Absolutely marvelous! As an adult reader I totally adore the clever and delightful textual parody of Alfred Noyes' classic The Highwayman ballad (and indeed also much appreciate that with The Highway Rat, Julia Donaldson has just taken Alfred Noyes' external form and has not made her text content wise into some silly love story and her Highway Rat into a romantic type of hero, as no, that would in my opinion have made The Highway Rat annoyingly maudlin and not the engaging and so very much fun poetic parody of The Highwayman that it is). My real breakthrough was THE GRUFFALO, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately - he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow - but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes. Create a price list for the cake shop and imagine that some customers would like to buy a selection of the cakes. How much will they need to pay? How much change will they need to be given? What coins would be used for this? I really enjoy writing verse, even though it can be fiendishly difficult. I used to memorise poems as a child and it means a lot to me when parents tell me their child can recite one of my books.

Look at the use of rhyming words in the story. Can you think of other words which rhyme with the ones used? Donaldson’s ear for rhyme is unequalled, and Scheffler’s busy, funny illustrations make this ideal for reading aloud with lots of voices and chances to join in” Daily Mail Draw a picture showing the inside of one of the Highway Rat’s bags. What different items has he stolen? Help your child to dress up as a highway rat use a piece of cloth as a cloak. You could make a mask for your child out of card. For instructions follow link here and scroll to ‘Method 2’ Play the storyIn case you haven't noticed, this is like a children's retelling of The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes. I was surprised by how big a hit this was. The children ate it up! I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married. As mom who was an English Lit major, I LOVE this cheeky little book...it's a retelling of/homage to Alfred Noyes' poem "The Highwayman" (without all the, you know, shooting and death and ghosts and whatnot). My son loves the great rhythm, and at two, fills in the words at the end of each stanza. The fact that it's a long poem makes it a fun read-aloud, and it's great to start to expose little ones to poetry concepts at an early age, from a literacy standpoint. Plus, it's just fun. Although the story line is very simple, there is a lot of cross curricular links there. Our year 2 created a ‘WANTED!’ poster for the Highway Rat and wrote about the crimes of the rat and why they needed to catch him as soon as possible. The children had to use a range of descriptive language to make their writing interesting and for creating a sense of urgency. In addition, our year 2 created their own version of the capture of the Highway Rat with a clear beginning, middle and end. They had to use a lot of similes, adjectives and body language to create tension and a chase to grab their reader’s attention.

Another delightful instant classic by Donaldson (writer) and Scheffler (illustrator) as a pesky Highway Rat is stealing all the other animals sweets and pastries. Before Malcolm and I had our three sons we used to go busking together and I would write special songs for each country; the best one was in Italian about pasta.I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him). The artwork is colorful and fun. The rat looks a little like Zorro, but he is a baddie for certain. I love Julia Donaldson’s work. She works with Axel as illustrator and they make an excellent team. The Highway Rat terrorises the local village. Cunning, daring and altogether selfish, he delights in stealing the locals’ food. But they won’t stand for it much longer. Before you start reading the book look at the cover illustration and title together. What does your child think will happen in this story? They maybe unsure what a highway is and this may be a good point to talk about highwaymen – or you could do so later after enjoying the story together. Read the story as far as the lines about the animals growing thinner and thinner. How does your child think the animals feel? Is there anything the animals can do? Continue reading to the end of the story. Find out about the author, Julia Donaldson. Watch this video and think of questions that you might like to ask her.