Book of the Month: March Edition!

Welcome to our March Edition of Clara’s Corner!

This month Clara will be reviewing three books, ‘The Comet’, ‘ The Oak Tree’ & ‘Perfectly Imperfect’

This month we’re giving you 20% off each title Clara has reviewed – just use ‘CLARA’ at checkout to save!

The Comet is up there in my list of top 10 picturebooks so I am absolutely delighted to see this in stock on ABC’s website!

For me, The Comet is an example of the most perfect crossover text, meaning you can read it with a wide range of ages and stages. It is sensitive and striking with the most alluring and captivating illustrations. Through the text, we follow Nyla and her dad as they make a challenging move from their very special and sentimental home to another very different home in a very different location. The story is packed with emotion and the illustrations take you even more deeply into the lives of Nyla and her dad, before, during and after the move.  The illustrations deserve deep exploration and time, they offer so much scope for inference and speculation. It is no surprise that the book was a winner Yoto Carnegie Shadower’s 2023 Choice Medal for Illustration. For full appreciation of the text and to navigate its themes, I would pitch this text for 2^nd class and up.

Things to try at school:

• Revisit the text and ignore the text. Read the illustrations and use your inference skills to make inferences about Nyla and her Dad.
• Explore the illustration and examine all the photographs in frames and on the walls to be found within illustrations of Nyla’s home. Discuss what you find.
• Fig is Nyla’s cat. He doesn’t say anything throughout the story but his presence is really noticeable and important. Revisit each page. Design a script with what you think Fig would be thinking or saying in each scene where he appears.

Learn about Haley’s Comet. Collect facts with what you learn and create a ‘class comet’ displaying all the knowledge.

Things to try at home:

• In the book, Nyla and her Dad had many photos displayed around their home. Explore the photos or pictures in your home. Discuss why they are displayed.
• Nyla really loved her home. List all the things you love about your home or where you live.

Dinnertime discussion: Nyla’s new home began to feel like a home after time. Discuss all the things you think that make a home feel like a home.

We all know Julia Donaldson for her classics such as The Gruffalo, Zog, Stickman and so on, however The Oak Tree offers a very different type of read from Donaldson. While it still is built upon her signature rhyming, The Oak Tree is a clever journey through time and history which runs hand in hand with the life of a mighty oak tree. The text and its accompanying illustrations offer a lot to readers in terms of unpacking integrated learning opportunities – history (time periods, sequencing, chronology), science (trees, lifecycles, wildlife, habitats, mini-beasts), geography (mapwork, weather systems, landscapes), maths (number, time, colour). Another example of a crossover text, ideal for the primary classroom, which could be used across ages and stages. I would pitch this at 1^st and up for the classroom. A gorgeous text by Julia Donaldson, matched perfectly by Victoria Sandoy’s delicate yet detailed illustrations.

Things to try at school:

• Learn about the lifecycles of the might Oak Tree
• Create a timeline of the historic events featured across the story.
• Revisit the illustrations. How many animals feature across the illustrations? Can you name them all?
• Revisit the illustrations and track the changes in appearance of the oak tree.
• The book contains rich examples of sophisticated language. Revisit the text and explore the vocabulary teaching opportunities (e.g. grub, tread, stealthily, garlands)

Create leaf characters by making leaf rubbings of oak tree leaves and adding loose parts.

Things to try at home:

• Take a walk in the locality and look out for mighty oak trees. Note the different types of trees to be found. Do you notice any wildlife nearby or on the trees?

Dinnertime discussion: Has anyone ever played in or on a tree?

In a world that is increasingly bombarded by carefully curated images and painfully shallow perceptions of perfection, this is a refreshing little read. Imperfectly Perfect begins with an all too familiar situation, a beloved book gets ripped. Feelings are high and Maria’s brother Robbie is upset and frustrated with his little sister for interfering with his favourite book… and now it’s ruined! Or so they think. Enter Bea, who takes Maria on a little journey around the locality to learn all about the beauty within imperfection. A gorgeous book, which readers young and old will relate to. A celebration of friendship, patience, perseverance, beauty and the love between big brothers and little sisters. I would pitch this at senior infants and up.

Things to try at school:

• Discuss and list all the things you would consider perfectly imperfect in the classroom.
• List all the words that you think can describe how Robbie was feeling when he realised Maria had ripped his favourite book.
• Pass out a magazine page or image to each child. Invite them to rip it into six pieces. Next, invite the children to swap their six pieces with the person beside them and challenge them put the pages back together using tape or glue. Compare and discuss.
• Recount: Can you recount all the perfectly imperfect things Bea and Maria noticed on their walk?

Things to try at home:

• Take a walk in the locality and look out for all the things that look perfectly imperfect to you.
• Explore your home together. What thinks could you describe as perfectly imperfect?
• Dinnertime discussion: What, to you, is perfect?

About Clara:

Clara Fiorentini is a former primary school teacher, now lecturing in initial teacher education at Marino Institute of Education, Dublin where she specialises in literacy education and children’s literature. Clara provides CPD for teachers and early childhood educators in the areas of literacy, children’s literature, playful learning and school transitions. Clara is completing her PhD research on preschool literacy practices at Trinity College Dublin and is the current President of the Literacy Association of Ireland (2024). Clara is a huge advocate for children’s literature and the use of the read-aloud in school and the home.

You can connect with Clara via Instagram, X or via her website.
For contact and enquiries, please email: [email protected]