Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while.” - Malorie Blackman
This page dedicated to our love of sharing books we have read that encourage representation. The more we read the more we learn!
“Some books leave us free and some books make us free.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
The books we have read!
Sir Lenny Henry has written another delightful tale for children with ‘The Book of Legends: What if all the stories were real?’ The book is illustrated by Keenon Ferrell. A fabulous book and very engaging and entertaining.
The Book of Legends by Sir Lenny Henry
Following the mysterious disappearance four years ago of their father, twelve-year-old twins Bran and Fran are living with their mum in a small Midlands town. She has always told them wonderful stories and now works as a storyteller at the Once Upon a Wow bookstore. A number of her stories are scattered throughout the text.Then their mum goes missing in a manner similar to their dad. Yet it turns out that her stories serve as a portal to a another world: the Nine Dominions Along the way they face evil princes, murder fairies, mud monsters and even Vikings! Luckily, they also find allies in Wilma, the Wizard's Wife, and Zack, the wisecracking Zebracorn.
This was such a delightful tale, bursting with magic and adventure. There are also plenty of jokes. Keenon Ferrell’s illustrations were a perfect addition to the text. Henry focuses upon young black characters, and is consciously addressing the lack of diversity in children’s literature. Here this includes Bran being deaf and both he and Fran attend a British Sign Language school.
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We thought Bran and Fran are such fantastic children and it is great seeing sign language interwoven into this story - not many books have this!
We really do admire the children's bravery and was happy to find out what really happened to their parents! This story was jus totally unexpected!