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Book Review: Hide and Seek
We were lucky enough here at The Literacy Company to receive an advanced copy of Katie May Green’s forthcoming picture book.
Everybody in our team loves Katie May Green’s first rhyming adventure ‘Seen and Not Heard’ – a fabulous book that we have used previously on our Gifted and Talented sessions – so we were excited to see what fun this next instalment about the mischievous children of Shiverhawk Hall had to offer us.
It continues the tale of the Shiverhawk Hall children who, by day, are perfectly behaved: they sit in their fine clothes, in the portraits on the wall, with not a hair out of place. But by night, they climb out of their picture frames, having naughty fun until the sun rises and it is time to return to the gallery.
This story begins when the familiar characters, Percy, Lily, Billy and the Plumseys, are woken by a midsummer moon and discover that the De Villechild twins have disappeared from their frame. It’s time for a game of ‘Hide and Seek’…
The illustrations are full of detail and interest and there is lots to discover, not all of it obvious at first glance. A new cast of garden and forest animals join the cat and the mice as they accompany the children’s adventures. Full of fun and humour, the children are seen having a whale of a time. The accompanying text has a strong rhythm and pattern of rhymes which carry the reader along on the children’s adventure to it’s somewhat soggy conclusion.
We absolutely loved this new offering from Katie May Green. We think it would be a perfect book to enjoy in year 2 and 3. The stately home setting provides a great opportunity to introduce a range of vocabulary – maze, cherub, statue, fountain – and the children’s old fashioned clothing will stimulate all sorts of discussion. The stunning detail in the illustrations would make them ideal for inspiring setting or character descriptions.
Fun-filled recounts or diary entries could describe the night’s adventures; considering the viewpoints of different characters would stretch your more able learners. For pupils in year 3, the book could also provide opportunities to act out scenes and write dialogue between the characters. You might even want to beat the author to writing their next adventure!
However you choose to use this book with your class, we can guarantee they will love the return of these playful characters.
‘Hide and Seek’ by Katie May Green is available to buy from 16th July 2019 and published by Walker Books.
ISBN 978-1-4063-6912-0 £12.99
