The Secret Diary of Jane Pinny by Philip Ardagh and Jamie Littler

2017

fluent reader, upper primary, Key Stage 2, ages 9-11, Ardagh Philip, Littler Jamie, historical, Victorian era,        

Jane Pinny becomes a maid at one of the very big houses.  She learns her trade well and fits in comfortably with the other servants and the owners. She becomes a detective when a necklace goes missing. This happens because an attempt to hide it went wrong; her employer had attempted to hide it from his wife as what she proposed to wear was actually a copy. The person they are visiting will see this straight away. However, his young son then hides the necklace up the chimney.

Jane’s first person present tense narrative allows the reader to experience the growth with the protagonist.

Philip Ardagh adds footnotes to explain some to the facts about Victorian life.

Jamie Littler’s pictures are at the time endearing and also a little quirky. There are illustrations on almost every page certainly on every double spread. These not only illustrate but are also full of extra interesting and informative detail.

The pages have blackened edges, making it look a little as if the book has also been up the chimney.

Unusually the text is ragged right but it uses a serif font and has difficult ‘a’s and ‘g’s. The text is 182 pages long.   

This text is produced in association with the National Trust.  

Hatch by Jill Atkin and Emma Latham

 

2019 

This tells the story of a family of blackbirds. The parents build a nest.  There are three eggs. The mother and father take it in turns sitting on the eggs and fetching food for the other one.  The eggs hatch. The young birds soon leave the nest and learn to fly.   

The text is aimed at the very early reader and is part of Badger Learning’s Reading Scheme. This is in Blue Band 4. It is published by Franklin Watts.  The books are quite expensive for parents or even schools to buy but I obtained mine form the local library. It may be worth looking there for texts like this one.

Although a parent or teacher may monitor the choice of the child, according to what they know about that child’s reading ability, if the book is picked up from the library or chosen from a book box in the classroom the new reader will have the feeling of making their own choice about what they read.

The story is just nineteen pages long with only a little text on each page. Some pictures are integrated, others are blocked.  The pictures both illustrate and supplement the text.

The text is ragged right. Significant chunks of language are grouped together with extra line breaks separating them.

The font is clear with simple ‘a’s and ‘g’s.   

The end papers include a section on advising the caring adult how to work with the child.   

Aunt Amelia by Rebecca Cobb

 

2014

Aunt Amelia comes to look after the children.   She looks formidable – not least of all because she looks like an alligator. Yet she proves to be a lot of fun.  Mum and Dad give her a list of what the children should and shouldn’t do.  Aunt Amelia completely ignores this.  They all have a lot of fun but order is restored before Mum and Dad return.  

The pictures are full of extra activity which provides more story and talking points for the adult and child reading the book together.  In spades. No wonder Rebecca Cobb has been a Waterstones Children’s Picture Book Prize Winner.

The text is verges on being an emergent reader text.   The subject matter is quite high level and the pictures and text are integrated in a quite sophisticated way. The font is plain and so would be easy for an emergent reader to decipher.   

It’s certainly a text that a child and adult can read together.   There are some very rich extra stories in the pictures.

The end papers reflect Aunt Amelia’s dress.  

Noel Streatfeild’s Christmas Stories

 

2018

Although this was compiled in 2018 the stories were first published in various magazines in the early 1950s.  

Noel Streatfeild presents to us an older-fashioned way of living; one we might think would be gentler. Or is it?  

Rationing was still happening and this is evident in many of the stories.  Also surprising that not all of the stories are about well-to-do middle class families although one certainly is and one is even about a princess.

In all of the stories the characters struggle emotionally or financially and in many examples both.

As we might expect from Streatfeild, ballet shoes, skating and shows feature abundantly.

Each story is short and carefully crafted. There are a few line drawings that illustrate the content. The paperback is 174 pages long.

The Secret of Haven Point by Lisettte Auton

 

2022

Alpha Lux is disabled and is the first foundling to live at Haven Point.  She was found in a crate that had “Lux Flakes” printed on the side.  She lives with the Captain, other foundlings with disabilities and lots of cats in Old Ben the Lighthouse.  Also near to Haven Point is a colony of mermaids. Mermaid Ephyra helps to raise Alpha. This community supports itself by wrecking.  They capture boats that sail nearby, take the goods they need, but then send the sailors unharmed, on their way. The mermaids are very helpful in this.   

Life is fine and Alpha is relatively happy; she has friends, she is fed and sheltered and she feels s loved. Until one day she sees a glint coming from the old pill box on the coast.  Could this be her real mother looking for her?  No, it is a spy who is trying to find evidence of mermaids. Life becomes complicated when this spy, Bobby, is captured and he falls in love with Ephyra.

Alpha begins to feel excluded, falls out with her friends, and gradually realises that she has been extremely self-centred.

Those who had sent Booby arrive and capture one of the mermaids as evidence of the existence of mermaids. In the ensuing struggle Ephyra is wounded as she protects Alpha. The wound is fatal.

Life has to change at Haven Point. The mermaids leave and go out further to sea. The light house becomes a café and tourist attraction. Alpha has to find her own way in the world.  This borders on being a bildungsroman      

The book is 379 pages long –though the text is double spaced.  It uses a young reader friendly font: 12.25 Bembo though it is serifed and has difficult ‘a’s and ‘g’s.  There are line drawings at the beginning of each chapter and full page illustrations at intervals throughout the book. Three artists have been involved here: Gillian Gamble has created the cover, Valentina Toro the drawings at the beginning of each chapter and the full page drawings, and Luke Ashforth has provided the map and the concept of the lighthouse. There is information about the author and the artists at the end of the book. At the beginning Auton discusses disability.  She labels herself as a disabled person rather than a person with a disability.