ISBN: 9780064434997
Today’s fun story reading at Thorntree Prep in celebration of youth month (June) started with a discussion about the mechanics of a book (front cover, back cover, spine, how the pages are kept together, publishing info, author, illustrator and the blurb on the back cover), how and why to look after our books.
We then discussed zoos and the types of animals kept in zoos, and whether or not it is good for animals to be kept in zoos (cages).
We followed the discussion with a story called Edward the Emu, by Australian author Sheena Knowles.
Edward is “sick of the zoo”… bored with his pen and bored with himself. He thinks it will be much more interesting and fun to be one of the other animals, so he swims with the seals, roars with the lions, and slithers with the snakes… and when he returns to his pen to be an emu again, he finds out with a shock that the zookeeper has replaced him! But he also finds that being himself has its own rewards…
The huge illustrations of Edward and the other animals (by Rod Clement) made for a lovely read-aloud book, and it was quite interactive with lots of “ooooo’s” and “aaaah’s” and laughter from the children.
We ended the story time with a quick, fun game of “Zookeeper says…” (Simon Says). What fun!
