Grandad's Island: Benji Davies

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Up until this point, I have to admit that my reading of the book had been rather superficial, reminding me even now that revisiting a story, re-reading it and allowing ourselves time to slowly pore over the illustrations is vital and time well spend. Benji’s books can been read in over forty languages and have sold many millions of copies around the world.

Firstly, I think this is because it was my first successful attempt at carrying out whole class reading over a sustained amount of time (about six weeks). Until then, like Syd, I shall continue to try and steer my ship safely home, weathering the storms, and filling my own attic of memories with laughter, music, art, books, love and maybe even a giant tortoise teapot.I like to think that both of them are somewhere on an island faraway, where the waterfalls cascade and a large chimpanzee serves them tea, or maybe even a ‘Footballer’s Dinner’. The children had drawn colourful pictures to predict what might be on the island, written immersive descriptions of the jungle, developed their vocabulary (not many knew what an ‘attic’ was and enjoyed discussing what ‘an ocean of rooftops’ might look like). Indeed, in Grandad’s Island, Syd’s journey back home alone is fraught with churning waves and rolling, dark clouds, much like grief itself and the process of saying goodbye to our loved ones.

Now in her 25th year in the primary education profession, Jane’s incredible knowledge and expertise provides a solid framework for teachers, enabling her to support, enrich and sharpen the teaching of reading, writing and spelling. Delving into a book, spending time with the characters and enjoying exploring a picture book is my favourite thing to do with a class, so I was more than happy to spend a morning doing so. They were excited to discover that the big metal door in the attic led to a tall ship with ‘an ocean of rooftops all around’. He won Oscar's Book Prize for a second time with Tad, a story about a tadpole making its way in the big, wide pond.They had nudged each other and giggled over all the things they spotted in Grandad’s dusty attic and gasped at the beauty of the island – I had displayed the book on the interactive whiteboard for maximum effect. But having explored the book alongside my class, reading it aloud and seeing the children make their own connections with the characters and story, I had finally made a connection of my own to the themes of loss, grief and saying goodbye, which are subtly weaved throughout the story.