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Book Review: Grandma Bird
We were delighted when this latest book by Benji Davies arrived on our doorstep. We are big fans of his previous work (The Storm Whale and The Storm Whale in Winter), having used and shared them many times on our training courses – most recently with our ‘New to Y1’ delegates.
This latest offering sees Noi reluctantly leaving his house, Dad and their six cats, to spend the summer with his Grandma in her house on a lonely, deserted island. Noi doesn’t find this a pleasant experience and decides to go off exploring on his own, using his imagination to create his own adventures. Little does he realise that a storm is coming and soon he will find himself cut off from Grandma and her island.
“Noi isn’t at all sure about spending the summer at Grandma’s”
The theme of nature and Noi’s kindness to creatures reoccurs in this book as with The Storm Whale, when he finds an injured bird and then many more swept off course by the storm. Soon he and Grandma have a house full of birds to care for leading to a bond being formed between the two which lasts all summer long.
As with the previous books, Noi’s tale is told with support from beautiful illustrations which provide a wealth of opportunities for discussion and exploration. What is he thinking? How does he feel? What would you do if you were Noi?
Perfect for KS1, we think there are also plenty of opportunities to focus on English skills through the exploration of suffixes in the text, noun phrases, conjunctions, punctuation and phonics.
There are also excellent links to Science and Geography topics specifically focussing on animals, habitats, weather or even map skills. Maybe Noi could write Dad a letter to explain his adventure or find out how to care for an injured bird and write a set of instructions?
We look forward to sharing this text on our future courses but if you can’t wait, here are all the details:
Grandma Bird by Benji Davies
Simon & Schuster ISBN: 978-1-4711-7180-2 RRP £6.99
