Our first picture book of the year is not a story. It’s non fiction but not in the sense that it is an information book. I would call this book a discussion book. A really fun discussion book!
Pippa Goodhart and Nick Sharratt have created an original picture book to promote speaking and listening skills. Each double page spread poses a question above a variety of Nick Sharratt’s wonderfully colourful illustrations. For example, What kind of home would you choose? has drawings of every conceivable dwelling you could imagine. The pictures are used to initiate discussions about where you would like to live, maybe why, and on the next page you can choose all of the furniture that you would like to have in your new house (or igloo!). You can choose pets, who you would like to live with, your favourite transport, what you would like to wear……………..
This is a really great book to share, for adults as well as children, and we have a lot of fun making choices from pictures that are fairly normal to completely outrageous! It provides great opportunities to develop speaking and listening skills and introduce new vocabulary. I can also imagine using this book to stimulate discussions with non native English speakers (of all ages!). There is also a colouring book with stickers.
A very interactive book, definitely not a bedtime book!
Age Range: 3 +
Author: Pippa Goodhart / Illustrator: Nick Sharratt
Storyseekers UK has a great review of Pippa Goodhart’s ‘Just Imagine‘ on her blog.
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