Halloween Treat - Funnybones!

"This is how the story begins.

On a dark dark hill

there was a dark dark town.

In the dark dark town

there was a dark dark street.

In the dark dark street

there was a dark dark house.

In the dark dark house

there was a dark dark staircase.

Down the dark dark staircase

there was a dark dark cellar.

And in the dark dark cellar....

... some skeletons lived."

 This is by far, in my opinion, one of the most iconic openings to any children's book EVER! But then I am a little bias! Although 40 years on it is still a much loved story and I would bet has been read to most of the people in this country at some point in their lifetime. And if you're anywhere near my age, you probably grew up watching the brilliant animated series too (hop on Youtube if not!). It is of course the wonderfully spooky Funnybones by Janet and Alan Ahlberg! 

 As it is Halloween I thought I'd throw in a themed post this week, and so I raided my collection for something suitably scary! And when I say scary, I mean downright adorable! What's not to love about these skeletons and their dog? They have all the hallmarks of a classic comedy double act, one's little, one's big, they share a bed like Morecambe and Wise or Bert and Ernie, and of course one wears a silly hat! It's perfect! 

I'm sure you all know the story of Funnybones, but i'll give you a little reminder. The skeleton's decide to take the dog for a walk and scare someone while they are out. They end up in the park, where unfortunately the dog has a little accident and ends up as a pile of bones! Cue my favourite scene, where they have to try and put the dog back together, with hilarious results! I've always loved the set of illustrations here, and the idea that the bark depends on how the dog is assembled!

After they have successfully put the skeleton dog back together they go off looking for someone to scare. But the problem is everyone's asleep! Everyone except the skeleton animals in the zoo. Obviously. So they have a bit of fun there riding an elephant and chatting to the parrot.

But what's a good night out without scaring someone?! Probably very dull, if you're a skeleton! The few pages that follow are fab! Big and Little decide to scare each other, for lack of victims! They jump out from behind bushes at each other, hide in washing, and the dog chases them! It turns out they're massive scaredy-cats! 

I just want to say how much I love the illustrations in this book! They are absolutely charming, much like all of the Ahlberg's picturebooks. They are simple, playful, and vibrant. They make use of framing so well, and you get the feeling of reading not only a picturebook but also a comic. In Funnybones in particular their choice of colours is really effective. As we are told at the start, this story takes place in the dark, at night. Therefore a lot of the text is set against a black background. The use of white text, not only matches the colour of the skeletons, but also shows us what writing looks like in the dark! For the child reader this is probably not that obvious, but as an adult reader I see it as a lovely little nod to the way a child thinks. How else would your story show up!? These bold contrasts and brightly coloured illustrations make it an excellent books for all ages, from something that is visually stimulating for younger listeners, to the clear simple text and repetition for the early reader. This book has it all! 

Happy Halloween! 

Lx

Ps. Back to the list next time for the classic modern picturebook Guess How Much I Love You

No. 60 - The Little White Horse

Hello!  

Today I want to talk to you about Elizabeth Goudge's book The Little White Horse. The reason this post has taken so long for me to write, is because it has taken me since June to read this book!! The Little White Horse has both confused and delighted me!

    Not being a lover of fantasy stories as a child I think The Little White Horse had passed me by. To my shame, I had no idea what a classic it was; it won the Carnegie Medal in 1946, quite the accolade in the children's book world! Once I knew this, I set out with quite high hopes for this book, but found it a lot like Marmite! It seems you either love this book, or it's not to your taste! I'm in the latter camp I'm afraid, although it has had it's moments! 

    Now, the premise, as I understand it, (and bear with me here!) is that Maria, our heroine, has been sent to stay with her Uncle, Sir Benjamin Merryweather, because she is orphaned. She is accompanied by her stuffy governess Miss Heliotrope, and her faithful canine chum Wiggins. Although a nice change from London, there is another reason for her visit, which Maria must discover as her time as Moonacre Manor plays out. Something to do with moon maidens, a particularly nasty Frenchman, and lots of pink Geraniums! It's safe to say that I found this story really quite confusing, and if I'm totally honest, I'm still not quite sure about the finer points of the plot! What I can say though is that this book is truly bizarre, and for that reason it wasn't all bad!

    For a start it reeks of the Gothic and other classic genres! I found it channeling everything from Wuthering Heights to Dracula, with hints of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, The Secret Garden, and the Chrestomanci series, not to mention Five Children and It! It also has a time slip fiction feel to it too, which had me rather confused about what time period it was set in. It feels Victorian, yet there is an older vibe too (it took me way too long to work out that Maria's friend Robin wasn't a ghost!). Maybe the time period is undisclosed, who knows! It is fantasy after all! Or is it...

    This was something else I struggled with! I felt as though it was never fully committed to being a fantasy novel. Sometimes it was just normal, everyday life, and then there would be crazy moments, like when the cat shot great big, green beams of light out of his eyes! Yes, that really did happen! This book was full of surprising moments like that. Just when you think you're getting the hang of the story, Goudge springs another thing on you! 

You know Wrolf, the big old dog? 

Yeah..? 

Well he's actually lion, but no one ever notices!

What!? How can you not notice a lion walking about next to you, FOR MORE THAN HALF THE BOOK! 

    And then there was the unexpected, and frankly excessive use of the word cock!! The Men of the Black Cock (no laughing please!) are the Merryweather's sworn enemy, and their emblem is a big black cockerel. Whilst reading I came across cocks on people's shoulders, cock shaped swords, cocks on boxes, on boats! At NO POINT does Goudge use the word cockerel, and honestly, I think she did it on purpose! Let's just hope that her particular choice of vocab goes over the heads of the intended audience! It made me laugh though!! 

    The characters in The Little White Horse are wonderfully stereotypical. Maria is a spoilt child from a London household, used to the finer things. Miss Heliotrope the governess is the archetypal Victorian old maid and school mistress, and she's always getting Maria to practice her needlework, or read poetry. Although we do discover that Miss Heliotrope had an exotic past! Sir Benjamin is the usual big, blustery, jolly, aristocrat. He's not so keen on women, but dotes on Maria. And then there's dear old Digweed, the coachman/man servant, who scuttles around in the background like so many versions of this trope before him. The Old Parson feels like he is straight out of a Jane Austen novel! And the children of Silverydrew are always bursting into song like the chorus of children in an am-dram production! It's all very strange! The only characters that seem to break this conventional mould are Robin and his mother Loveday Minette. They are otherworldly, magical, and I'm not sure whether this is intentional or not. They almost feel like they've stepped out of another novel completely! It's safe to say that they were my favourite characters.

    But, despite the confusing plot, bizarre, if not slightly stereotypical characters, Goudge finishes the story quickly and neatly with 3 weddings. Long lost loves are reunited, Maria and Robin are married (despite Maria being, by my calculations, only 14!), and peace is restored to Moonacre Manor, the village of Silverydew, and the Merryweather estate. Goudge makes sure all loose ends are tied, and it's wonderfully predictable after the confusing chaos of the rest of the book! Everyone lives happily ever after! Hooray! 

    Overall, I found this book a confusing read! It's weirdness baffled me, but strangely this in itself was quite enchanting! If you think you have the patience then I suggest you try this book, but I think it appeals only to a certain kind of mind. I'm not a lover of fantasy and I think this may have been why I struggled with the plot so much. Even after writing this, I'm still not sure I totally understand what I've just read! 

Thanks for reading, L x

Next up, a book that I'm sure is on bookshelves everywhere, Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney

Where the Wild Things Are

Hi everyone!

I have news, there is now an Instagram page for The Little Bookworm! Check it out @the.littlebookworm

I'm hoping to post all kinds of interesting things there, and maybe even do some live story times too! 

This post has been inspired by my lastest Insta post, which was to celebrate the birthday of the marvellous Mauric Sendak! His picturebook Where the Wild Things Are really ignited my passion for picturebook analysis, and my interest in the relationship between words and images in the picturebook format. There is so much more to a book than meets the eye and I find this so incredibly exciting! Once you know all the little codes and tricks you never look at another picturebook in the same way again! 

So for this post I thought i'd do something a little bit different and share some of my academic writing with you, on the subject of Sendak's Wild Things. The extract I want to share with you is all about the 'Picturebook Codes' as created by William Moebius. It is all about how the positioning of images on the page help to tell the story, and how text and image can work together, or indeed against each other, to create a narrative. I hope you find it an interesting insight into what it's like to study children's literature at a higher level. 

The centre spread (above) of Maurice Sendak’s celebrated picturebook Where the Wild Things Are (1963) is a clear example of what Moebius terms as ‘semic slippage’. This occurs when the images and text presented to the reader contradict each other, creating differing perspectives (Moebius, 2009, p.313). The image shows Max’s first encounter with the mythical creatures of his imagination (Sendak, 1963). The accompanying text says ‘they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws’ (Sendak, 1963). This creates a frightening image suggestive of other magical or fairy tales, in which the monster is a threat to the child protagonist. The emphasis placed on the frightening physical features of the creatures is not unlike the dialogue between the wolf and Little Red Riding Hood in the classic fairy tale. The text takes the conventional stance expected of a fantastical tale, but the illustration presents a contradictory image. Max is actually greeted by four friendly looking monsters that appear to be smiling and waving. They are not ‘terrible’ at all, and it is clear that Max is not scared of them. This juxtaposition between classic fairy tale text and the surprising imagery creates irony.

The text tells us that Max has arrived in ‘the place where the wild things are’ (Sendak, 1963). But as William Moebius points out, ‘What is a wild thing?’ (Moebius, 2009, p.313). By not capitalising ‘the wild things’ Sendak creates confusion around this phrase, sending ‘contradictory messages about the ‘who’ or the ‘what’ of the story’ (Moebius, 2009, p.313). On one hand it implies that the creatures are the wild things, but on the other it could be referring to Max whom the creatures later name ‘the most wild thing of all’ (Sendak, 1963). In the illustration the creatures look quite tame despite their fangs, horns and claws, and have big wide yellow eyes. Angry looking Max seems more of a threat to the creatures, than they are to him, despite their frightening textual descriptions. In fact Max looks rather unimpressed with their appearance, particularly as they are figments of his own wild imagination. By applying ‘the code of position’ as set out in Moebius’s essay Picturebooks Codes, it can be suggested that Sendak’s placement of the image in the top two thirds of the page is indicative of a ‘dream-vision’ (Moebius, 2009, p.316-17), a world from Max’s imagination. This imaginative quality is suggestive of the fairy tale or legend that the text seems to embody, but again creates confusion as they do not correspond.

The illustration shows us a more complex story of arrival than that of the text, which simply tells us ‘he came to the place’ (Sendak, 1963). The ‘code of position’ can again be applied to the image, in reference to the direction in which Max and the creatures are facing on the pages. Max has arrived from the left hand side, indicating that his journey has finished and that he is ready to continue his adventure across the page to the right. His left hand arrival also suggests that he has come from the stability of home and is continuing into the unknown. The stability of home, however, is tainted by Max’s anger and frustration, which is signified through the turbulence of the sea. This is contrasted with land, which is solid and much calmer. The monsters approach from the right hand side, indicative of their wild lifestyle, and move towards the stability of the left hand page and Max whom they will soon appoint as their King. Max wants to escape from the confines of home and become a true ‘wild thing’, whereas the monsters want some stability in their wild lives. These ideas are not conveyed at all in the text, which focalises Max as the child protagonist of a conventional fantasy. Whereas it could be argued that the illustration focalises the creatures and their emotional needs. The contrast between the text and image of this double page spread creates two varying perspectives.

So, as you can see, what seems to be a conventional fairytale story has a lot more layers once you know where to look! If you're interested in finding out more about William Moebius's 'Picturebook Codes' there's a great slide show here outlining all the codes in an easy to understand format! Or, you could track down the original essay 'Picturebook Codes' and give it a read.  

I hope you've enjoyed this little insight into the study of picturebooks, and can understand why I find it so interesting!!

I challenge you to pick up a picturebook and have a look for a few of Moebius codes, and see how it transforms your reading! 

Thanks, L x 

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The Summer Reading Challenge 2020 - The Silly Squad!

The Summer Reading Challenge starts today and I am so pleased that it's still on! 

This year join the Silly Squad, a madcap gang of animal friends, brought to life by Laura Ellen Anderson of Amelia Fang fame! The theme is humour and silliness, and so it's all about celebrating books that make us laugh! My favourite! All you have to do is sign up (as a child or a parent or carer) online at www.sillysquad.org.uk 

Like usual, the challenge encourages children to read as many books as they can in a set time period, earning badges and achieving goals along the way, except that this time it's all done online. This unfortunately means there will be no access to library books, so what will children be expected to read? Well, your local library service should have a selection of eBooks to choose from, and there are some wonderful platforms that these can be read on. For example I use a great app called Borrowbox, which I would strongly recommend. All you have to do is sign up using your library card and you can start borrowing. You can get both eBooks and audiobooks on Borrowbox, which is brilliant! Children can also re-read books that they already own, so why not get them picking out their favourites and revisiting them! Every book they read needs to be logged on their profile so that it counts towards their Silly Squad journey. 

Today, 5th June, is the start date, and if you're quick you can get in on the launch party action this afternoon on Facebook! Here's the schedule!

4.00pm - Sam & Mark (as seen on CBBC) launch the Summer Reading Challenge 2020 and introduce you to the Silly Squad - telling you how you can sign up and start your seriously silly summer

4.10pm - Comedian, author and presenter, David Baddiel, reads from his children's book The Taylor TurboChaser

4:15pm - Author Gareth P Jones reads from his book Dinosaur Detective: Catnapped! and takes us on a real adventure

4:20pm - Drawing with award-winning author and illustrator Rob Biddulph

4:30pm - Poet and author Joseph Coehlo reads Funny Fish from his book Poems Aloud

4:35pm - President of Libraries Connected, Carol Stump, reads a book from the official 2020 Summer Reading Challenge booklist - You Can't Call an Elephant in an Emergency by Patricia Cleveland-Peck & David Tazzyman

4:40pm - Crafts, colour and creativity with the original queen of colouring, Johanna Basford

4:45pm - Authors Katie and Kevin Tsang read from their book Sam Wu is Not Afraid of Zombies - including some super silly dress up!

4:50pm - Let's Get Silly with longest-serving female BBC Blue Peter presenter and author Konnie Huq

4.55pm - Presenter, author and adventurer, Ben Fogle reads an extract from his Mr Dog book series

5:05pm - The British Library shares content from their Discovering Children's Books website where you can find a whole range of creative activities. In this video, Viviane Schwarz shows you fun ways of developing silly characters

5:10pm - How to Build a Super Silly Reading Den with BBC's Katie Thistleton and Hacker T Dog

5:20pm - Children's author Philip Ardagh reads from his book Bunnies on the Bus

5:25pm - Arts Council England's Director of Libraries, Sue Williamson, reads her favourite poem

5:30pm - Silly Squad draw-along with author and illustrator, Laura Ellen Anderson, who is the Summer Reading Challenge 2020's official illustrator!

5:40pm - Award-winning comedian, actress and writer Samantha Baines reads from her novel Harriet Versus The Galaxy

5:45pm - Konnie Huq gets super silly with the Silly Squad

5:50pm - Shed School Magic with the nation's favourite teacher, Mr Bates

6pm - The nation's favourite comedian and presenter Paul O'Grady will read an excerpt from his favourite children's book, The Borrowers

6:05pm - Author Jennifer Killick reads from her book, Alex Sparrow and the Zumbie Apocalypse and shows us how to do a very silly dance - join in!

6:15pm - Children's author (and game designer!) Gabrielle Kent reads from her book, Knights and Bikes

6:25pm - Actor Owen Teale (Game of Thrones) reads from his favourite book, A Child's Christmas in Wales by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.

6:30pm - Jokes with our Ambassadors! Including Quick Reads 2020 author Milly Johnson, Samantha Baines, and Konnie Huq

6:35pm - Actor and writer Shobna Gulati (Dinner Ladies, Coronation Street) will read Tiny Ant from the Official Book Collection

6.40pm - Author and illustrator Laura Dockrill shares her favourite poems including her own poem My Mum's Growing Down as well as one by Benjamin Zephaniah from Talking Turkeys and a Carol Ann Duffy poem!

6.45pm - It's time to hear the official 'Let's Get Silly!' theme song! Written and performed by Harry Baker and Chris Read

6:50pm - Closing the Launch Party with a bedtime story, actor Charlie Condou (Holby City, Coronation Street) reads This is Gus from the official Summer Reading Challenge book collection

7pm - End

Personally, I'm loving the sound of a draw-along with Rob Biddulph! Has anyone been watching and joining in with Draw with Rob during the lockdown? And Paul O'Grady reading from The Borrowers will no doubt be magical! Plus, you can't have silly without Hacker T. Dog! 

Although it's a real pity that the Summer Reading Challenge wont be taking place in our libraries this year, the online version has a lot of great added extras! For a start it will be running for a much longer period, from June to September! So there is loads of time to get silly! There are also puzzles, games, quizzes, bonus content and an online book discussion forum too! There is even a book sorter to help children choose their next read. So, although it is a little different to what we are used to, this year's Summer Reading Challenge looks set to be a good one! 

I'm really glad they've chosen humour as the focus for this years challenge, I think it's what we all need right now! And on the theme of silliness I'd like to leave you with one of my favourite quotes from the great Roald Dahl, and something we should never forget. 

Thanks for reading, L x

Gosh, I Miss The Library!

Oh Hermione, I really wish I could! 

So, one thing that I've missed during lockdown is going to the library. The library has always been a constant for me. Where ever I've lived I've belonged to the library, and trips have been part of my weekly routine for as long as I can remember, especially growing up. I rely on the library to help me find the books for this blog, and for my own personal reading. I love hunting down a book I'm after either on the shelf, or online on the library catalogue. It's like being a detective! And one of the nicest feelings is knowing I have book waiting for me at the library, like a long lost friend. I love books, I just can't help it! But what happens now we can't go to the library? In the biggest time of doubt I've ever experienced in my life! Hermione's advice just doesn't cut it anymore! 

I rarely buy books theses days, and if I do I generally buy secondhand real, paper books. Call me old fashioned, but I love the tangible nature of a real book (and they smell nice too!). As well as libraries being out of action, I've obviously been unable to visit any bookshops, so I've had to begrudgingly embrace the world of the eBook. I rarely buy eBooks because they baffle me somewhat. You can't see how far you are through a book and I find it hard to measure my progress any other way. I like to sit down with a book and see that I've read a few millimeters or a centimetre on a good day! I can't get my head around a percentage! Numbers are not my thing! So, very reluctantly I've been buying kindle books for this blog over the past few months in order to keep the blog up and running, and it's been a very strange experience. Luckily children's books are never too expensive (no cheeky VAT), but not having the convenience of free books at the library has been very weird indeed! In some ways I resent having to buy these books, but what I resent more is having to read them electronically. You loose out on the full book experience, it just becomes another screen you have to engage with during your day, which is frankly, rubbish!

I don't know what the fate of our libraries will be after COVID-19. I can understand why there is no way they can reopen yet, but with budget cuts and popularity reducing the number of libraries in the UK anyway, I worry that COVID might be the end of libraries as we know them. What will happen to them now? Will they become entirely obsolete? I really hope not! Will the only people using them be me, and an old lady who enjoys a large print Mills and Boon? Probably... Will they become online catalogues, where you order up what you want, in a click and collect style shopping experience? Or will they go online entirely? 

And libraries are not just about books you know! If we loose the physical library building we loose baby and toddler groups, story time session, computer access, lego clubs, repair shops, and all those other lovely things that happen in our local libraries. I so, so hope that in the post-COVID world we still retain some of what makes a library so special, even if it has to change a bit. 

Thanks for reading, L x

No. 61 - Tom's Midnight Garden

Hi everyone! 

What a mad few weeks it's been! It would seem that a lot more things are approaching going back to some kind of normal, and the lockdown is easing up, which is super news! I personally can't wait to see my family again! 

In other news I have taken a job as an online English Lit tutor! So I have been cramming Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson for my first lessons! I forgot how complicated the plot is! There are mutinies all over the place!!

Today however, I wanted to talk to you about a book I have a love/hate relationship with, Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce. 

This book is a classic example of what is know in literature as 'time-slip fantasy'. This is a genre that uses the manipulation of time and chronology as the main feature of the plot. This usually happens through time-travel or dreaming. For me there are two definite types of 'time-slip fantasy', one that uses historical time periods, and another that uses fantasy worlds. The first category includes books such as Tom's Midnight Garden, A Traveller in Time by Allison Uttley, and The Greene Knowe books by Lucy Boston. The second kind of 'time-slips' can be found in books like Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz and of course The Phantom Tollbooth. These are much more dream-like and are much less rooted in reality. They deal in kairos, or mythical time. They also usually hide some kind of moral or didactic theme.

I think Tom's Midnight Garden fits into both of these categories. It mixes the ideas of memory and dreaming, with time-travel back to the Victorian period. Let me tell you a bit more about the story.

Now quite fittingly for our times, Tom is effectively sent away to his aunt and uncles' flat to self-isolate! His brother has measles, and until they are sure Tom doesn't have it too he must stay in their flat in quarantine! Moving into a little flat is a bit of a shock for Tom who is used to running around his garden and climbing trees. He must content himself with reading books and gazing out of the window. The flats have no garden to explore you see, much to Tom's disappointment. Then one night he hears the clock in the hall downstairs strike thirteen! This becomes the signal for Kairos, or mystical time, to begin. Tom sneaks out the flat and downstairs into the entrance hall of the big house (which has been divided up into flats), and when he opens the back door he discovers a huge, wonderful, verdant garden. A garden that existed when the house was a family home. In this kairos garden Tom can fulfill all his outdoor fantasies, and some critics have likened it to Eden or Paradise. Tom can climb all the trees, run across the lawn and paddle in the passing river. And the most brilliant thing is he can't be seen! Or can he? Enter Hatty, a little girl contemporary with the garden. She can see Tom, and together them embark on a variety of garden based adventures. Now all this sounds quite exciting doesn't it, and from an analytical point of view this book is brilliant! It has it's feet firmly in an interesting genre, there are loads of comparisions to be made with other books, and there is lots of scope for deeper reading and theorising too. Something that, as you probably all know by now, I love! But don't get your hopes up! Tom's Midnight Garden would be the perfect book if the plot wasn't so dull!

Now, I'm really sorry to have to say that! I'm not often too negative about books on here, but I find Tom's Midnight Garden a bit meh, as the kids say! Every time I read it I hope it will be more lively than it is! And I feel awful because I know it's won awards! It won the Carnegie Medal in 1958 for heavens sake! Maybe I'm missing something? I just find the whole things a little pallid. The characters are very 2D, and despite the beautiful, engaging descriptions of the garden I never really feel like I am there. There is the risk that because I am familiar with other 'time-slip' books, it all feels a bit samey. As the story progresses we begin to see the link between the garden and time, and Tom discovers that in the real world no time passes while he is in the garden! Like in Alice in Wonderland, or Peter Pan, kairos has no effect on chronos (real chronological time). In my opinion, there is nothing exceptional about the way Pearce uses the 'time-slip' genre, so you can why I've been a little reluctant to get excited about this book. 

The kairos finally reveals itself as dream and memory at the end of the book. Every night when Tom goes to bed he is sharing his dreams with the old lady upstairs. Sounds odd doesn't it! But the old lady upstairs is Hatty! It makes sense, yet no sense at all, and we only find out in the very last few chapters. It almost feels like an add on, an extra bit of information to try and keep the reader hooked that little bit longer. Yes, all the loose ends tie up, but they just don't seem strong enough to me. The critic Peter Hollindale suggests that it is bringing the story back to a more rational adult perspective, something he says is not in keeping with the childhood spirit of the story*, and I agree. 

As interesting as some of the theories about this book are, for example the garden as means for prolonging childhood, the concepts of kairos and chronos, I think these are explored just as well in other examples of the 'time-slip fantasy' genre. If you are after an example of the genre that will also capture a child's imagination, I'm afraid to say Tom's Midnight Garden would not be my first pick. Instead I would choose Boston or Uttley's books, or even Alice in Wonderland. 

Thanks for reading, L x

*Peter Hollindale in AA300 Children Literature Study Guide for the Open University.

Next up, The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goodge.

No. 62 - The Phantom Tollbooth

Hi everyone, me again. 

I hope you're all doing well in lockdown.

Last week I wrote about 7 ways to keep children busy and learning during lockdown , and I hope some of you found this post useful. 

I've been continuing to keep my eyes peeled for other things, and have something else for you today!

Here is the latest newsletter from Caboodle, the National Book Token  people. There's a children's competition  to win a £10 book token and one for every pupil in their class, just by creating a new design for the book token cards! Worth a try! I would have loved this when I was little!

There's also the annual competition to win £5,000 worth of book tokens for your child's school, plus £100 for the child too! Take a look. 

Another thing that I've found is that the Haynes Motor Museum in Somerset has got some really lovely online activities for kids (and big kids!). There are set for KS1 and KS2, and the 'My Car the Superhero' story writing competition caught my eye as a perfect literacy activity for KS2, especially for the boy's who might need a little more encouragement to get reading and writing! The bonus is that if you post your child's entry on social media and tag Haynes Motor Museum you could win a family ticket to the museum when it opens up again! Ideal! 

And talking of motoring... back to this week's book! The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. 

Firstly, what a book! The Phantom Tollbooth is just the right amount of bizarre, surreal and down right weird! Yet, it is strangely logical, and disguises a strong moral tale. It makes no sense, yet makes total sense. Confused yet? Me too! 

I'll give you a quick synopsis. The book is about a boy called Milo, who is living life, but not really experiencing it. He is grumpy about everything, bored by school, and can't seem to find much he enjoys doing, despite having all kinds of toys and games. But when he arrives home to find a tollbooth has been delivered to his bedroom, suddenly life starts getting interesting. He hops in his little electric car, pays his toll and crosses into the Kingdom of Wisdom. 

Here he ventures on to Dictionopolis, through the Valley of Sound, amongst other places, to Digitopolis, to rescue the Princesses Rhyme and Reason and help unite the Kingdom of Wisdom once again. It's a literacy and numeracy based didactic, fantasy adventure story! I told you it was an odd one! 

I'm going to be totally honest here and say I was not very keen on reading this book when I started it. It was wordy, and a map at the start of a book always puts me off a bit. I think it comes from not really being into fantasy all that much, and equating the genre with books like The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula le Guin (which I didn't get on with at all!). So, with some trepidation I opened the book, or selected it (Kindle reading is all have at the moment! Gosh, I miss the library!), and began. 

As I've already said, it was wordy to start with and the action was very fast paced, giving me little time to digest what was going on! However, once Milo settled into his journey things calmed down a bit and I started revelling in the bizarre world Juster had created! 

This book reminded me of lots of different things, of other children's stories, of adult fiction, of pop culture, it has little hints of everything in it. It has often been said that it shares many similarities with Alice in Wonderland, and I can certainly see why! It begins with a bored child, who through either daydreams or magic (i'll let you decide), ventures into another world full of surreal situations and characters. There is also more than a passing resemblance to The Wizard of Oz at occasions. In fact this book reminded me of so many different texts. It obviously has it's roots in classic moral tales, in particular The Pilgrim's Progress, and there is also a likeness to the journeying elements of Tolkein's books. From a magical perspective it reminded me of the Chrestomanci series by Dianna Wynne Jones, of timeslip fiction like Tom's Midnight Garden, and of course The Wizard of Earthsea. It even had hints of the surreal sci-fi classic The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Roald Dahl's creations, and Maurice Sendak's seminal picture book Where the Wild Things Are. I could go on and on! This book, as self-contained and original as it may seem, is a wonderful melting pot of different genres and can be read in so many different ways depending on what you as the reader find within it's pages. 

Something Juster does so very well in this book is puns and word play. The place names, character names and action all have a meaning, hidden or literal. For example, I particularly enjoyed it when Milo, Tock the Watchdog and the Humbug end up flying through the air to an island called Conclusions; they literally jump to Conclusions! This amused me probably more that it should have done, and there are plenty more of these wordy mind games throughout the story to keep you happy! 

But it wasn't just the places that pleased me, the characters were by far my favourite part of this story.  Here are the one's I'd like to meet!

• The Spelling Bee - literally a giant bee, who spells everything he says out loud! 
• The Dodecahedron - a very weird chap with 12 faces, who wouldn't look out of place in an episode of The Mighty Boosh!

•  The lovely Tock - he's a watchdog, so of course, he has a massive clock stuck to his side (see cover picture at the start of this post)!
•  Faintly Macabre, the not-so-wicked Which - She's not a Witch, but a Which! She used to choose which words could be used for what occasions, which ones were spoken, and which ones were written down. Quite an important job really! 
• Kakofonous A. Dischord, Doctor of Dissonance - he's a mad professor who collects sounds, especially weird ones! He asks Milo "Have you ever heard a blindfolded octopus unwrap a cellophane-covered bathtub?" I rest my case!

So, as you can see the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Wisdom are quite something! But underneath all this madness and wordplay there is a valuable tale to be found in this book. It may seem like a pointless romp through a surrealist's dictionary, but in fact it's a essay on education, childhood and learning. Milo begins the story fed up with his life, he doesn't see the point in learning, of going to school, of being taught what he considers to be useless information. He can't see any Rhyme or Reason to it! The Kingdom of Wisdom is a metaphor for Milo's relationship with learning, it's broken, at war with itself. In order to understand education as a whole, as an important activity, Milo must discover and restore both it's Rhyme and it's Reason, which in the story manifest themselves as two beautiful princesses. Once reunited with their Kingdom, the world makes a lot more sense. By the end of his adventures Milo has a greater understanding of why learning is so important, and has had his eyes opened to the joys of the world around him. He appreciates the power of nature, the sounds all around him, he sees merit in being creative, of making things, of using his imagination. Just by looking around his bedroom he can see a hundred things to do; things that he would have ignored before his trip through the Phantom Tollbooth. It is a message of enlightenment at it's best. Totally hidden, yet incredibly potent. 

Thanks for reading, L x

Next up, Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce.