Easy Readers from Maverick Books reviewed by Chitra Soundar

Maverick Books have expanded their list from picture books to easy readers. Clare Helen Welsh, a teacher and a picture book author has worked on both of their publishing programmes and I was keen to read some of the stories.

The two books I read are Jim and the Big Fish and King Carl and the Wish.

These stories fall under different reading bands – from pink to yellow to blue across a spectrum of reading and comprehension skills.

The stories are well structured with the necessary repetition to enable word recognition, learning by sight as much as sounding out unfamiliar words with phonics. The stories are engaging and fun. These will definitely appeal to young children who are reading on their own.

At this age children lose interest fast and want to be doing different things. The full-colour illustrations, the settings and the premise of these stories are very age-appropriate and appealing. Whether it’s a wizard casting a spell or a boy fishing in the docks, the story ends with a surprise that would delight readers.

As an aunt, I’ve observed my 6 year-old nephew flipping through easy readers and settling down to read because the words per page seem conquerable and the pictures in context help him guess the words too.

These are two great books by Clare Helen Welsh just perfect for newly confident readers.

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Chitra Soundar is an Indian-born British writer of children's books. Her latest picture book is You're Snug With Me, illustrated by Poonam Mistry. Find out more at www.chitrasoundar.com or follow her on Twitter @csoundar.

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Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke, illustrated by Lauren Tobia, reviewed by Sarah Hammond

Anna Hibiscus is an engaging chapter book for readers aged 6 and upwards, and charts the adventures of the eponymous heroine in her colourful African life. At a time when there is a welcome drive toward diversity in children’s fiction, this is a warm and inviting story for early readers. 

Anna lives with her boisterous, extended family in an ‘old white house’ near an unspecified African city. Her father is African, her mother Canadian, and she has young twin brothers Double and Trouble, together with her grandparents, many aunties and uncles and 'big' and 'little' cousins. The sense of community is strong, and the reader is given a view of a new way of living. Character names are inventive — Chocolate, Auntie Comfort, Uncle Bizi Sunday, Wonderful to name a few — and the vibrant settings, rituals of life, dress codes, manners and expectations are sprinkled throughout the story to give a strong visceral sense of everyday African life. 

In fact, the theme of comparing worlds runs through the whole book. It is not only the reader who learns about another culture: Anna Hibiscus and her family explore these differences, too. Anna’s Canadian mother offers another perspective on everyday choices — should they spend a holiday as an immediate family unit, or with the whole extended family? Is peace and quiet better than noisy hustle and bustle? Similarly, Anna’s Auntie Comfort now lives in America and returns home to visit. We see how she feels about her African heritage, and how her family at home responds to her new life. Likewise, traditional life rubs alongside modern technology and developments. Anna, too, has a lively mind, and she is curious and tests her boundaries, both within the world she knows and by looking to countries beyond.

The illustrator, Lauren Tobia, adds much to the storytelling by giving visual clarification to young readers with her friendly, personable drawings.

This book is divided into four chapters and each tells a self-contained story. The style is simple and evocative. For instance, when Anna's father is faced with a problem, he goes swimming: '[his head] was a black ball in the waves. A black ball getting smaller and smaller. Just before it disappeared, it began to grow big again. Anna's father swum back with an idea.'  Every chapter starts with a similar refrain, inviting us to sink into ‘amazing Africa’, and ends with Anna Hibiscus (and, vicariously, the reader) learning a life lesson. We realise the value of family, of remembering where you come from while also adapting to change, the importance of seeing things from someone else’s perspective, and how great things happen when you use your initiative to follow a dream.   

Most importantly, although the stories describe unfamiliar cultures and places, there is much that a young reader will find to identify with in Anna’s curiosity and liveliness. The tone of the stories is good-natured and speckled with humour. I was left with the impression that there is more that unites those of different cultures than divides them, that the whole world itself is a colourful community to enjoy.

www.sarahhammond.org

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