Image courtesy of Booktopia

 

Of the list shown, in Wheelers Sophisticated Picture Book Collection, my all time favourite is The Eleventh Hour.  As a child I have fond memories of this book, so nostalgia, I’m afraid, has kicked into overdrive. I poured over this book for hours AND I still have my original copy.  For this reason I recommend it for every library, heck! every classroom.  The layers that Base has included in this book, I believe, was ahead of it time and is timeless.

To have this book in the classroom, and library, should be shared with children of all ages, particularly in Primary, in pairs, or even as individuals – can you imagine the conversations your student would have!  The communication, collaboration they can engage with over many sessions is powerful.  For older readers the students can look at the visual language features: lines & vectors; colour; symbols; and point of view (Daley 2019).  It goes further than decoding the words, but also the imagery and the physical clues presented across the book.  There are more layers to this book and story than that of an onion (as Donkey from Shrek would say!)

LOVE LOVE LOVE

 

References

Base, G (1993). The Eleventh Hour: A Curious Mystery. Penguin. New Zealand.

Daley, M. (2019). Raising readers : How to nurture a child’s love of books. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Wheelers Books (2019) Sophisticated Picture Books. Retrieved from https://www.wheelers.co.nz/browse/category/picture-books/sophisticated-picture-books/?page=4