tullet himself! Some of the characters in this fun book consist of a blonde wizard girl, a pig, a snake, a stick man, a dog, and Tullet. It starts off talking about how the characters have not been given a story yet and how they try to make the book exciting so we won’t stop reading. They then bring in a bad guy to make the story more interesting, he then tells them to ask the author for a story! It is interesting because Tullet took pictures of just his shoulders and face..then drew a body on him to complete the picture. It was very unique and fun because I had not seen something like this before. In the end, Tullet makes up a story for the book; once it is over all the characters say goodbye and the story is over shortly after that. Preschoolers will enjoy this book because of the characters, colors, plot, and all the creative aspects to it.