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.
Tag Archives: middle elementary
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.